SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!! Crashed /etc.....NEED HELP PLEASE!!!

CD27 · 03-16-2008, 01:15 AM

I've but up for about 12 strait hours, didn't go to sleep last night till around 7:00 am. here's a link to help you sum up what's been going on (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=725209&page=1). Basically I have copied over /etc directory with the /etc dir of the live ubuntu cd. now I'm getting some errors:

whenever I try to regular boot, this is what I get:

udved:[2497]: add_to_rules:PHYSDEV* values are deprecated and will be removed from a future kernel, please fix it in /etc/vdev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules:17
udved:[2497]: add_to_rules:PHYSDEV* values are deprecated and will be removed from a future kernel, please fix it in /etc/vdev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules:45
udved:[2497] lookup_group:specified group 'nvram' unknown
Udved:[2497]: add_to_rules: do not reference parent sysfs directories directly, that may break with a future kernel, please fix it in /etc/vdev/rules.d/65-persistent-storage.rules:12

I forget if those are "udevd" or "udved".

for more info please look at the link I've provided (be noted ahead of time, I WILL NOT REINSTALL MY LINUX, I WILL FIX THIS PROBLEM WITHOUT REINSTALLING!!!)

Thank you in advance for all your trouble and help.

Eric

CD27 · 03-16-2008, 02:25 AM

yep....not like the problem's solved or anything guys.....

billymayday · 03-16-2008, 03:40 AM

Starting point - like the guys said on the Ubuntu forums - you should reinstall - copy /home to somewhere and start again.

Assuming you ignore the above, I would try to uninstall udevd and then reinstall it. I don't use Ubuntu much, so I can't give you the apt-get instructions to do this. Did you try an update with apt-get?

Even if you fix this one, I'm sure you'll keep having problems, but that's your call.

Edit - it may be better to try the post below first

billymayday · 03-16-2008, 03:48 AM

Maybe copying a working Ubuntu version over the top of your /etc/vdev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules will help (but no guarantee)

Code:

# This file establishes permissions and ownership of devices according
# to Ubuntu policy.  See udev(7) for syntax.
#
# The names of the devices must not be set here, but in 20-names.rules;
# user-friendly symlinks (which need no permissions or ownership) should
# be set in 60-symlinks.rules.

# Block devices
SUBSYSTEM!="block", GOTO="block_end"
ATTRS{removable}!="1",			GROUP="disk"
ATTRS{removable}=="1",			GROUP="floppy"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb",			GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEMS=="ieee1394",			GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEMS=="mmc",			GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEMS=="pcmcia",			GROUP="plugdev"
LABEL="block_end"

# IDE devices
ENV{ID_CDROM}=="?*",			GROUP="cdrom"
KERNEL=="ht[0-9]*",			GROUP="tape"
KERNEL=="nht[0-9]*",			GROUP="tape"

# IEEE1394 (firewire) devices
# Please note that raw1394 gives unrestricted, raw access to every single
# device on the bus and those devices may do anything as root on your system.
# Yes, I know it also happens to be the only way to rewind your video camera,
# but it's not going to be group "video", okay?
KERNEL=="raw1394",			GROUP="disk"
KERNEL=="dv1394*",			GROUP="video"
KERNEL=="video1394*",			GROUP="video"

# Packet CD devices, group under /dev/pktcdvd
KERNEL=="pktcdvd",			MODE="0644"
KERNEL=="pktcdvd[0-9]*",		GROUP="cdrom"

# Printers and Parallel devices
SUBSYSTEM=="printer",			GROUP="lp"
SUBSYSTEM=="ppdev",			GROUP="lp"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", KERNEL=="lp[0-9]*",	GROUP="lp"
KERNEL=="pt[0-9]*",			GROUP="tape"
KERNEL=="pht[0-9]*",			GROUP="tape"

# SCSI devices
SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", GOTO="scsi_start"
GOTO="scsi_end"
LABEL="scsi_start"
ATTRS{type}=="1",			GROUP="tape"
ATTRS{type}=="5",			GROUP="cdrom"
ATTRS{type}=="6",			GROUP="scanner"
ATTRS{type}=="8",			GROUP="tape"
ATTRS{type}=="3", ATTRS{vendor}=="HP",	GROUP="scanner"
ATTRS{type}=="3", ATTRS{vendor}=="Epson", GROUP="scanner"
ATTRS{type}=="3", ATTRS{vendor}=="EPSON", GROUP="scanner"
LABEL="scsi_end"

# Serial devices
SUBSYSTEM=="tty",			GROUP="dialout"
SUBSYSTEM=="capi",			GROUP="dialout"
SUBSYSTEM=="slamr",			GROUP="dialout"
SUBSYSTEM=="zaptel",			GROUP="dialout"
KERNEL=="ttyLTM[0-9]*",			GROUP="dialout", MODE="0660"

# Sound devices
SUBSYSTEM=="sound",			GROUP="audio"

# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device",		MODE="0664"

# vc (virtual console) devices
SUBSYSTEM!="tty", GOTO="vc_end"
KERNEL=="console",			GROUP="root", MODE="0600"
KERNEL=="ptmx",				GROUP="root", MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="pty*",				GROUP="tty", MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="tty",				GROUP="root", MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="tty[0-9]*",			GROUP="root"
KERNEL=="vcs*",				GROUP="root"
LABEL="vc_end"

# Video devices
SUBSYSTEM=="drm",			GROUP="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="dvb",			GROUP="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="graphics",			GROUP="video"
SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux",		GROUP="video"
KERNEL=="agpgart",			GROUP="video"
KERNEL=="nvidia*",			GROUP="video"

# Other devices, by name
KERNEL=="null",				MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="zero",				MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="full",				MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="random",			MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="urandom",			MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="mem",				GROUP="kmem", MODE="0640"
KERNEL=="kmem",				GROUP="kmem", MODE="0640"
KERNEL=="port",				GROUP="kmem", MODE="0640"
KERNEL=="nvram",			GROUP="nvram"
KERNEL=="rtc",				GROUP="audio"
KERNEL=="inotify",			MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="js[0-9]*",			GROUP="plugdev"

CD27 · 03-16-2008, 09:24 AM

To update with you guys. I had a little help by "JediProgrammer" just about all day today. We were instant messageing and we did a lot of pretty cool things with the system, but ultimately, it was almost impossible to fix. We solved the udev issues, we solved the rules issues, we even solved the user and password issues, but when it finally came down to it, we simply couldn't get it to actually mount the hard drive. It could see it, but for some reason it simply wouldn't mount it.

Evently I decided to give up and just take the step of reinstalling Linux () though some people think that was the best thing to do to begin with, I think it was the first step of failure. I don't want to give up and reinstall, I wanted to actually solve the issue. I simply look at this as a failure on my part. This crash certainly was severe due to such a small thing. All I did was give the /etc directory read and write rights on all three categories and checked the "apply to all subcategories". THTA'S IT.

simply enough, we couldn't fix the problem, and JediProgrammer, thank you so much for your help. You didn't have to take all that time to do all that work, but you did, thank you. If there is not one already, I would like to move for the request that there be a full manual written on this kind of crash, giving the /etc directory unacceptable rights. This crashed my ENTIRE system, top to bottom and unless you REALLY know what you're doing, you're not gonna fix it.

Thank you people for helping me as well, and for lending me your services. If there is any way, I would like to ask one more question, I backed up my files on a list (dpkglist.txt), but i'm unable to figure out the code to get it to install them all again. when i put in sudo dpkg --set-selections < dpkglist.txt, but it didn't really do anything.

TigerOC · 03-16-2008, 12:51 PM

With respect that was a crazy thing to do. Your /etc has all the system control files which would have been configured during install.

The programmers assume (rightly or wrongly) that you have enough respect or knowledge to know this and therefore would not post any such warning.

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-16-2008, 02:33 PM

I can't really understand much of the messy trail of posts on the Ubuntu forums, but it seems that you changed the permissions to '/etc' to something bad, and then system would not work. However, at one point you couldn't even mount the partition it was on, which is very odd, and should not happen, so I don't really get it. I would be nice you posted a summary of what went wrong and how it was resolved so that you may understand what not to do next time.