I did a really dumb thing. I decided to put my /etc into CVS to track changes.

So I created a CVS repository, deleted my /etc directory, and replaced it with a copy I checked out of my CVS repository.

However, before checking it out of CVS I changed the permissions on the directory so that my regular users can't access it using chmod -R 770

But I realized too late that this made all the files executable. So my entire /etc directory is executable.

So I can't reboot because the slackware /etc/rc.d/rc.M file checks if files are executable before executing them. So it does things it shouldn't do and wn't boot.

So what are the correct permissions for my /etc direcotry?

-Dan

Well, something to consider if you made this change recursive through the /etc tree. Do another chmod recursively across the tree to 644 (rw-r--r--). Then chmod 755 (rwxr-xr-x) the desired scripts in /etc/rc.d and /etc/profile.d directories. These two are the main startup scripts. There are others in pcmcia, hotplug.d, etc. You could also review to see they need to be marked executable.

If you are not able to boot the system to make the changes, you may need to boot the Slack install CD, and mount the partition manually. Make desired changes and unmount the partition.

Others may have more elegant solutions, and this does not account for anything that would or should be suid root or other issues. I do not think there should be anything that difficult in the /etc tree. But you may want to look closely at /etc/X11 tree if you default to runlevel 4. Consider reverting back to runlevel 3 until it is repaired. But it might at least help to get the system back into operation.

If you desire I can provide a tarball of my /etc tree from my Slack 9.1, please email the request. Perhaps if you post what version you have then someone here could do the same for your particular version.

Good luck.