i accidentally deleted /etc/.. so, how am i going to restore it???
HELP!!!!!!!

lol ... nice one yenonn ...

Just curious, does linux still work??

Sounds like a reinstall is going to be on your schedule soon.

The only hope you have (that I can think of) is to try and reinstall the /etc directory from the package on your installation CD. I know Slackware has /etc as a separate package that you could reinstall if need be.

You didn't say if this happened on Slackware or RH, so I don't know if that is going to help you.

If you delete something in linux, does it just disregard the data or actually destroy it? Cause with windows you can use Norton to recover deleted files. And I don't mean recycle bin, the real deleting kind of deleting.

normally the file system will just erase the data that says where the file is, some file systems might try and destroy it, but that takes a long time to erase the file, so normally its just disregarded as you put it.

you can try and recover the data, there is recovery tools, i think there are a recovery tool for every filesystem , cause i don't see how a recovery tool can work for 100% of the filesystems

go look at sourceforge.net theres a few utils i remember seeing for system recovery

I would say, how did you "Accidently" do it, I mean seriously, rm -rf /etc/, who does it? or right clicking and deleting in a GUI interface, I mean seriously, why would you delete it.

my machine is RH... after the deletion of /etc/ the whole machine seems to be hanging around... i cant even fire a command in the console...
so... is there anyway to restore the deleted files? just like windows, any files that were deleted, would remain still in recycle bin... are there term like this in linux???
i know we have a "Trash". but, inside the "Trash" i dun see any of my deleted files...
can u able to recommend some recovery tools for me??? thanks...

I don't think so, I'd say pop in a live cd if you have one and backup what you need and reinstall your distro.

don't you have a backup?

Tell us how you deleted /etc .

rm -fr /etc/

actually, i was login as a root and the through the command prompt, i pressed up and down button to retrieve whatever commands that i had been gone through...
by editing one of the history command i accidentally pressed "enter"...
then, OMG!!!!!! i been deleted my files.. i kept pressing ctrl+z to terminate the command, but, it executed in just in a second...

as usual, i fond to login as root... because i found that, login as a normal user is pretty troublesome. i hate it... many of the command prompts are constrained.
furthermore, much of the time, i am doing server configurations...so, i just login as root... and do all commanding. or what is the preferable way, as u guys been doing?? login as root??? or normal users?? any alternatives way, or flexible way???

gosh... arent there any turning points???
if so, i have to reinstall everything...

download a access control list program, so it will limit the root users power, you should be able to set it up so config privileges get to one use, some other privilege to another and so on... you should be also able to set it up so you can the net config tools when you want from your normal account

and theres no trash can I'm linux rm removes files immediately, the only trash cans are ones you install, and only they just keep a list of files usually then delete them when you tell it to, something rm wont do

Sounds like you just discovered the weakness in another OS where, usually, admin is the de-facto user. Things like virus' (viri?), worms, and generally the ability to destroy your system accidentally since the admin user can do anything.

For the tedius things, I create expect scripts that su to root automatically that then perform functions. Like ifup/ifdown when I need to dial into work, root xmms (gotta have nice -19), yast icon on desktop that doesn't prompt me for a password, that kind of thing.

I feel for you, but a re-install is happening soon. If you have a live CD, you can probably recover and backup some of your data.

RO

If you were using ext3, there may be no recovery (unfortunately) -- J.W.

http://batleth.sapienti-sat.org/proj.../ext3-faq.html