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	Thu, 25 Sep 1997 14:02:56 +0930 (CST)
Message-ID: <19970925140256.45187@lemis.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 14:02:56 +0930
From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To: DCMC Customer Liaison <bgy2452@lists.dcro.dla.mil>
Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Kernel:  Lost Configuration
References: <199709250410.AAA20445@lists.dcro.dla.mil>
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In-Reply-To: <199709250410.AAA20445@lists.dcro.dla.mil>; from DCMC Customer Liaison on Thu, Sep 25, 1997 at 12:29:27AM -0400
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On Thu, Sep 25, 1997 at 12:29:27AM -0400, DCMC Customer Liaison wrote:
>  Well, I don't know what else it could have been.  I lost the list that
> tells what Shell scripts are installed.  I lost the password file, including
> root - after it rebooted and none of the users worked, I tried root and it
> logged on without asking for a password.  I also noticed the CD-ROM wouldn't
> load to reinstall the files.  I did a mount -t cd9660 -o ro /dev/wcd0a
> /cdrom
> and it listed OK, then I went back, while it was still mounted, and I could
> once again load things from the CD-ROM.  Now I added back in the Shells
> (which didn't leave, but weren't "valid" according to the tables).  Now when
> I add users the shells are again valid.  I also lost the PROFILE from the
> /ETC directory.
>
> p.s.  One change just occurred to me.  When I went to make the kernel, the
> source files weren't there.  When I added them from the CD-ROM, it seemed to
> be a doing an INSTALL from scratch.  Could it have overwritten everything
> then?  I was under the impression I was just adding the source
>  files?

This looks like the most likely explanation. It's easy to shoot
yourself in the foot with sysinstall after the system is running.  To
get the source files off the CD-ROM, you could have used tar.  It's
not difficult, but we're still working on the documentation.

Do you have the sources now?  Then you should be able to repeat the
attempt.  Don't forget to make a new backup.

Greg