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On Thu, 2010-10-07 at 15:10 +0100, Simon Waters wrote: > On 07/10/10 10:57, james kilty wrote: > > > > I suggested sudo aptitude install -f. This downloaded a rather large > > number of files such as gstreamer but I took it that it would replace > > any deleted file needed by the system. > > Suggests system was in a mess but isn't likely to fix the issue. > > > Alas, this did not work. He can open nautilus but does not have full > > access as it is missing the top menus and he cannot open programmes such > > as evolution which is urgent. > > I'd wait till you see the box, read the log files, make sure it is > starting GDM etc. Discuss precisely what he did and why with him. He was trying to set up a network including a TV and his wife's computer, found out nautilus could help and got into some diffficulty with nautilus. He the used synaptic to see what came with nautilus and uninstalled some of them!! Looking at the list in my computer there are certainly libraries! > > On Debian based systems you can use "debsums" to find missing files, it > isn't a great approach as it mops about changes to files you have to > change (probably a design fault with the Unix/Linux way of configuring > things than the fault of debsums), but if he had deleted random files > without some sort of history, then it is the only approach likely to > find precisely what executables and libraries are missing. I'll have a look if all else fails. > > One can do a reinstall over the top with most distro's so user data is > preserved but system state recreated. I prefer to a fresh reinstall > preserving "/home" and "user"/"group" information but that is fiddly to do. Now that we have managed to rsync his user files including .evolution he is game for anything. If I do reinstall over the existing install, will there be any problems regarding password protection of his emails. I don't know where these are stored nor how encryption might change with a new install. Advice would be most essential here. Perhaps all this is in .evolution? Thanks Simon -- james kilty http://www.kilty.demon.co.uk -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq