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On 02/09/12 21:16, bad apple wrote: > > For future reference, you fix these issues by netbooting an appropriate > installer image (or you can boot via USB or DVD of course, but > netbooting is easier and more efficient) and breaking into a root shell. > > Issue bind mount instructions for the special filesystems, mount your > old root and then chroot into the damaged system (there are tutorials > all over the net for this, such as > http://karuppuswamy.com/wordpress/2010/06/02/how-to-chroot-to-ubuntu-using-live-cd-to-fix-grub-rescue-prompt/). > Now you have full access to your old system but from a basis of a > current, fresh installer environment so you will have working > networking, etc. > > Then you can fix any damage - for interrupted upgrades, on Debian-based > systems, the laundry list of apt/dpkg commands Tom posted is pretty much > everything you'll need. Once you've finished, unmount, exit your shells > and reboot into your repaired system. This method can be used for any > linux system, not just ubuntu, although minor details will change > between distributions. Yes, I think it worth saying that if you can mount your file systems and the contents of those are not corrupt, then the system is usually easily salvageable. Although in the case mentioned of a half completed upgrade it can be painful, depending what the reason for the upgrade not completing properly was. I hit a problem with upgrading to Debian Testing a few weeks back, where the resolution was fiddly and I suspect most folk would have been best advised to reinstall. I would have reinstalled except I didn't want the down time since the machine was mostly working despite being stuck mid-upgrade. I'd do reinstalls over upgrades all the time, if only I was disciplined enough to keep all the config changes under revision control so I know I can reimplement ALL of them. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq