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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. 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. 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. There is little need for removing files as root manually except in "/tmp", unless you created them, since almost everything else is under control of the Debian package manager, or the programs that use them. i.e. "aptitude purge <packagename>" is the way to free disk space if you really need to. Simon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq