[ale] stupid sys admin tricks

[Robert Karaffa]

hi folks,
	i managed to really fmrkl my Mandriva server.  Here's my confession:

-i created a new user via Webmin named phoil
-i had Webmin create phoil's home directory in /usr
-bad move, because now /usr is phoil's home directory
-i realized too late that i was fmrkld
-i tried to move phoil's home directory to /usr/phoil (via Webmin)
-suddenly, Webmin doesn't work anymore
-in fact, nothing works anymore
-this is great, isn't it?  a public self-inflicted flogging (somebody  
get me some salt water!).

okay, i'm trying to rescue my server, so I rebooted from a Mandriva  
disk in "rescue" mode.

I mounted all my old partitions under /mnt.

I was able to copy all of the files from /usr/phoil back to /usr, and  
I tried to chown all of them to root (chown -R root *), but I still  
cannot login after reboot.  I'm missing something here and I haven't  
figured it out yet.

Would anybody be willing to hold my arm up so that I can flog myself  
some more?

Would anybody be willing to toss me a clue?

-Bob K.


-- 
**************************
Robert E. Karaffa, II
Technical Director
Emory University School of Medicine
Flow Cytometry Core Facility
1364 Clifton Rd. N.E.
Box 82
Atlanta, Ga 30322
voice: 404/712-4429
fax:  404/727-9222
e-mail: rkaraff at emory.edu
web:  http://corelabs.emory.edu/fcm/
**************************