!!! WARNING TO CROOMBE, READ THIS IMMEDIATELY !!! Re: [oclug] Strange Fedora problem

[Brad Barnett]

On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 23:04:22 -0400
Jamon Camisso <jamonation at gmail.com> wrote:

> root wrote:
> > Hi Jamon!
> > 
> > the matter gets worse and worse!
> > 
> > I did what you said and now all I get is an error message that
> > permission has been denied to create ~/.gnome2 and ~/.bash_profile
> > 
> > So, there is no way I can get back into my user account. But, yes, I
> > can make a new one and get into it OK.
> > 
> > I even removed a line from my .bash_profile file which said unset
> > USERNAME
> > but this had no effect whatsoever!
> > 
> > I am doing an absolute "no no" in doing this from my root but I'm not
> > going to stay here for long! I'll create yet another user and go
> > there!
> > 
> > Cheers (or, not so cheery actually!)
> 
> If you want to keep your directory and userid, you could backup all your
> 
> files and settings, then rm -rf $Home/* :) Careful with that one
> though...

Be careful, Jamon says?!  Good grief, I hope so! 

1) env variables are case sensitive with bash.  Therefore, $Home is not
the same as $HOME, and therefore 'rm -Rf $Home/*' is interpreted as
'rm -Rf /*', and will delete the entire path starting at '/'. 
Don't use env variables with rm commands, and especially with -Rf
commands!  Env variables could be mistakenly changed, they could be
something you do not expect!

2) don't use env variables in examples to non-expert users, unless you
expect those users to type verbatim what you write

3) Croombe is likely going to use the superuser (root) account to execute
the above command, so even if $HOME/* was used, it would delete root's
home directory, and not the desired user's directory

4) for crying out loud Jamon, be CAREFUL MAN!  I know you are trying to
help, but such flippant, untested answers can destroy a person's
data on their ENTIRE HARD DRIVE.  If Croombe simply types the command you
have above in, he will wipe his drive.  Gone, blamo!  Again, Jamon, TAKE
CARE WITH SUCH UNTESTED ANSWERS!

5) Croombe, do NOT RUN THE COMMAND ABOVE!

> 
> Sounds like your plan to make a new user will work well though, so I'd 
> go with that, especially if you haven't customized things much.
> 
> R.e. CentOS and RHEL, they're a little out of date compared to FC5. If 
> you get things working I'd stick with it for now, though of course 
> Debian testing is always going to be the best :p