# I lost /bin **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [May 22, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354 "2008-05-22T08:09:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/1 "2008-05-22T08:09:14Z")
I was compiling the ‘fxruby’ gem… I was doing everything ‘sudo’, and I was messing with its Makefile (because it didn’t compile cleanly), ANYWAY, the ‘fxruby’ gem is now installed succesfully. The bad news is that somehow my ‘/bin’ folder got deleted. If anybody here is using _Ubuntu_ and is willing to do ‘ls /bin’ and paste the results to [http://pastebin.com/](http://pastebin.com/), so I see what I need to restore, I’ll be extremely thankful! ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/2 "2008-05-22T08:26:41Z")
Albert S. wrote: > The bad news is that somehow my ‘/bin’ folder got deleted. > > If anybody here is using _Ubuntu_ and is willing to do ‘ls /bin’ and > paste the results to [http://pastebin.com/](http://pastebin.com/), so I see what I need to > restore, I’ll be extremely thankful! [http://pastebin.com/m6c9a3f7](http://pastebin.com/m6c9a3f7) ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/3 "2008-05-22T08:36:04Z")
Albert - you are probably going to encounter unrecoverable damage if you have lost /bin. Even the default shell for root (/bin/sh) is in the directory that you lost. ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/4 "2008-05-22T08:47:14Z")
Gregg Kang wrote: > Albert - you are probably going to encounter unrecoverable damage if > you have lost /bin. Even the default shell for root (/bin/sh) is in > the directory that you lost. Maybe he can boot from an ubuntu cd and copy stuff over. Hey, first time I’ve ever used pastebin, and it was to paste bin. I feel special. ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 11:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/5 "2008-05-22T11:05:53Z")
YEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!! I did it! I’m back! 🙂 Joel, thanks! (I couldn’t find my ubuntu cd.) Gregg Kang > Albert - you are probably going to encounter unrecoverable damage if > you have lost /bin. Even the default shell for root (/bin/sh) is in > the directory that you lost. I lost ‘cp’ and ‘rm’ too. Fortunately for me, I had gazillions of terminals open with Midnight Commander. I copied the most basic commands from an old Fedora partition that was mounted (it’s always mounted, so I didn’t have to have ‘mount’). Its ‘bash’ didn’t work on my ubuntu (it was compiled against termcap), so I logged in to where my website is hosted, becuase it uses Debian, and taken ‘bash’ (which serves as ‘sh’ too) from there. I restored enough commands so that my ‘apt-get’ worked again. Then, to find out all the packages that had files installed in /bin/ I did “dpkg -S ‘/bin/\*’”. I reinstalled them all with “sudo apt-get -y –reinstall install …”. That’s all. My system even survived a reboot! It was so invigorating an experience! So empowering! I recommend deleting your /bin once in a while (or, alternatively, installing ‘fxruby’) for sport. > first time I’ve ever used pastebin, and it was to paste bin LOL! ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/6 "2008-05-22T20:05:32Z")
On May 22, 10:05 am, Albert S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > YEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!! > > I did it! I’m back! 🙂 > […] > I lost ‘cp’ and ‘rm’ too. Fortunately for me, I had gazillions of > terminals open with Midnight Commander. I copied the most basic commands > from an old Fedora partition that was mounted (it’s always mounted, so I > didn’t have to have ‘mount’). Its ‘bash’ didn’t work on my ubuntu (it > was compiled against termcap), so I logged in to where my website is > hosted, becuase it uses Debian, and taken ‘bash’ (which serves as ‘sh’ > too) from there. Now that you have successfully recovered is the time to read this classic: [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom/msg/b0f6e6d80da01121](http://groups.google.com/group/comp.dcom.telecom/msg/b0f6e6d80da01121) Vidar ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/7 "2008-05-22T21:18:54Z")
This taught you 😉 Always keep copies of the fundamental commands to restore a f\*cked up system! ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/i-lost-bin/138354/8 "2008-05-23T20:18:10Z")
On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 8:46 AM, Joel VanderWerf [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Gregg Kang wrote: > > > Albert - you are probably going to encounter unrecoverable damage if > > you have lost /bin. Even the default shell for root (/bin/sh) is in > > the directory that you lost. > > Maybe he can boot from an ubuntu cd and copy stuff over. > > Hey, first time I’ve ever used pastebin, and it was to paste bin. I feel > special. > I need I site call pinoint to say how you did that well;) > BTW you are special, I am special, we all are special, ahem … > > – > vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407 – [http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/](http://ruby-smalltalk.blogspot.com/) * * * Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Ludwig Wittgenstein