Subject: files without package

From: [email-masked] (Andreas Jellinghaus)
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 12:48:56 +0200 (MET DST)

hello

i have found several files in my / and /usr filesystems, that don't
belong to any packages. is this considered a bug ? many files, such as
/usr/X11R6/bin/netscape are installed by a debian package, but they
don't aprear in any /var/lib/dpkg/info/*lists or *conffiles ...

andreas
--
-rw-rw-r--   1 root     root           34 Jul 29 19:35 /dev/DEVICES
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  84 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1040
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  88 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1120
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  28 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1440
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2, 124 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1600
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  44 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1680
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  60 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1722
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  76 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1743
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  96 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1760
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2, 116 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1840
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2, 100 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u1920
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  12 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u360
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  16 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u720
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2, 120 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u800
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  52 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u820
brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  68 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd0u830
prw-------   1 root     root            0 Jun 16 19:59 /dev/initctl|
srwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            0 Aug 31 14:14 /dev/printer=
prw-r--r--   1 root     root            0 Sep  6 12:23 /dev/xconsole|
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        10537 Jul 15 13:29 /etc/X11/XF86Config
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          277 Jul 21 21:59 /etc/X11/config
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          210 Jul 15 00:27 /etc/X11/window-managers
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           39 Jul 14 23:42 /etc/X11/xarchie/defaultserver
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          699 Aug  2 17:47 /etc/diald.options
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1004 Aug 10 18:13 /etc/dosemu.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            3 Aug  4 14:57 /etc/dosemu.users
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          550 Jul 22 16:07 /etc/fstab
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            8 Jul 14 10:26 /etc/hostname
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         2461 Sep  5 17:46 /etc/inetd.conf
-rwxrwxr-x   1 root     root          306 Jul 15 12:24 /etc/init.d/smail*
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           45 Sep  1 10:41 /etc/ircII.servers
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           42 Aug 27 18:58 /etc/kbd/config
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         4177 Sep  2 19:43 /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          341 Aug 31 12:47 /etc/lilo.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           16 Jul 14 17:26 /etc/mailname
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          163 Aug 31 14:14 /etc/mtab
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           22 Jul 14 10:26 /etc/networks
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            3 Sep  2 19:43 /etc/papersize
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1159 Jul 22 14:25 /etc/passwd~
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           84 Jul 21 21:52 /etc/resolv.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          157 Aug 16 19:53 /etc/zircon/rc

-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root      4501956 Sep  1 12:36 /usr/X11R6/bin/netscape*
-rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root       145228 May  7 17:00 /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm.mono*
-rwsr-xr-x   2 root     root       137560 Mar  8  1996 /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm_color*
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       219486 Sep  1 12:36 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/Netscape
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1364 Aug 22 01:35 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XGetfile
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         2410 Aug 22 01:35 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XMixer
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         3361 Aug 22 01:35 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XPlaycd
drwxr-xr-x   2 root     root         1024 Jul 14 19:55 /usr/bin/X11.old/
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root        57949 May 17 00:53 /usr/bin/X11.old/xosview*
-rwxr-xr-x   2 root     root        15633 Mar  9  1996 /usr/bin/[*
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root           27 Jul 21 20:57 /usr/bin/yacc*
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        12964 Sep  1 12:36 /usr/doc/copyright/netscape-3.0
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       723649 Sep  1 12:36 /usr/lib/netscape/java/classes/java_30
-rwxr-sr-x   1 root     mail         5464 Sep  1 12:36 /usr/lib/netscape/movemail*
-rwxr-x---   1 news     news         2276 Aug 15 15:30 /usr/lib/news/send-uucp.bak*
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       225124 Jul 22 21:00 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/cmmf.base
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          752 Jul 22 21:00 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/cmmf.log
-rw-------   1 root     root       253952 Aug  2 01:15 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/core
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       632374 Aug 14 20:29 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/latex.fmt
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         9413 Aug 14 20:29 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/latex.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       132516 Jul 22 21:00 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/mf.base
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          700 Jul 22 21:00 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/mf.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       286004 Aug 14 20:30 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/tex.fmt
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         1891 Aug 14 20:30 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/tex.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           18 Aug 14 20:29 /usr/lib/texmf/ini/texsys.aux
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root         3666 Aug 10 15:09 /usr/lib/texmf/tex/latex/misc/linuxdoc-sgml.sty
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root            0 Aug 10 15:09 /usr/lib/texmf/tex/latex/misc/null.sty
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root          504 Aug 10 15:09 /usr/lib/texmf/tex/latex/misc/qwertz.sty
-rw-r--r--   2 root     root         4951 Feb 29  1996 /usr/man/man1/wnewmail.1

---

From: Casper BodenCummins <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 16:47:24 +0100

Max Hyre wrote:

>   Dear Andreas:
>
>Casper BodenCummins wrote:
>
>>  /usr/bin/[*
>>  This is junk. Blow it away.
>
>DON'T DO IT!
>
>Whew---sorry for shouting, but:  This is indeed a file named ``['',
>and it's executable (hence the ``*'' in what must be an ls -lF
>listing).
>
>``['' is a synonym for the ``test'' command, used in shell programming
>constructs such as:
[..]

Hey, *sorry* folks (especially Andreas). This bit of bad advice really
generated a lot of replies. I never would have realised that "[" was a
link to "test" - what a bizarre-looking and cunning way to do it.

It brings to mind the unofficial SAS motto: assumption is the mother of
all f*ck-ups.

Casper Boden-Cummins.