Subject: RE: files without package

From: Casper BodenCummins <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 13:00:40 +0100

Not all files will be listed in the Contents and related files. Some are
created during package configuration, some later. Almost all the files
you listed are normal. However, I'd check these:

  /usr/lib/texmf/ini/core
  Not sure if this should be here. Run a `file /usr/lib/texmf/ini/core'.
If
  the message includes `core file' you can remove the file. Otherwise
*DON'T*.
  A core file can be generated when an application does something
forbidden,
  like addressing a non-existent memory location. It is basically an
image of
  the process at the time of the error. You don't need them unless you
want to
  analyse the problem.

  /etc/passwd~
  Looks like a temp file. Can anyone shed some light on this?

  /usr/bin/[*
  This is junk. Blow it away.

  /usr/bin/X11.old
  Can't think why this should be around if you didn't create it
yourself.
  Anyone else know?

  /dev/initctl|
  /dev/printer=
  /dev/xconsole|
  Are there really these symbols on the end?

Casper Boden-Cummins.

------

Andreas wrote:

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: [email-masked] (Ronald van Loon)
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 16:58:39 +0200 (MET DST)

|"  /etc/passwd~
|"  Looks like a temp file. Can anyone shed some light on this?
|"
|"  /usr/bin/[*
|"  This is junk. Blow it away.

If the '*' is part of the filename, I agree. If not, this is necessary for
shells that do not have test as a builtin. It should be a hardlink to 'test'
(necessary for constructs like 

if [ $1 = $2 ]
then
echo equal
fi
)

|"  /dev/initctl|
|"  /dev/printer=
|"  /dev/xconsole|
|"  Are there really these symbols on the end?

I guess it's output from ls -F.

Ronald van Loon ([email-masked])

---

From: Henrik Wallin <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 15:29:00 +0200 (MET DST)

Hello,

Don't delete '/usr/bin/['.
It's a hardlink to /usr/bin/test and alot of shell-scripts uses this in
if-statements etc.

/ Henrik Wallin, [email-masked]

> don't aprear in any /var/lib/dpkg/info/*lists or *conffiles ...

/ Henrik
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The nice thing about Windows is - It does not just crash, it displays a  |
| dialog box and lets you press 'OK' first.                                |
| (Arno Schaefer)                                                          |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

---

From: Max Hyre <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 96 11:12:44 EDT

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

   Dear Andreas:

>  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:

    if [ -z "`hostname`" ]; then
	hostconfig -p bootparams
    fi

(from my rc.boot file [I'm using Solaris at the moment, not Linux :-( ]).

   If you remove /bin/[, more stuff will break than you knew you had.

   FWIW, ``/etc/passwd~'' is the name emacs gives to a backup file
when it's edited /etc/passwd.  If you use emacs, that's where it came
from.  Maybe other editors use the same convention?

   For the rest, I can't help.

			Sincerely yours,

				Max Hyre

    **>> What's all this garbage at the bottom of my message?  It's a
    	 security blanket for paranoids---ask me for details, or check
    	 out 
    	    	    http://www.efh.org/pgp/pgpwork.html

          Key fingerprint =  EFEC 0067 6803 852D  B1DB 751E 6754 14EA

---

From: [email-masked] (Bernd Eckenfels)
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 17:21:13 +0200 (MET DST)

Hi,

>   Looks like a temp file. Can anyone shed some light on this?

This can be created by editing /etcpasswd by hand Delete it..

>   This is junk. Blow it away.

No, this is the Binary "test", it is needed for things like "[ -f "bla" ]"
for shells wich dont support builtin test support. This is required from
POSIX afaik.

>   Are there really these symbols on the end?

Those are named pipes and unix domain sockets needed to operate the system.

Greetings
Bernd

---

From: Nikita Schmidt <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 19:16:50 +0400

>   This is junk. Blow it away.

Actually, /usr/bin/[ is the same as /usr/bin/test (they are
hardlinked).  And, in my
opinion, they are not junk.  Yes, bash has them built in, but some other
shells may
have not.

>   Are there really these symbols on the end?

I think no, it's just ls -F.

	Kit.

---

From: Guy Maor <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 11:48:06 -0500 (CDT)

>   Looks like a temp file. Can anyone shed some light on this?

passwd writes it out whenever something changes, just in case.

>   This is junk. Blow it away.

Actually this is a link to test.  POSIX.2 (?) mandates its existence
for shells which don't provide it.  It's listed in dpkg -L shellutils,
btw.  There must be a bug in your script which generated this list.

>   Are there really these symbols on the end?

He did an ls -F.

> brw-rw----   1 root     floppy     2,  84 Sep  2 19:42 /dev/fd*

These were created by /usr/sbin/MAKEFLOPPIES when you installed
fdutils.

I would guess most of the other files are managed by the package's
control scripts.

Guy