# Binary base distribution



## alsh (Dec 15, 2011)

Hello,

I have accidentally installed "Binary base distribution (required)" from sysinstall on a Freebsd FreeBSD 8.2 system. This resulted in user accounts being removed from /etc/passwd. I've restored that part so far, but I was wondering what other files were affected?

I've also noticed that I have the following line in /etc/motd: 

```
FreeBSD ?.?.?  (UNKNOWN)
```

So basically the question is how to find what's in that distribution? And what is there left to restore to normal?


----------



## SirDice (Dec 15, 2011)

This is one of the many reasons why you should not use sysinstall(8). 
Use it only for the initial install and forget it ever existed after that.

Your /etc/rc.conf has most likely been overwritten.


----------



## dave (Dec 17, 2011)

You would need to consider any config files that are part of the base install.  So, for instance if you had configured the DNS service, that is built in, so it was likely overwritten.  Whereas any software you installed from ports or packages is probably fine.  Everything in /usr/local/etc should be fine.  List the contents of /etc and look through the list.  If it were me, I would have to restore crontab, rc.conf, named/named.conf, hosts.allow, resolv.conf, aliases, group and passwd.  But then, if it were really me, I would simply restore from a backup made using dump.


----------



## alsh (Dec 17, 2011)

Thank you for the hints. The /etc directory got reverted to defaults, however /etc/rc.conf survived.

I'll definitely think twice before using sysinstall again.


----------

