2011-02-01

ubuntu killer update

Some ubuntu 10.10 update broke it! I'm still having some problems, but I already learned about groups and the importance of the first created user.

This first user belongs (normally) to the admin group, and is allowed to use the 'sudo' command. It seems my '/etc/group' file got corrupted at some point, leaving my first user with almost no rights. Specially, I was not even allowed to use 'sudo' to get it fixed.

Thanks to this page, I got at least the required access rights back, editing the '/etc/group' file in recovery mode, adding my first user to the admin group. 'nano' is already configured to be used as alternative to 'vidudo' (often recommanded to edit '/etc/sudoers'), and much simpler to use for normal people. Also worth reading about 'sudo', in order to understand what it is all about: this ubuntu help page.

After I got my user back into the admin group, I had to edit again the '/etc/group' file to add my user also to various other groups, since every settings were gone.

Here is the list of groups I used (found on serverfault.com): 
  • adm
  • dialout
  • cdrom
  • floppy
  • fuse
  • audio
  • dip
  • video
  • plugdev
  • sambashare
  • lpadmin
  • admin

Note: having a backup is always the best solution. If you are lazy and lucky, you can find a valid 'group' file at one of these locations:
  • /etc/group_backup
  • /var/backups/group.bak

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