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Deleting your systems files for fun...

Drexus

Drexus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2009
106
1
Ontario, Canada
I won't go into why this happened, as it's difficult to believe myself.

Thinking I was in another volume, I deleted the following files/directories (using terminal) from my primary system drive:

.cups
.config
.cfxyqdun
.bash_history
.adobe
.Xauthority

Perhaps I was too tired, or impatient, or a bit of both, but can anyone explain just what pain I should expect from my retardedness?
 
scaredpoet

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
Drexus said:
I'm hoping these files/directories were benign, as I've restarted and run all my usual apps without issue.
Click to expand...

Most of these are configuration files, and not really something that will cause serious issues. .bash_history only stores commands you've run in the terminal (it's what allows you to press the up or down arrow in terminal to replay your past commands). .cups relates to Apple's printing system; at worst you might have to reconfigure your printers.

.Adobe similarly, might store some (not all) preferences for Adobe programs.

Bottom line: You'll probably find that default settings for some programs might be missing, but you can easily reset them and the files should recreate themselves.
 
Drexus

Drexus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2009
106
1
Ontario, Canada
scaredpoet said:
Most of these are configuration files, and not really something that will cause serious issues. .bash_history only stores commands you've run in the terminal (it's what allows you to press the up or down arrow in terminal to replay your past commands). .cups relates to Apple's printing system; at worst you might have to reconfigure your printers.

.Adobe similarly, might store some (not all) preferences for Adobe programs.

Bottom line: You'll probably find that default settings for some programs might be missing, but you can easily reset them and the files should recreate themselves.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I feel better now.
 
eRondeau

eRondeau

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2004
1,163
387
Canada's South Coast
OMG that's too funny! Two nights ago I saw that there were now THREE "Library" directories on my Yosemite install... one at Root, one under System, and another under my User account. I figured the one at Root was somehow an unnecessary duplicate made in error so I nuked it. Bad move. My iMac didn't work so well after that. Restored from Time Machine backup and all is well again. Lesson earned.
 
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