Laurence Orchard wrote:
> I was running out of space on / , so I thought
>
> <lightbulb on>
> !I know I'll clear /tmp cos it's 100M!
> </lightbulb off>
>
> Very easy rm -rf /tmp
>
> Now when I log on all I get is a blank,blue screen with mouse pointer.
>
> I have tried changing the session to both KDE & Gnome, but no luck.
>
> I can get a failsafe terminal though & if I log in as root, Gnome works.
>
> What have I done? /tmp always used to be just that temporary, I even had
> a script on a previous system to clear it at reboot for security.
Very odd.
For what it's worth, I use tmpfs for /tmp. There's no permanent storage,
and nothing can survive a reboot. The Linux File Hierarchy Standard
(FHS) explicitly demands that this should work, and it does.
However, programs are supposed to be able to rely on /tmp's contents not
going away while they're running.
I suspect that you've triggered a buglet in one of the programs that was
broken one of your config files. These are usually kept in hidden files
and directories (their names begin with a dot) in your home directory.
Can you try adding a new, test user, and see if that works properly? I
strongly suspect that it will.
If it does, then you might like to archive your home directory, and
remove then recreate your user account. Or you might like to experiment
with moving the following hidden files and directories out of your home
directory when you *aren't* logged on:
cd ~ $YOUR_USUAL_USER_NAME
rm -rf .gconf .gconfd .gnome .gnome2 .gnome2_private .gtkrc-1.2-gnome2
Hope this gives you some hints!
James.
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