[ubuntu-in] Deleting contents of /usr directory - Implications

[Nitesh Mistry]

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 03:27:00PM +0530, Narendra Diwate wrote:
> I am just reading the latest DW weekly and in it a interview they say that
> deleting the contents of /usr directory will give the base system as was
> installed or something close to it.
> 
> I just checked my /usr and ITS BIG. 1.8GB and 115000 files in it. I do not
> have too many programs installed, have only one user on the system and am
> very conscious of how much space my OS occupies. That is a lot of space.
> 
> What will happen if I decide to delete my the contents of the /usr dir? Now
> i know i will lose the user installed apps. What else will happen? Will the
> sys be still bootable and importantly usable?

Ever tried booting the computer in to 'recovery mode'? AFAIK, if you
delete the contents of /usr directory, it will look very much like that
(i.e. just the command prompt and a barebones linux install - no
graphical stuff)



Regards,
Nitesh