Arch Linux

Xwang

Member

From: EU

Registered: 2012-05-14

Posts: 418

Hidden files and folders under /

This is the ls -all of / on my pc.

drwxr-xr-x  23 root root  4096 12 feb 17.10 .
drwxr-xr-x  23 root root  4096 12 feb 17.10 ..
-rw-------   1 root root    64  7 mag  2016 .bash_history
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 13 nov 17.23 bin -> usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  4096  1 gen  1970 boot
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .cache
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .config
drwxr-xr-x   6 root root  4096  8 feb 13.42 data
drwx------   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .dbus
drwxr-xr-x  22 root root  3640 30 apr 22.13 dev
drwxr-xr-x 119 root root 12288 30 apr 22.13 etc
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   336  7 mag  2016 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 16 ott  2017 home
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .kde4
srw-------   1 root root     0  1 dic  2017 kdeinit5__0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 13 nov 17.23 lib -> usr/lib
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 13 nov 17.23 lib64 -> usr/lib
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .local
drwx------   2 root root 16384 30 mar  2016 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root  4096 24 nov 16.16 mnt
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root  4096  1 mar 16.21 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 301 root root     0 30 apr 22.13 proc
drwxr-x---  15 root root  4096 30 apr 21.54 root
drwxr-xr-x  29 root root   740 30 apr 22.13 run
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root     7 13 nov 17.23 sbin -> usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 30 set  2015 srv
dr-xr-xr-x  13 root root     0 30 apr 22.13 sys
drwxrwxrwt  14 root root   340 30 apr 22.14 tmp
drwxr-xr-x  11 root root  4096 30 apr 21.47 usr
drwxr-xr-x  13 root root  4096 30 apr 22.13 var

as you can see there are some hidden files and folders and a lot if not all of them seem to be pretty old.
They seem to be all related to kde and not modified since around 2016 (the time when I installed archlinux on this PC). So I'm wondering if I should delete them all. What do you suggest me to do?

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

You were running KDE as root o_0

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

Xwang

Member

From: EU

Registered: 2012-05-14

Posts: 418

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

Maybe one time.
According to you can I delete them all (after a backup)?

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

You were running KDE as root o_0

Wouldn't that have put them under /root/ ?

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 19,077

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

The home directory for root was changed to / or $HOME was unset or set to / ?

getent passwd root

Edit:
The following should be in a users home directory:

-rw-------   1 root root    64  7 mag  2016 .bash_history
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .cache
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .config
drwx------   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .dbus
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   336  7 mag  2016 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .kde4
srw-------   1 root root     0  1 dic  2017 kdeinit5__0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .local

I assume the following is user created:

drwxr-xr-x   6 root root  4096  8 feb 13.42 data

Last edited by loqs (2020-04-30 21:12:56)

Xwang

Member

From: EU

Registered: 2012-05-14

Posts: 418

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

The home directory for root was changed to / or $HOME was unset or set to / ?

getent passwd root

When I run echo $HOME (afetr a sudo su command) it says:
/root

getent passwd root says:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

What happened four year ago I do not know or remember, but if it is safe to remove those, I will do ASAP.

The /root folder exists and contains some configurations file and folders a lot more updated.

Last edited by Xwang (2020-04-30 21:13:17)

Xwang

Member

From: EU

Registered: 2012-05-14

Posts: 418

Re: Hidden files and folders under /

The home directory for root was changed to / or $HOME was unset or set to / ?
...
The following should be in a users home directory:

-rw-------   1 root root    64  7 mag  2016 .bash_history
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .cache
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .config
drwx------   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .dbus
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   336  7 mag  2016 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .kde4
srw-------   1 root root     0  1 dic  2017 kdeinit5__0
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096  7 mag  2016 .local

Indeed they are in a newer version in /root folder too except for the kdeinit5__0 one

I assume the following is user created:

drwxr-xr-x   6 root root  4096  8 feb 13.42 data

Yes I have created it to mount the 2nd internal drive in which I store my data files (music, video, photos, documents and so on)