Big fun with Sys V Drivers

[Michael C. De Masi]

Hello again,

Being an administrator on several machines (various 3b's 
running a few different versions of Sys V) I sometimes
find myself in the position of doing 'partial restores'
on my machines due to passwd files getting munged, inittabs
disappearing or someone forgetting their root password.
(generally user oriented problems)

A 'partial restore', which basically just replaces the
important system files with more or less vanilla versions
thereof usually works fine to get the machine to a more
or less workable state.  This is usually followed by
replacing the clobbered system files with acceptable
backups, which also works fine.  The only problem arises
with the fact that after a partial restore, one has to 
reload every piece of software that conatins some sort
of a device driver.  This also does the job, but is very
time consuming and a real drag with user's and developers
breathing down your back.

Now, I've been told that there is indeed a way to 
reassociate a driver with a device short of re-installing
the whole package for the given device.  This sounds correct
to me, since I don't think the 'partial restore' actually touches
the drivers in any way other than to somehow disconnect them
from the new /unix.

Anybody have any ideas?
---
Michael C. De Masi - AT&T Communications (For whom I work and not speak)
2340 Dulles Corner Blvd.  Herndon, Virginia 22071   Phone: 703-834-8123
UUCP:   decuac!grebyn!paisano!demasi
     "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia" - W C Fields

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