GNU/Linux Post-Installation Checklist:
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3. Shell script

The shell script (shivalik Ver. 1.0) is a convenient way to make backups of essential files and information. After downloading the script:

Make sure that you have logged in as "root"
Save the script in a directory with "root" permissions, say /root/myscript
Change to that directory i.e. cd /root/myscript use gunzip to unzip the script i.e gunzip ./shivalik.gz
IMPORTANT

You must read the warning given at the end of the script. Proceed with the next steps, only if you agree to the conditions specified in the warning...
To execute the script: You must make the script executable (by root only) chmod 700 ./shivalik
Verify that the paths of the various files which are to be saved, are correct and conform to your installation.
You can execute the script correctly only if you are "root" (many of the files being saved need root permissions).

	IMPORTANT
	You must read the warning given at the end of the script. Proceed with the next steps, only if you agree to the conditions specified in the warning...

Now you can execute (run) the above script (remember you must be "root", to do this) -- type ./shivalik

The script is profusely documented. It does not modify (or delete) any of your files or directories. It creates a well-protected backup of some essential files and information. The entire script is available for you to browse and understand its working. Feel free to go through the script and add any additional features, or files which you wish to be backed up. You may also send your feedback to the author of this script (<algolog@hd1.vsnl.net.in>).

Remember, the shivalik script is not a tool for complete backup and recovery. Ideally, the best thing to do would be to make a verbatim copy of your entire Linux installation along with all files and directories. This is not always possible, necessary, or advisable. The next best thing would be to take a backup of the most essential information and files. The shivalik script achieves this for you. The script creates a directory called /root/postinfo/, and stores all essential information (and files) there. To be absolutely prepared for any eventuality, you must copy the entire /root/postinfo/ on a removable medium, as soon as the script is executed.

Recovery and Repair: In the event of any problems later, you can reconstruct the damaged files by copying the files you have backed up in the /root/postinfo/ directory. It is as simple as that.

The structure of the /root/postinfo/ directory, and files found within, will be as follows:

/root/postinfo/summary: Contains a summary report of the status of your system (memory, partitions, mount points, disk usage). This file also has the list of files which have been saved. It also contains admin info like date and time of backup, shivalik version number etc.
/root/postinfo/postinfo.tar.gz: Contains a copy of the earlier postinfo (if any). This is a fall back to a fall back!
/root/postinfo/snapshot.gz: Contains a gzipped structured listing of ALL files and directories of your Linux system (the directories "tree"). You can unzip this file and use any plain text editor to know the location of any file. Of course, you cannot retrieve the contents of that file unless you had saved it explicitly elsewhere.
/root/postinfo/shivalik: This is a copy of the shivalik script which was used for making the post install backup. At the time of recovery after an incident, you can always examine this script to know how the backup was done earlier. You will always have a consistent copy of the script and the files created by the script.
/root/postinfo/etcfiles/: This subdirectory contains a copy of many essential files from the /etc/ directory of your Linux installation. It also contains copies of the various configuration files stored in the /etc/ directory.
/root/postinfo/otherfiles/: This subdirectory contains a copy of some essential files (those which are not in the /etc/ directory) of your Linux installation. If you want, you can add any other files here, and get it saved automatically with others.

3.1. The script...

#-----------------------------------------------
#           shivalik  \(Ver. 1.0\)
#Please read the WARNING section of this script first

#This script collects post installation information
#this can also be run occasionally to collect all useful
#information about your Linux installation, in one place
#The output will be written to /root/postinfo/
#a summary report will be written in /root/postinfo/summary

#For usage and related information, please consult:
#http://algolog.tripod.com/postlnx.htm
# ----------------------------------------------

clear
echo
echo "-----------------------------------------------------------"
echo This is the output of Partha\'s shivalik script \(Ver.1.0\)
echo You must be \"root\", for this script to work correctly
echo You must also read and accept the terms and warnings given
echo in the WARNINGS section of this script
echo "-----------------------------------------------------------"
echo
echo "### STEP 0 ### Preparation work"
echo First we create the /root/postinfo/ directory if does not exist already
test ! -d /root/postinfo && mkdir /root/postinfo

echo Saving current version of all postinfo files
echo But first we delete the earlier version i.e. current-1 version
test -e /root/postinfo/oldpostinfo* &&  rm /root/postinfo/oldpostinfo.tar.gz
#the oldpostinfo file is made temporarily in /root
#it will be moved to /root/postinfo
tar -zcvf /root/oldpostinfo.tar.gz /root/postinfo/*

#check if above tar succeeded
if
test -s /root/oldpostinfo.tar.gz
then 
echo old postinfo saved in /root/oldpostinfo.tar.gz
ls -l /root/oldpostinfo*
else
echo Could not save oldpostinfo
echo Abandoning shivalik script
exit
fi


#now delete all the current postinfofiles
rm -rf /root/postinfo/*
#and start a new summary file
echo  shivalik \(Ver. 1.0\) > /root/postinfo/summary
echo -n "Report created on: " >> /root/postinfo/summary
date -R >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo And now, move the oldpostinfo file to /root/postinfo/ directory
mv /root/oldpostinfo.tar.gz /root/postinfo
#

#copy the shivalik script
echo charity begins at home
echo We make a copy of the shivalik script
echo We make a copy of the shivalik script >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo in /root/postinfo/ >> /root/postinfo/summary
cp ./shivalik /root/postinfo/shivalik

#taking stock
echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of STEP-0
ls -AlR /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 0 ###
echo
#
#
echo
echo "### STEP 1 ### Make a snapshot of the system"
echo >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "### STEP 1 ### A snapshot of all the files and directories" >>  /root/postinfo/summary
echo The first step is to take stock of your computer contents
echo This is going to take several minutes
echo So, go and fetch your coffee mug !
ls -AlRH / >> /root/postinfo/snapshot
rm -f /root/postinfo/snapshot.gz
gzip /root/postinfo/snapshot
echo snapshot created
echo An exhaustive listing of all files has been made and >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo stored in /root/postinfo/snapshot.gz >> /root/postinfo/summary
ls -l /root/postinfo/snapshot.gz >> /root/postinfo/summary

# taking stock at the end of this step
echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of this STEP
ls -l /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 1 ###
echo
#
#
echo

echo "### STEP 2 ### Vital statistics"
echo >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "### STEP 2 ### Vital statistics" >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo Collecting vital statistics

echo .....about memory
echo "---- cat /proc/meminfo ---------" >> /root/postinfo/summary
cat /proc/meminfo >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo .....about partitions and mountpoints
echo "---- cat /proc/partitions---------" >> /root/postinfo/summary
cat /proc/partitions >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo .....about diskspace used
echo "---- df ---------" >> /root/postinfo/summary
df >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo .....about modules
echo "---- cat /proc/modules ---------" >> /root/postinfo/summary
cat /proc/modules >> /root/postinfo/summary

# taking stock at the end of this step

echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of STEP-2
ls -AlR /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 2 ###
echo
#
#
echo
echo "### STEP 3 ### Now we save some important files from /etc "
echo This section may need some customising, depending on the
echo installation you have done, and the distribution you have used, 
echo and the options you have chosen during installation.

echo >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "### STEP 3 ### Now we save some important files from /etc" >>  /root/postinfo/summary
test ! -d /root/postinfo/etcfiles && mkdir /root/postinfo/etcfiles

echo ..... saving XF86Config -- your XWindows config file
cp /etc/XF86Config /root/postinfo/etcfiles
echo "cp /etc/XF86Config /root/postinfo/" >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo ..... saving /etc/fstab file
cp /etc/fstab  /root/postinfo/etcfiles
echo "cp /etc/fstab /root/postinfo/" >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo ..... saving /etc/profile file
cp /etc/profile  /root/postinfo/etcfiles
echo "cp /etc/profile /root/postinfo/" >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo ..... saving /etc/profile.local file
cp /etc/profile.local  /root/postinfo/etcfiles
echo "cp /etc/profile.local /root/postinfo/" >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo ".... saving /etc/*conf files"
cp /etc/*conf /root/postinfo/etcfiles

echo ".... saving /etc/*config files"
cp /etc/*config /root/postinfo/etcfiles

echo the following files from /etc have been copied to  /root/postinfo/etcfiles >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "/etc/*conf" >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "/etc/*config" >> /root/postinfo/summary

# taking stock at the end of this step
echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of this STEP-3
ls -AlR /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 3 ###
echo
#
#

echo
echo "### STEP 4 ### Now we save some other important files"
echo This section may need some customising, depending on the
echo installation you have done, and the distribution you have used,
echo and the options you have chosen for the installation
echo The following stuff is  designed for SuSe  7.1

echo "### STEP 4 ### Now we save some other important files" >>  /root/postinfo/summary
echo in /root/postinfo/otherfiles >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo You can add any other files to backed up, here
test ! -d /root/postinfo/otherfiles && mkdir /root/postinfo/otherfiles
ls -l /root/postinfo/

echo ..... saving /etc/init.d/boot.local --
cp /etc/init.d/boot.local /root/postinfo/otherfiles
echo "cp /etc/init.d/boot.local /root/postinfo/otherfiles" >>  /root/postinfo/summary

echo ..... saving /etc/init.d/halt.local --
cp /etc/init.d/halt.local /root/postinfo/otherfiles
echo "cp /etc/init.d/halt.local /root/postinfo/otherfiles" >>  /root/postinfo/summary

# taking stock at the end of this step
echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of this STEP-4
ls -AlR /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 4 ###
echo

echo
echo "### STEP 999 ### Wrap up, clean up"
echo >> /root/postinfo/summary

echo "### STEP 999 ### Wrap up, clean up, sum up" >>  /root/postinfo/summary
echo summing up, cleaning up
# for security reasons we make /root/postinfo inaccessible to
# and invisible to non-root
chmod 700 /root/postinfo
chmod 700 /root/postinfo/etcfiles
chmod 700 /root/postinfo/otherfiles
chmod 700 /root/postinfo/*
chmod 700 /root/postinfo/etcfiles/*
chmod 700 /root/postinfo/otherfiles/*
echo This is the contents of /root/postinfo >> /root/postinfo/summary
ls -AlR /root/postinfo >> /root/postinfo/summary
echo "###### THE END #####" >> /root/postinfo/summary



# taking stock at the end of this step
echo
echo Contents of /root/postinfo at the end of this STEP-999
ls -AlR /root/postinfo
echo End of "### STEP 999 ###"
echo
echo "###### THE END #####"
echo IMPORTANT: You must now copy all the files in /root/postinfo
echo to a safe location, preferably on a different drive or on
echo a removable backup medium.
echo " "
echo You will find a summary report of this procedure, in
echo /root/postinfo/summary
echo You will find the earlier version of summary \(if any\)
echo inside /root/postinfo/oldpostinfo.tar.gz
echo " "

#
echo "
#---------------------------------------------------------
#               WARNING  WARNING WARNING
#                shivalik (ver. 1.0)
# This script is being made accessible to you without any
# warranties or assurances about its performance or
# usability for any purpose. Be informed that you are using
# this script out of your own initiative and willingness,
# and at your own risk and peril.
# You will find the latest version of this script, and related
# information at: http://algolog.tripod.com/postlnx.htm
# Copyrights and all rights reserved by: 
# Dr. S. Parthasarathy (algolog@hd1.vsnl.net.in)
#--------------------------------------------------------
"

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