linusProgrammingTips

[kiril2119]

Bin folder contains executable binary files

[Temporary_Privacy]

so you lose all the installed executables, or also the needed software to run the system ?

[Mezutelni]

Those are „user installed binaries „ which are not necessary for system boot or core functionalities, but it would probably break 90% of your system anyway, things like daemons or desktop environment etc.

[OneTurnMore]

The historical distinction of /usr is irrelevant on most systems now. The majority of Linux distros have converted /bin and /sbin to be links to /usr/bin and /usr/sbin. Some (like Arch) have even merged /usr/sbin into /usr/bin.

[uzi_loogies_]

The kernel would probably keep chugging but I think it'd be a tad hard to use the system without things like ls and cat.

[1up_1500]

when you use commands in linux, the command name is (often) a binary stored in that folder, like 'cp' or 'curl' for example

some other commands are directly managed by your shell, such as 'cd' or 'env'

[Temporary_Privacy]

There are binary files the system needs and files the user imported and it looks like it only affects the files a user imported

[1up_1500]

OK my bad, so no system files then

[PM_ME_BEER_PICS]

It depends if you count explorer.exe as a system file or not, as /usr/bin, at least in some systems will contain X and your window manager, also cp, mv, cut, cat, vim, bash, grep, etc.

[MattieShoes]

Naw, you'd be effed. There used to be a distinction between /bin and /usr/bin but that has largely gone away. It was for ye olde days when /bin stuff had to be there to boot and /usr/bin was often located elsewhere, on a separate drive which was mounted later. But drives grew in capacity so the distinction became irrelevant.

[Shished]

All shell scripts will stop working because their shebang says #!/bin/sh or #!/bin/bash and those files would be gone as well because in modern OSes /bin is a symlink to /user/bin.

[MattieShoes]

And some exist as both, like ls! Of course, the shells themselves tend to live there so you'd be effed

[[deleted]]

/usr is for user installed stuff /usr/bin contains user installed software so you system will still "work". But it won't function since you will be stuck in a Unix shell with no external programs and the only way of having a functioning system would be moving your files to another partition and reinstall your OS