Just to make sure, your filesystem is OK, right? > But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not > require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk. > Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a > live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched? (I > should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big > partition, including /home and everything else.)
Just do a normal install with manual filesystem configuration, choose the existing partition with the prior filesystem format and make sure to _not_ choose format partition. The installer will warn you, something along the lines that it will overwrite the old /usr, /etc/, /var, etc - which is what you want. optionally you can remove all directories but /home (and may be /root prior to installation from a live system (the installer will do). I strongly advise to make the backup before nonetheless - breaking things is easy, especially in the installer. This procedure will however spare you restoring thing from the backup, if it works.
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