delete /var/cache/* How can I fix it?

Question

I accidentally removes all files in /var/cache/ directory with sudo rm -rf command. Now I cannot see the files in Trash to bring them back.

I would like to know how bad is the situation if these files are removed? Is Ubuntu going to work normally and recreate the directories in cache again automatically?

If not, which directories do I have to create in /var/cache/ manually to let everything work fine?

I have already manually made apt and apache2 and debconf in cache directoy but I do not know if I miss more important directory which needed to be created there.

I hope somebody can guide me to fix this issue.

Answer 1

Cache directories fortunately should be expendable. Reinstalling the related packages should bring them back. The problem is /var/cache/apt as you need it for installing.

So let's recreate it manually:

sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/apt/archives

Now you can reinstall packages. On a default installation, these packages own directories in var cache, and this is how you reinstall them:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall cracklib-runtime cups debconf \
    dictionaries-common lightdm man-db nscd pm-utils pppconfig \
    samba-common software-center

The only thing I'm not sure about is whether debconf will run without the files in /var/cache/debconf. But try it!

Answer 2

rm -rf deletes all files in the given directory immediately without asking and recursively (all sub directories and files). There are not stored in the trash, they are gone.

It depends on the installed packages, which folders and files you need in this directory. For example: apache, apt, cups, debconf, flashplugin-installer, git, samba, lightdm, pm-utls, man, software-center ...

Maybe you can take a look on the Ubuntu live cd, which files and folders are the standard files in this directory.

EDIT: Maybe you can try these tools (on your own risk):

extundelete

testdisk