Missing files

[PapaParrot]

Yesterday, when I looked in a directory that should have had several files in it,
to my surprise it was empty.
I did not delete the files, nor move them , at least deliberately, or that I am aware of,...
It was no big deal since I also had the same files on a backup, and was able to replace them.
But I am wondering if there is any way / anywhere I can check and maybe get some
clue as to how they got deleted ? Maybe like a log that shows what program deleted
them,..?
Nobody else has access to this computer, and I suppose somehow I may have deleted
them without realizing it, but that is hard to believe,...any way any ideas on how to investigate this more ?
Thanks.
edit:
I don't think it matters, but the directory is a subdirectory in my /home/garry/misc
the dir being "misc",...the directory is still there, but empty.

[jggimi]

The FFS filesystem does not log.

Applications that use syslog(8) are generally system-wide services rather than end-user "desktop" applications, but you're always welcome to check the various syslog() files, stored in /var/log.

If you'd like to confirm whether it this was your finger fumble or not, setting your shell to alias "rm" as "rm -i" may help you diagnose if human error was involved. But this won't help if it was an application, as that would most likely just call unlink(2).

[PapaParrot]

Thanks,
I did look through the /var/log files, but nothing found,...
There also is nothing in the history on what I have done using a shell, often it is bash that I use,
but sometimes "ksh",...ksh does not have any history other then recent commands, and it starts with a "clean" history every time I boot (daily, I do shutdown at night),..
The "alias" option, I am not sure I understand very well, from what I see looking at the manual

man alias

and also some search results, I can see how it be useful in preventing
a "finger fumble" in the future, but don't see how it would help me see if this was a "finger fumble".
Any way, I am glad I keep good back ups , it just goes to show ,
For the future, I wonder how hard it would be to make a script, or configure my system so that it keeps logs of everything the user (me) does, or did,...maybe that would be a different topic though ?
Thank you for the response, and taking the time.

[jggimi]

You're a bash user? Just add something akin to:

alias rm="rm -i"

to your .bashrc file. This will add the -i option to every rm command you issue from the bash shell.

I don't use bash, but the shells I use (ksh, tcsh) have similar alias functions.

[albator]

Originally Posted by GarryR

I don't think it matters, but the directory is a subdirectory in my /home/garry/misc
the dir being "misc",...the directory is still there, but empty.

An explanation could be that this directory is a file system which (for some reason) is not mounted any more. It could also be the other way around, a FS has been mounted on top of a directory containing files.

But if it was the case, I guess you would already have worked this out.

[PapaParrot]

Thanks , both on the replies, and for the info on 'alias'
I am kind of short on time at the moment, so for now that is all.