A botched terminal command left me without a /usr/share folder. Most things seem to be running ok (although I haven't restarted since, so it's not clear if I'd have errors on reboot). There are already a few things wrong though, such as not being able to backspace in zshell, and emacs refusing to start up (giving me a Cannot open terminfo database file message). I'm not sure what in all is stored there, so I don't know what if anything I can do to reinstall necessary files, etc. Alternatively, is there a repair utility built in to OS X that might be able to restore at least some of the most essential things?
Note: I unfortunately don't have any backup software installed. Live and learn.
Best Answer
Tough break. If you have never backed up with Time Machine, then you should look at this link for a post on free undelete utilities. Or you can ask a colleague to compress their /usr/share folder if you're desperate. Last suggestion would be setting up a VM with your OSX version and copying it from there, but if you don't have Fusion or Parallels already installed, they'll ask for a reboot.
Good luck.