Use case: wipe data from test installation in order to start over quickly...
1. drop/empty the db
2. delete ./files and its contents
3. delete settings.php
4. visit site to re-start the installation process
As it is now, the installer complains about a missing settings.php:

So I had to extract a fresh copy of the file in order to carry on. Can we ship a default-settings.php file and have the installer create a copy of it instead of complaining in this case?
Recent comments
Hi ian, so, in your case all the other admin pages work fine, including the status page, only admin/reports/updates fails? But you can access admin/reports? Weird... I...
Update Report thows "Access denied You are not authorized to access this page."
The File (Field) Paths module should be able to move existing files. I've not tested it, but the module description says: Retroactive updates - rename and/or move...
Moving from /files into subdirectories
Yes indeed. We are exploring a few other more costly options, but as we are a low-resource start-up, we could save a lot of money by integrating Backdrop, CiviCRM and Ubercart for our membership...
UberPOS for Backdrop?