Clean upgrade

[mandoran]

Hello all,

I was just wondering if some wise person could give a list of the essential customizations to save before doing a clean install of a new version of Linux Lite. 

I've tried Aptik to prepare somewhat. I know some advise backing up the root and home directories, but that seems like overkill - surely there is a small subset of that that is relevant to changes one might want to keep and reinstall?

Thanks!

[Teddy]

Customisations are a personal preference, so if we would give you a list to do such a thing, it may not be to your taste. Think about the customisations you have done to Linux Lite, write them down or type them into a document of some sort, like maybe LibreOffice / OpenOffice.org, Google Drive, or in your normal text editor.

[mandoran]

Yes... but I'm new enough to this kind of thing to not know where a lot of the customizations and related files will be found, particularly when hidden or obscure directories might be involved.

I don't really want hard and fast advice, because I am prepared and happy to tinker with the new install anyway, that's part of the upgrade process it seems to me. 

But I would like to know anything that might be useful for tracking down and trying to keep some things - collect information that could be useful and not so obvious to the fairly inexperienced user. I'm not so bothered if things get lost, I would just like to know as much as possible about what might be useful. 

No pressure!

[Teddy]

I believe customisations are mostly found in the /etc folder in your Linux system. Be careful in this folder, as it might break your system, but I doubt that will happen as you are re-installing the same distro. In that case, go for it!

[mandoran]

Aha, thanks, will root around in there. Hadn't heard that suggested yet.

[gold_finger]

mandoran,

Aside from the obvious (documents, pics, music, etc.), you may want to save the configuration files for programs that you have made personalized settings for.  For example, Firefox, Internet radio programs (radiotray), calendar programs, e-Book programs, etc.

Those config files are usually hidden files (with names that begin with a period ".") under your home folder.  To see them, open your file manager, click View -> Show Hidden Files (or just type key combo "Ctrl+H").  You'll probably want to save your Firefox profile to reuse with the new install.  Doing that eliminates the need to re-download and install any addons you have, re-adjust preferences, re-add bookmarks, etc.  Copy the entire hidden folder of ".mozilla", then just paste that into the new install under /home/mandoran to replace the one that's there.

If you do something like that for many other programs and you're moving from an earlier version of LinuxLite to a newer one, I'd recommend replacing the configs one-at-a-time and testing the respective program right after doing that to be sure everything works okay.  You might also want to make a backup copy of the fresh default file before replacing it, so you can put that back in the event that the newer program version doesn't operate properly with the old config file.

An example for the ".mozilla" folder:

Make copy of original folder on new install

Code:

cp -R /home/mandoran/.mozilla /home/mandoran/.mozilla.orig

Then replace that ".mozilla" folder with your saved copy from old installation.

Code:

cp -R /path/to/saved/.mozilla /home/mandoran/.mozilla

If Firefox operates properly, great!  If it doesn't, put the original default folder back:

Code:

mv /home/mandoran/.mozilla.orig /home/mandoran/.mozilla

P.s.  You could do things like above using your mouse in the file manager, but it's easier to use the terminal (in my opinion).  To accomplish above with mouse and file manager, you would need to copy/paste original .mozilla folder to some other location (Desktop) first; then rename it (.mozilla.orig); then cut and paste it into /home/mandarin; then copy/paste the saved old one into /home/mandarin to replace the current .mozilla.  (At least, I think that's how you'd have to do it -- haven't tried it myself recently.)

[mandoran]

Thanks! Adding that to my future procedures!

[riser]

To simply that, you could copy your entire home directory before an install.  Then you can copy back any portion/configuration you feel you need.

Personally, I just leave the home directory as is and work out issues (if any).

I moved to LinuxLite from another debian based distro, and had very few issues by doing that.  But you must be comfortable with modifying settings, searching directories and hidden files, etc.

To each his own.

[mandoran]

Yes, I've heard people do that but was hoping to narrow it down a bit, mostly to keep options open and save some time - I have usually just started over with distro upgrades, but that's hardly optimal either.