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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Distro Migration (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi, Linux! I've been using Linux for many years now, but haven't moved distros in awhile. I'm considering it now, and I really would like to migrate over all my customized system and software settings. So far, I am thinking of backing up everything that begins with a dot in my home folder, all of my systemd service files, and user/root crontabs. I know this is missing some things, but I'm not sure what. Any advice/warnings/examples people care to share?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You could start by having /home on a different partition. So that you simply can mount it in your new system and have the same settings and files as previously.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This would be a big help, and I used to do that. I've actually heard that this can cause some problems between distros though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

My biggest problem with it is forgetting which system I booted into when I use the same desktop environments :P and yeah configs can get out of date and inconsistent but I usually just blow them away since I'm not into customizing my desktop much

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It shouldn't as long as you make sure that the numeric uid/gid of your user account matches the one from the original system. If that's not feasible then you can chown the tree.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hmm, this is actually something I will be fixing from the last time I repurposed this PC. What exactly do you mean chown the tree? I know what chown is, but what does tree mean in this context?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

tree in this context would mean the whole directory, its files and its subdirectories. Like the whole Directory Tree.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Like '/' or '/home/electric_nan'?