Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu

[jjanderson5]

I'm not a sys admin, but I have been installing and running Linux for years now. In the past, I have had problems at times preserving my environment during upgrades. Possibly, I have just not paid enough attention and the real solution may be to just being more careful in the future.

My objective is to preserve my personal environment when upgrading from one release to the next. In general, this is for my own account, but at times my wife or others have had accounts on my hosts, so it would be nice to preserve their environments too.

Ideally, all environment information is contained somewhere in my home directory or below it. By and large, I think this is true.

When installing Kubuntu, all of the home login directories are in /home and all of the system software is under the root directory, '/'. When I install a newer version, I then overlay the '/' directory with the new system software and leave the /home directory intact.

The underlying assumption here is the environment for each package is stored somewhere in the home directory and the new release of the package is backward compatible with the old release.

My first question is whether this assumption is valid. Are package environments generally backward compatible with older releases?

My second question is whether anyone can point me to any documentation on preserving user environments during upgrades.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Jim Anderson

[bsniadajewski]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu

You are somewhat right in that assumption. If I'm not mistaken, environmental settings can also be in the /etc directory as well. It would be beneficial to have your /home directory on a separate partition if you haven't done that already. Others nay have better answers though.

[jjanderson5]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu


Thanks for the response. I will make a note to backup and restore appropriate files in /etc. I guess /usr/local should be backup and restored too.

I do keep /home in a separate partition, so I should be ok on that issue.

Jim

[sithlord48]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu

files in /etc are usually system settings(as in roots) or global settings that all users share.
files in your /home directory usually starting with a '.' (hidden folders) usually will contain that users setting for that program

for example your settings for your users effects are stored in ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc

where as your kdm (login screen) setting are stored /etc/kde4/kdm/

for the most part saving your /home folder or partiton will work with all you previous version of the programs. while their are sometimes a program upgrade will change some settings values or how they are saved.

[jjanderson5]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu


sithlorg48,

Thank you for your advise. You anticipated my next question, which would have been about saving environments for user programs.

So going forward, to upgrade to a new release, I think I should be doing the following:

1) maintain user home directories in the /home partition
2) back up user home directories, /etc, and /usr/local before installing a new release
3) install the new release in the '/' partition
4) install programs (e.g. firefox, thunderbird, etc)
5) reinstall user info from the old version of the program to the new version (e.g. for thunderbird move
mailbox and addressbook from the old versoin to the new version and for firefox more bookmarks
from the old version to the new version).

Further suggestions to improve this process are always welcome.

Jim

[ronw]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu

#5 should be unnecessary if you have a separate /home partition, or would be covered by restoring your home folder from backups. Bookmarks, mailboxes, etc. are ~/.mozilla and ~/.thunderbird.

[sithlord48]

Re: Preserving user environments when upgrading Kubuntu

i wouldn't back up your /etc . the only exception would be if you have services that you had to configure like NFS or SAMBA. or if you have any special mounts save your /etc/fstab. and add those manual setting back to the new fstab the install will set up.. chances are you do not need any of these files backed up . they are more likley to cause you issues then to help you for example your /etc/fstab's uses uuid to mount the partitons to the system. they can change when you format the / partiton for the new install. replacing the new file with you old /etc/fstab would break you ability to mount the hard drive and boot the system up to a ready state. there are many similar files stored in /etc you can back it up but you shoun't blindly replace the files in your new install w/ the back up unless you know exactly what you are doing.