Keep my config in 24.04

[Gromm]

Soon, very soon I am going to make the switch from Kubuntu 22.04 to 24.04. For that I prefer a clean re-installation. I have heard already when I copy the .config folder from 22.04 into 24.04 after installation, I'll get my configuration, system settings, appearance etc back from the previous system. Is there anything else I can do to keep as much as possible from 22.04? I trust programs need to be reinstalled or is there something possible as well?

[oshunluvr]

Unless you have made changes in the system folders - generally edits under /etc/ - then simply not erasing your home folder should retain all your personal settings. I used to always do a re-install until 2018 when I switched to KDEneon. Since then I have been holding my breath and upgrading - once in 2022 and again last year. The only stumble was after the upgrade to the 24.04 base for KDEneon, plasma changed enough that my desktop took quite a while to load. The solution was to simply delete my plasma config an re-set up my desktop. Been great since then.

In your case, since 24.04 Kubuntu still uses Plasma 5, I doubt you would see any benefit to a clean install. 22.04 and 24.04 aren't all that much different IMO and a new install means re-installing every single thing from your current install. It can be a lot of work unless your system is quite minimal.

Frankly, the old days of commonly failing release upgrades are pretty much gone if you prep your system correctly. nVidia drivers are often a bugger to get working through an upgrade so if you can, revert to the open source driver before upgrading and re-install the nVidia driver after. Wifi drivers can also cause an issue if you have a wifi card not directly supported by the kernel. If you have a wired connection this isn't much of a problem but if you're wifi only I suggest doing research on your wifi card model and makes sure you won't need special drivers for it with 24.04. Boot to a LiveUSB 24.04 should reveal any wifi problems in most cases.

You didn't share anything about your installation and partitioning setup, but here's a couple other ideas and suggestions:

If you're using BTRFS:

• Simply snapshot your 22.04 root and home subvolumes and run release upgrade. If you don't like the results, roll back to the 22.04 snapshots and try something else.
• Alternately, you could rename your 22.04 subvolumes then do a fresh install to the same BTRFS file system - just don't reformat it and your 22.04 install will remain untouched. Then you can set up dual booing of 22.04 and 24.04 and boot to either until you get 24.04 the way you like it.

If you're not using BTRFS:

• If you have enough hard drive space, you could shrink your install partition and install 24.04 along side 22.04 and dual boot.

If it were my system, I'd do a backup of the system and home then just upgrade it rather then spending all the time it takes to redo the entire system.

[Gromm]

Well. I also have a laptop here with Kubuntu 22.04 on it. I did a direct upgrade on that one some years ago and the result was a slow limping system.... So I did a clean re-install of 22.04 after all. I might want to give it a try on that one now. Maybe things have changed indeed. I do not like the idea risking that for my main system, however.... I can still indeed save my home folder someplace else and try the upgrade anyway. My system is a triple boot with Windows and Kubuntu with a Mint Cinnamon installation as a backup. I did that because in the past I had some trouble with the NVidia drivers and Kubuntu, something you mentioned indeed as well. The work after the clean install should not be that much work actually, only a few extra programs that are not aboard by default.

I am currently using EXT4 als filesystem. I trust you suggest hereby that I use BTRFS from now on to install my systems on. .

[jglen490]

I've been doing a clean install on every change of Kubuntu version (I only use LTS, BTW). To facilitate that, I keep /home on its own partition. I then install the new Kubuntu without making changes to the /home partition. I also use ext4 for / and /home. The ESP partition is a FAT partition, of course. You are free to use whatever file system makes sense for your computing needs and backup/restore requirements, plus any recovery processes you may need/use.

For my fairly static, small, single user, personal system ext4 works perfectly. I do manage a system for a small non-profit. The NAS support we selected does use BTRFS, and it's fine also.

[Gromm]

I understand here that "keep home on it's own partition" is something different than "copy my home folder on another random safe place (data partition) and copy it back after installation". But how does that work?

Update: I just discovered I can make a /home partition in the manual partition setup option prior to the installation of Kubuntu/Ubuntu/Mint, it's practically the same. I trust this is how I make a dedicated home folder. Since this folder is full of settings etc, is it advisable to make this larger than the partition where the OS is installed?

[skyfishgoo]

use the manual install method and when you get to the /home partition just edit the mountpoint and do NOT check the format box

that will have the install use the existing partition for /home and not over write it with a new format operation.

[claydoh]

Since this folder is full of settings etc, is it advisable to make this larger than the partition where the OS is installed?

Yes, it where all your files, user, and app settings are kept.

You want / to be 30Gb or more to make sure you have room for the OS and applications.


.



Another somewhat more advanced thing to consider for a fresh install is to use btrfs instead of ext4.

You don't need have separate partitions for things as / and /home are subvolumes that are separate but share the available drive space.

Specifying Btrfs as root automatically sets up / and /home subvolumes for you.

Then, once you gave installed the OS you'll want to install Timeshift and use that to set up scheduling for automatic btrfs snapshots. This is what allows you to roll back when something goes awry. You can have separate snapshots for /home if you prefer. I do. You can roll back the OS but your files and user settings stay current.

Rollbacks take seconds at most plus the time to reboot, and drive space used is very minimal.

Timeshift is Linux Mint's recovery tool. It uses a different method on normal ext4 drives, but I have no idea if it can restore after situations like an OS upgrade, for example. It needs an external or second drive for ext4 usage

Timeshift is easy to use, even from the command line, and can also be installed and used in a live USB session for recovery if needed.

[jglen490]

Just for kicks and giggles, here's how mine is set up:

/media/johng$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 1.6G 2.2M 1.6G 1% /run
/dev/nvme0n1p1 48G 12G 34G 26% /
tmpfs 7.7G 4.0K 7.7G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 8.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
efivarfs 192K 115K 73K 62% /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
/dev/nvme0n1p3 852G 395G 415G 49% /home
/dev/nvme0n1p2 301M 6.2M 295M 3% /boot/efi
tmpfs 1.6G 2.5M 1.6G 1% /run/user/1000

My actual partitions are bolded. The / partition is oversized, but there's room for everything that's not my data. The /home partition is about half full, and /boot/efi is way oversized, but I wasn't in the mood to argue with the installer over a few megabytes. Each of those is a separate device/partition.

When I install a new LTS, I leave /home alone - just as it is. Then I format the other two and install. The configs and data are mostly in /home, but a couple of apps ended up in /opt which is actually in the nvme0n1p1 partition. Ignore the other stuff, it's all OS management.

My backup routine uses rsync to copy /opt and /home to an external drive enclosure (never mounted at boot). If I ever need a larger drive, moving my stuff into their new home will be simple with rsync.

[Gromm]

Ok, this is stuff for further study.
jglen490 That gives a nice idea of a setup. I trust the first number is the size, followed by how much is in use and how much is left followed by the percentage in use. I am not exactly a newbie but not an expert either.
claydoh So you mean to say, when I want to install the OS on a btrfs partition, that partition automatically divides itself into / and /home ? That sounds pretty fancy. But then: the effect of doing that manually with EXT4 partitions is the same is it not? And Timeshift works on both btrfs and ext4 right? only different on ext4 you said.

Thanks for the lessons so far.

[claydoh]

So you mean to say, when I want to install the OS on a btrfs partition, that partition automatically divides itself into / and /home ? That sounds pretty fancy. But then: the effect of doing that manually with EXT4 partitions is the same is it not? And Timeshift works on both btrfs and ext4 right? only different on ext4 you said.

Yes, for all intents and purposes, though it IS different. You don't need to worry about the sizes used at all, just one partition to create as opposed to two, and wondering how big or small they can be. Ok, two partitions instead of three, as you still need the EFI as well.

The fancy thing about snapshots (btrfs) over file based (rsync) "snapshots" or backups is both speed of the process/restore as well as not needing an additional drive for the rsyns style ones. Btrfs is faaaasssst, literally a few seconds at worst, same for restoring (before a reboot, which does not take any longer than normal). Plus they do not use much drive space at all. AND it is quick and easy to browse a snapshot's files to get at something you lost.

The ext4 snapshots in Timeshift will take a lot longer to save, let alone restore back to a drive. Same for Kup's backups.

On the other hand, Timeshift's btrfs snapshots are not actual backups, since they reside on the filesystem, not a separate location

[Gromm]

Yes, for all intents and purposes, though it IS different. You don't need to worry about the sizes used at all, just one partition to create as opposed to two, and wondering how big or small they can be. Ok, two partitions instead of three, as you still need the EFI as well.

The fancy thing about snapshots (btrfs) over file based (rsync) "snapshots" or backups is both speed of the process/restore as well as not needing an additional drive for the rsyns style ones. Btrfs is faaaasssst, literally a few seconds at worst, same for restoring (before a reboot, which does not take any longer than normal). Plus they do not use much drive space at all. AND it is quick and easy to browse a snapshot's files to get at something you lost.

The ext4 snapshots in Timeshift will take a lot longer to save, let alone restore back to a drive. Same for Kup's backups.

On the other hand, Timeshift's btrfs snapshots are not actual backups, since they reside on the filesystem, not a separate location

Well then, I am installing one of my old laptops as we speak. I was also pondering about usage of resources and realised again KDE is not a heavy environment anymore, so Kubuntu 24.04 it is. I have divided the partitions in EXT 4 however but I can still change that in the manual installer.
So I might give btrfs a go as you and jglen490 suggested.

[oshunluvr]

To recap a bit: Some of the benefits of BTRFS include:

1. No partitioning required:
BTRFS uses subvolumes to segregate data on a single partition rather than requiring partition boundaries. The default BTRFS install when using Kubuntu will put the system in a subvolume named "@" and the home folders in a subvolume named "@home". This effectively separates the system files from the home files but allows all the free space to be shared by either subvolume. The subvolumes expand and contract as needed. This prevents the situation where one has to guess how much space is needed for the root installation. You simply give BTRFS all the available space in a single partition and the subvolumes divide the data. With EXT you must decide how big the root partition will be. If you guess too small, then you may have to remove programs or re-partition, Manipulating partitions is always a dangerous activity than can and sometimes does result in a damaged file system. If you guess too large, then wasted drive space sits idle on the system partition.

2. Native snapshot functionality.
BTRFS has built-in snapshot capability - no external tools required. Snapshots do not use drive data space when initially taken but may grow over time. The snapshots can be used to "roll back" to a previous system state or protect your personal data from accidental or unintended deletion.

3. Native backup capability.
BTRFS can create backups without any external tools. You simply "send" a snapshot to another BTRFS file system and the entire subvolume is duplicated. You can also do incremental backups - effective a "diff" backup - that can be done incredibly quickly depending on how often you send the backup. I do daily increment backups and it takes a few seconds to a minute or so to complete depending on how much has changed over the previous.day.

4, Built-in file compression.
Adding compression to the file system is simply a mount option. There are several different types and levels of compression to choose from depending on the file system's intended use. Most will actually increase file system performance because the files are physically smaller than uncompressed files.

5. Multiple device support.
If you have more than one storage device (i.e. drive or partition), a BTRFS file system can be configured as RAID or expanded to add additional devices to increase the file system size. You can add or remove additional storage at any time and while still using the file system. No rebooting required. You can also replace a storage device with another. BTRFS will move the data from one storage device to another quietly in the background while you are still using the system.

There's much more, but the above are the highlights of the added functionality you gain by using BTRFS instead of EXT.

[Gromm]

oshunluvr So in a BTRFS file system the system installation and things like settings, downloads, etc in the /home directory and the OS itself ( / ) are separated within a partition and can be treated likewise. When I want to reinstall my system I can leave /home untouched. If I understand the explanation of you and the others here right. However, I cannot see that in my system. The setup with a home directory within the system partition looks exactly the same as in former installations with EXT4. Did I still do it right? ( Sometimes I have to deal with a bit more technical English, but I'll manage).

So hypothetically, if I want to do a reinstallation again and I want to home directory intact? What do I have to do?
I start up the ISO from USB en select manual setup.
- don't click format
- according to skyfishgoo edit the mountpoint, but how ?

If Then I think I have the basics covered so far, unless you all here tell me more.

[oshunluvr]

If I understand your question, you have installed 24.04 to a BTRFS file system. If so, the system mounts the subvolumes @ and @home to / and /home so it would indeed look the same to a casual observer.

If you open the file /etc/fstab you should see a mount for / and for /home. In those mount line options, you will see "subvol=/@ and "subvol=/@home". If you do, then you have successfully installed to BTRFS.

The mount lines will look something like this:

UUID=247e6a5b-351d-4704-b852-c50964d02ee6 / btrfs subvol=/@,defaults,noatime,autodefrag 0 0

This shows you that the subvolume name @ is mounted at /

To take snapshots manually, you would need to mount the root file system. Try this: open Konsole and create a mount point for the root file system like this:

sudo mkdir /subvols

Then open /etc/fstab with Kate and copy the mount line from above and paste it in the file. Then edit it so it looks like this:

UUID=247e6a5b-351d-4704-b852-c50964d02ee6 /subvols btrfs defaults,noatime,autodefrag 0 0

and save the file. Then mount it by entering this in Konsole:

sudo mount /subvols

Now you should be able to use Dolphin and open the /subvols folder and see @ and @home

So hypothetically, if I want to do a reinstallation again and I want to home directory intact? What do I have to do?
I start up the ISO from USB en select manual setup.
- don't click format
- according to skyfishgoo edit the mountpoint, but how ?

For this part, you would navigate to /subvols and rename @home to @home-saved then do the new install. The new install will create a new @home which you can then remove and rename @home-saved back to @home.

[jglen490]

One thing to keep in mind. A snapshot that places recovery data on the same physical drive as where the data originated is NOT a backup file; it is a recovery file. Yes, it is fast, but it is not as secure as an actual backup to an independent, external drive.

A recovery file is intended to recover from an error or an uncertainty. A backup (typically a 3-2-1 pattern) is intended to provide a way to restore data lost to a disastrous condition, or to support a move of that data to another platform. Yes, those are generalities, but there is in fact a difference between the two.