installing F16

[xav795]

Hi

After trying to upgrade my F15 and seeing that it did not go to the end, i am ready to start with a fresh install.
But i am wondering the strategy to use :
I have a separated partition on which i have my /user directory, which contains actually many configuration files coming from the applications i am using now
If i start from zero, what should i do to keep my private data in correct state and to keep my current applications.
I know this is certainly a verys basic question, but i dont know how to manage finally the regular major upgrade of fedora.

Xavier
F15/gnome3/inspiron 6400

[Fenrin]

hello,

if you reinstall your Fedora, you can't keep your current applications (except if you want to still have Fedora 15 installed). You can keep your home partition, if you have one. But you have to reinstall every packages and programs you need, which are not installed by default in F16.

I have a separated partition on which i have my /user directory, which contains actually many configuration files coming from the applications i am using now

I guess you mean that you have a seperate partition for /home

When you last installed Fedora, did you choose the automatic partitioning with LVM-setup or is it partitioned without LVM volume?

If it's without LVM, I know how you could proceed:

• at the installation, choose to manual partition the hard disk
• only format your / (root) partition and maybe your swap
• set your old home partition as mountpoint /home, but wihout formating it
• proceed with the normal installation. When you are at the user settings it's probably best to use another username than before, so that it creates a new user directory (maybe it also possible to choose the same username, but to change the user dir location).

after installation, you can use chown and chmod commands to gain access to this old user dir with your new user. Otherwise you can probably only access it as root.

with LVM setup I don't know...

[sea]

In addition, just to be on the save side, note the output of:

lsblk

Which will list which partitions (dev/sdaX) and their related mount points.

That way you see which is your /home (the one you named /user), and should not be formated.

Also, if you're not used to this (or just want to be on the safe side), i'd suggest you do a raw backup of your most important data (job-applications, cv, other documents, sourcecode, whatever).
Either burn your home dir (if its size matches) to a DvD/BlueRay or copy it to an external harddisk or usbkey.

hope this helps

[xav795]

Thank you Fenrin for your ideas, i think this is more clear now. Just one point for me regarding the application data that are stocked in /home/user, and how to manage them, and i will be ready to start.

Originally Posted by Fenrin

if you reinstall your Fedora, you can't keep your current applications (except if you want to still have Fedora 15 installed). You can keep your home partition, if you have one. But you have to reinstall every packages and programs you need, which are not installed by default in F16.

What will appear to my configuration files, those who are for example in directory like home/[user]/.[app]
Do i have to delete them, or is it possible that after the reinstall of the package on F16, they will be available to give back my old configuration.

Originally Posted by Fenrin

I guess you mean that you have a seperate partition for /home

yes, exactly

Originally Posted by Fenrin

When you last installed Fedora, did you choose the automatic partitioning with LVM-setup or is it partitioned without LVM volume?

i choosed to create 3 primary partitions following that :
/sda1 => F15 (all the directory excepting /home)
/sda2=> a fat32 partition
/sda3=> an ext4 partition to test F16 for example
/sda4 => an extended partition containing the swap and the /home directory
/sda5
/sda6

Originally Posted by Fenrin

• at the installation, choose to manual partition the hard disk
• only format your / (root) partition and maybe your swap
• set your old home partition as mountpoint /home, but wihout formating it
• proceed with the normal installation. When you are at the user settings it's probably best to use another username than before, so that it creates a new user directory (maybe it also possible to choose the same username, but to change the user dir location).

after installation, you can use chown and chmod commands to gain access to this old user dir with your new user. Otherwise you can probably only access it as root.

the most logical should be for me to keep my user on the new F16, in this case, i should not need to change neither owner and access level?

---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------

Originally Posted by sea

In addition, just to be on the save side, note the output of:

lsblk

Which will list which partitions (dev/sdaX) and their related mount points.

That way you see which is your /home (the one you named /user), and should not be formated.

Also, if you're not used to this (or just want to be on the safe side), i'd suggest you do a raw backup of your most important data (job-applications, cv, other documents, sourcecode, whatever).
Either burn your home dir (if its size matches) to a DvD/BlueRay or copy it to an external harddisk or usbkey.

hope this helps

Thank you sea, i have noted the output of lsblk. I have to keep my /home/[user] directory in the next F16.

What do you call a raw backup?
Actually, i am using partimage to have a complete ghost of my main partition and rsync to manage the backup of my /home/[user] data.

One more question
Should i also use rsync to backup the main partition? In this case, do i have to restore a backup on the same partition or is a bigger or equal dimension enough for that?

[sea]

By raw i mean without any modification.
So basicly, just make a hughe tarball per user.

Untested, use at your own risk.

for usr in $(ls /home); do
    tar -acf /tmp/storage/$usr.tar.bz2 $usr
done

Of course this method 'eats' alot of storage space, and i havent checked if its saving $HOME/.config and other hidden files in the $HOME dir.

So a fair advice, first check the folders of each user /home/username to get an idea what size of tarballs you have to expect, and make sure the destination has enough storage space available.

Havent used rsync yet, so cant tell you anything about it.
Had used ghost once, like 10 years ago, so no idea either, sorry.

EDIT:
What you might want to save either, is /etc, usualy not very large, but contain several configuration files, or templates (etg: grub2, only important if manualy customized).

[Fenrin]

Originally Posted by xav795

[...]


i choosed to create 3 primary partitions following that :
/sda1 => F15 (all the directory excepting /home)
/sda2=> a fat32 partition
/sda3=> an ext4 partition to test F16 for example
/sda4 => an extended partition containing the swap and the /home directory
/sda5
/sda6


the most logical should be for me to keep my user on the new F16, in this case, i should not need to change neither owner and access level?[COLOR="Silver"]

Maybe it works like this too, but I'm not sure. Anaconda installer probably sets the user permission automatically if the directory already exists.
Did I understand this right: You don't want to use Fedora 15 and Fedora 16 together with one user directory (maybe same partition but not same user folders), right? Because I don't think this would work very well.

What will appear to my configuration files, those who are for example in directory like home/[user]/.[app]

you can still use most or even all of the configuration files. I guess most configuration files between Fedora 15 and 16 programs are compatible to each other, but I'm not sure.

[xav795]

Originally Posted by Fenrin

Did I understand this right: You don't want to use Fedora 15 and Fedora 16 together with one user directory (maybe same partition but not same user folders), right? Because I don't think this would work very well.

I will try to install F16 and keep it with the F15 i think until i am sure, my new install is ok. But i would like to create the same user on F16 because i had thought i could use directly on F16 my /home directory, without having to use chown or chmod.
But while most of my application configuration files should goes on F16 like you think, i am wondering what will happen with the files closer to gnome configuration (if they are), and finally, maybe the good way should be to create a fresh /home/[user] directory and directly copy my data. What do you think about it?

[Fenrin]

well ok, with two same usernames under both Fedora 15 and Fedora 16 I would do it like this:

• when you're in the Fedora 16 live environment (I guess you use live media) you can rename the userfolder of your home partition (which is sda5 or sda6).
• then create a new directory with the username, you want to use
• copy (or move) all the data and configuration files you want to use in Fedora 16 to this folder, which should be later the folder of the user
• before you proceed with the installation don't forget to unmout the home partition
• if you want to use Fedora 15, you probably would have to change the user folder names again (your user has to be logged out then)

I would not copy all configuration files. Rather only internet browser data, email client data, liferea and such things.

[DBelton]

I have found that in most cases I am much better off NOT using old config files on a fresh install of Fedora.

I will copy a few of the folders over to save things I have my data in, but for the most part, it works better if you let it install the config file for the newer versions of the applications.

The few that I usually copy over are

~/.mozilla ---- Firefox settings
~/.thunderbird ---- Thunderbird settings and email archives
~/.calibre ---- Ebooks imported into the calibre reader

anything in Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Music, Pictures, Videos, etc...

There is one issue you may run into if you try to use your old /home folder on a fresh F16 install. The default user numbering has changed. on F15 and earlier, user numbering started at 500, F16 and later, it starts at 1000.

On an upgrade, F16 will keep the user numbering starting at 500, but on a fresh install it will start it at 1000. The problems it causes are that files created on F15 and earlier with the old user numbering will not be accessible on a fresh F16 install until the user numbers are changed on the files.

This can easily be accomplished with one command

su -
(root password)
cd /home

chown -R --from=500:500 1000:1000 *

(make sure that the from user is what the user number is on your F15 install, and the to user is what the user number is on your F16 install)

Edit:

I really don't think that trying to use the same user folder in /home for both F15 and F16 is a good idea. You have the user numbering change for one thing, plus big differences in Gnome versions, and quite a few other differences that could cause you numerous problems.

If you use the same /home folder, I would at least make sure that the user naming is different so that you get different user folders underneath /home.