On Tue 10 Dec 2024 at 15:03:46 (-0800), Charlie Gibbs wrote: > On Tue Dec 10 14:05:20 2024 David Wright <deb...@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote: > > > You still haven't said what files cause you concern in /usr/bin/. > > There are a lot of them, e.g. xscreensaver, zip, sox... > > > All the files belonging to Debian's packages are going to be present, > > because you wrote: > > > >>> At this point the old and new systems' root partitions should be > >>> as alike as possible, aside from my own customizations. > > > > That implies you installed the same set of Debian packages as were > > present on the old disk. Right? > > Not quite. See below. > > >> Yes, not even zip is present after an installation from scratch - > >> and apt puts it into /usr/bin. > > > > That's irrelevant: it's just part of Step 1. > > No, it's not. Step 1 was just a basic network install. > I didn't ask for anything extra.
Basic. That's a new description of Step 1. But there's obviously a mismatch in our terminology: to me, customizations are things where I deviate from what Debian installs as part of its packages, not just adding packages themselves. Things such as printer queues, email handling, etc, which Debian can't know about. If you use, say, dpkg --get/set-selections to get a closely similar system, you can then run rsync --dry-run to show you where there are differences. > Digging around in some musty old files, I found some post-installation > notes left over from a previous upgrade. Here's an excerpt: > [ … … ] > > Most of that stuff goes into /usr/bin, but it's not put there > by a basic install from scratch. I have to do it manually. Easily automated as above. > And then there are the truly non-standard utilities like xv, > the Seamonkey web browser, and all my Steam games. I was > hoping to find ways to bring all that stuff over in an rsync > or two rather than rebuilding it piece by piece. But that's not /usr/bin/. At least, I assume it's not from what you've told us. /opt/ perhaps. > > But /var/lib/ contains the state of the system, and I would worry that > > any difference in the state of the old disk's system is going to be > > forced onto the new one, even when it's not appropriate. > > Yes, I'm concerned that I'm overwriting parts of the new install > (e.g. in /etc and /var) that should be left alone; that's why I > was saving and restoring /etc/fstab, but there are probably other > things that I missed and one of them is no doubt what's biting me. > On the other tentacle, my Usenet archives are in /var/spool/slrnpull, > and I don't want to lose them. That's where rsync really comes into play. Anyway, good luck with the knee. And you can always plan another migration any time, with the experience you've gained. Cheers, David.
