On Sun, 2025-08-24 at 14:09 -0700, Charlie Gibbs wrote: > On Sun, 24 Aug 2025 22:20:01 +0200 Van Snyder > <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > I keep my /home directory in a partition separate from root, not > in > > a directory in root. This makes it easier to install a new OS. > > > > When I install Debian, it asks me for the name of a user. > > > > I never had the courage to put my own name and uname into that > page, > > fearing it might damage my home directory. > > > > I create a "more" user, then log into that account, su to root, > > and add myself using the "Users" widget in KDE (I assume there's > > something similar in gnome), change my uid and gid in /etc/passwd* > > and /etc/group*, then delete the "more" user. > > That sounds like unnecessary work.
I agree. > I too have /home in a separate > partition, and on the few occasions when an upgrade has gone > sideways, > I don't think I've ever had /home damaged. But to be safe, I take > backups of /home, /etc, and /usr before applying any upgrade. If the > worst happens, I can wipe the entire disk with mkfs, install the new > version from scratch, and restore from backups. I think most of us who read this mailing list know how to do and use backuips. For me, a backup-restore of /home takes about twenty times longer than the actual install. > Here's my backup script (must be run as root, watch for line wraps): > > # Copy the root partition. > dd if=/dev/sda1 | gzip >/mnt/backup/killer-penguin/sda1.img.gz > # Copy various directories. > rsync -av --delete /etc /mnt/backup/killer-penguin > rsync -av --delete /usr /mnt/backup/killer-penguin > rsync -av --exclude='/home/cjg/.cache/' --delete /home > /mnt/backup/killer-penguin > > You _do_ take full backups before upgrading, right? >
