Source
r/AskLinuxUsers•
TomorrowPlusX

What's the best way to retain my user data when switching distros?

Hi,

I'm back on linux after an 18-year hiatus running macOS. I'm running Ubuntu on a Dell XPS13, and it's basically fine but it's had weird warts since upgrading to 20.04 did weird shit to my apt repositories. I've been considering popOS since it seems just a little more polished and it ran nicely when I ran it off a liveboot usb recently.

I have two duplicity backups of my user folder (one to network, one to a local drive), but they're kind of opaque, as a bunch of tgz files. And since I'd be switching OSes, I can't imagine that Ubuntu settings data from ~/.config and ~/.local would be safely applied (given popOS is an ununtu-derivative, it's not really ubuntu).

I'm inclined towards making a copy of my home folder to some external drive and just starting from scratch in a fresh popOS install, but I can't help but wonder if there's a better way.

FWIW, my use of linux is 90% development (c++/rust) and 10% farting around in GZDoom.

Posted Sep 1, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

109
XP_Studios•

I think copying the home directory is a good idea, but you may want to get rid of hidden files (ones that start with .) that you don't need. They're usually config folders for stuff that you're going to reinstall anyways. It's fine if you keep them though, it just may make the transfer faster. Also, when installing Pop, you may want to consider making 3 partitions, one mounted at /, one mounted at /home, and one swap. Having a /home partition makes switching distros easier.

2
koera•

For stuff you know you wish to keep and even have multiple places you should look into getting a dot file manager.

When I changed distros like that a little while ago I just made sure I had my whole home folder available aswell as etc folder. That way if there is a config I had, but don't want to recreate or add to dot file manager I just copy it over. When I am sure thee is no more I need I relegate it to a backup and free up the space on my machine by removing the old folder.

2
TomorrowPlusXOP•

I've never heard of a dot file manager before, and after a quick googling it sounds amazing. Do you have any recommendations? I'm looking at yadm.io and it looks pretty neat, but I'm ready to learn.

My main friction point migrating to a new OS is stuff like my git config, vim comfig, vsstudio config, ssh keys, etc. Anything to make that streamlined would be awesome.

1
koera•

I would not put ssh keys there, and vscode I use a setting sync plugin that uses a github gist to sync settings and installed plug-ins. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Shan.code-settings-sync but I think vscode also has some built in function for it now, just never felt the need to test it https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/settings-sync

I use chezmoi as my dot file manager, with a private github repo. I picked that one cus it can do some logic etc, but currently I only use the "add these files" function. Since I use Ubuntu and pop os I use the snap version, but any should work I guess. https://github.com/twpayne/chezmoi/blob/master/docs/INSTALL.md

2
TomorrowPlusXOP•

Yes, definitely *not* putting my ssh keys in there ;)

1
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
BGDDisco•

Ubuntu 20 did some weird stuff to my docs too. So I reverted to 18

1
Doctah_Disrespect•

Use the cloud.

0
[deleted]•

I use Dropbox and Mega for this. I don't store anything locally that I can't afford to lose, backup those folders to a spare external drive, copy them over once the new distro is installed and then reinstall those apps/point them to the copied-over folders so I don't even have to reformat any files.

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