<div dir="ltr">I always do as Nio said, a /home separated partition, then you can make as many installations you want on your root partition without loosing anything important. User configurations will be stored on /home.<div> </div><div>On this case (fresh install to /), you need to reinstall aditional software. But that is quite small compared to a full installation upgrade.</div><div> </div><div>To separate /home from / on installation, you need to use the "manual option". I guess there is tons of tutorials about this on the net...</div> </div><div class="gmail_extra"> <div class="gmail_quote">2014-07-23 8:24 GMT-03:00 Nio Wiklund <<a href="mailto:nio.wiklund@gmail.com" target="_blank">nio.wiklund@gmail.com</a>>: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Hi Basil, [I will reply inline] Best regards/Nio Den 2014-07-23 13:08, Basil Fernie skrev: <div class="">> Hi Nio, > > Thanks for the prompt response. I checked out the linked threads and my > conclusion is that most of the advice offered actually addresses the > converse of my problem. There are solutions to the question "How do I > introduce a new application package offline to an existing installed > distro. I read them with interest, this is also a problem I sometimes > face, but what is really on my mind is this: > > How do I overwrite an existing full working installation's system files, > including the Linux kernel, with an upgrade to a more recent version > (from 12.04 to 14.04 in this instance)? Specifically, I have the > entirety of the new version as released in an iso on a bootable DVD > already; I have run that iso live from the DVD and am satisfied that > it's fine, apart perhaps for a few regular-type dsriable updates which I > will anyway do via Lubuntu's Update Manager in due course. </div>I see. <div class=""> > What I would love to be able to do is boot from the new DVD and invoke > the live installer, selecting then the (currently non-existent) option > to overwrite the existing system including kernel, system executables, > scripts, configuration files, and distro-standard included application > packages that are more recent than ones I have already installed over > the older distro, without being forced to reformat the entire Lubuntu > partition, thereby losing all my painfully selected, downloaded and > installed additional application packages not to mention the gigabytes > of user data. </div>The standard method to upgrade from one LTS to the next one is to wait until the first point release. At the same time there will be an upgrader that is even annonced by the 'daily updater'. It will actually run do-release-upgrade under the hood. It requires connection via internet for downloading a lot of packages, so not an option for you unless you move your computer or at least your hard disk drive or a cloned copy of it. <div class=""> > To preserve these important to me things I am currently forced to backup > everything that I think will be endangered, do a clean install of the > new Lubuntu, then restore everything from backup, in the process > probably overwriting some important new files that were installed with > the new version of the distro. A job stretching over probably 2 or 3 > days initially, followed unpleasant random discoveries at various > (critical?) points. </div>You should always backup everything important before risky operations, so this is not an 'additional task' in your particular situation. Many people prefer to have a separate home partition and to make fresh installations (without wiping the home partition) and keep the personal tweaks. Then you have to add the extra PPAs and program packages, but it is usually much easier than what you describe. <div class=""> > The only remotely relevant suggestion I could find would mean doing a > clean live install of e.g. Lubuntu 14.o4 on another machine booted from > the new DVD, then copy them into the named special directory on my > operational laptop's operational partition, then do a "no-download" > installation from that directory. I expect that will avoid the feared > non-optional reformatting requirement of the target partition, since the > named directory is on that partition? > > The obvious potential problem here is that the interim machine on which > the clean install is done, may have subtle differences at the hardware > or BIOS level and thus force a clean installation that might be somewhat > inappropriate for the eventual operational machine. > > Variations on this theme which might be better would include setting > aside a bootable partition on the operational target machine for the > interim clean install, then doing the copy at HDU speeds into the named > directory in the target operational partition, alternatively (and better > for propagation across a small family of computers needing the same > upgrade) doing the interim clean installation onto a bootable memory > stick mounted in the operational target machine, then copying back as > before. </div>You can use the OEM feature according to this link <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ubuntu_OEM_Installer_Overview" target="_blank">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ubuntu_OEM_Installer_Overview</a> <div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"> > Any comments? > > Best regards to all, > > Basil > > > > > > > On Wed, 23 Jul 2014 10:09:08 +0200, Nio Wiklund <<a href="mailto:nio.wiklund@gmail.com">nio.wiklund@gmail.com</a>> > wrote: > >> Hi Basil, >> >> Maybe these links to the Ubuntu Forum will help you with a method for >> offline package installation >> >> <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2234724" target="_blank">http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2234724</a> >> >> <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2234850&p=13076109#post13076109" target="_blank">http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2234850&p=13076109#post13076109</a> >> >> So basically, >> >> *Carry the program packages* >> >> - go to a computer with fast and cheap internet connection and download >> the packages you want, >> >> - carry them to your own computer and >> >> - copy them into the correct place >> >> - install the package you want with the option --no-download >> >> Best regards >> Nio >> >> 2014-07-23 08:51, Basil Fernie skrev: >>> OK, now to reveal the depths of my ignorance... >>> >>> I am at last ready to update my own Lenovo's Lubuntu 12.04 LTS as >>> numerously updated (now at .67 or .68, I think) to 14.04 with the >>> initial deal-inhibitors sorted. I have a bootable DVD with the 14.04 iso >>> which performs adequately in live test mode and want to do the >>> update/upgrade from the DVD, being in the unhappy position of having to >>> pay for every byte that is downloaded. (And I don't have a hardwired >>> internet connection). >>> ... > > -- </div></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">Lubuntu-users mailing list <a href="mailto:Lubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com">Lubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> </div>