Feature suggestions: optionally placing home folder into separate partition during ubuntu install

[李白|字一日]

2010/10/28 Evan Huus <eapache at gmail.com>

> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 8:01 PM, Daniel Gross <daniel.gross at utoronto.ca>
> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have finally taken the plunge and installed the latest Ubuntu instead
> > of Windows XP (while still running Windows xp in a VM).
>
> Congrats :)
>
> > It would be great if a tool existed that supports moving the home folder
> > from the "boot" partition to a "data" partition. Ideally, the tool would
> > support creating a data partition by resizing the boot partition, as
> > well as recommending a minimum size for the data partition based on the
> > size of the home folder.
> >
> > Ideally, i think, such a setup could already be suggested during the
> > Ubuntu installation process. Perhaps, under an "advanced setup" heading
> > -- removing the need to move the home partition.
> >
> > The main benefit for such a setup, is that it allows reinstalling Ubuntu
> > without loosing the users data, which would be safely sitting in a
> > separate data partition.
>
> Putting it on a separate partition isn't actually necessary. Currently
> when Ubuntu is directed to install to a partition which previously had
> Ubuntu on it, it reinstalls only what is necessary, leaving things
> such as user settings intact. So this is effectively already done,
> just without the necessity for multiple partitions.
>

I think it is why another partition is necessary.
sometimes users don't know which program causes their problems.
they want a clear reinstall except for their home folders.
and it is helpful to give a option to remove previous configurations in the
home folder.


>
> > Also, during (re)installation, Ubuntu could recognize the existence of a
> > data partition that includes a home folder, and suggest configuring
> > itself accordingly.
>
> This is an interesting idea. I'm not sure what we currently suggest
> when another Ubuntu is already installed, but a kind of
> reinstall/upgrade option would probably be useful. Again, we'd only
> need the one partition for it though.
>
> > Taking this idea a step further, perhaps its possible to also preserve
> > the packages that were installed, so that these remain intact in the
> > data partition also. Perhaps a better name for the data partition could
> > be "User" partition, which includes all user configured, tailored,
> > created data. As opposed to the System partition which includes the base
> > OS only, and that can be reinstalled at will.
>
> Technically, every part of Ubuntu (including the base OS) is
> considered just an installed package, so doing this wouldn't be
> simple. I'm also having trouble seeing the use case for this - most
> people (in my experience) reinstall Ubuntu as a way to clean up cruft
> (or apparent cruft - a fresh install often feels faster just by
> placebo effect). Presumably they would want such packages removed,
> else why would they reinstall? They're may be something I'm missing,
> but I can't see "reinstalling while keeping current packages" to be a
> common desire.
>
> You've raised some very interesting points, all of which merit further
> discussion.
> Enjoy your shiny new Ubuntu :)
>
> Cheers,
> Evan
>
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