Submission ... live cd should let you install without reformatting as an option.

[Ian Soutar]

I have been using kubuntu for about a half year. I re-install new 
versions of any linux distro by the following method ...

1/ Use a live CD to erase the previous operating system but leave the 
home directory.
2/ Rename the home directory to /home_old
3/ Install the new live cd without reformatting the drive.

Unfortunately the newest kbuntu 6.06.1 has made that impossible. It 
insists on formatting my drive. Like many other people I prefer to not 
have a separate home directory and using the live cd to erase an 
operating system leaving home alone is a great way to do it. I switched 
from three versions of knoppix, three versions of kanotix and then 
kubuntu, all without destroying my home directory.

But now to install kubuntu 6.06.1 I have to format it!

I consider this a bug and it forces me to only use 6.06. This ability to 
not format the drive and to simply erase the operating system is what 
make the live cd so great.

Can we drop back to the install system of 6.06???

I know people will say that you should have a separate home partition 
but on a laptop you don't know in advance how big the operating system 
will be. Therefore it is much more efficient on a laptop to keep /home 
on the main partition along with /etc and /boot and everything else.

I would highly recommend not forcing a format!!

Thanks,
Ian Soutar, Victoria BC Canada.