[ubuntu-studio-users] Upgrades

[Mike Squires]

My crude method of upgrading is to do the following:

(1)  tar cvf /<backup device>/<my user name>.tar <my user name> in the 
/home directory (all commands until "log out" assume "sudo" or running 
in an xterm window with super-user rights)

(2)  Make a copy of the list of installed software

(3)  Itemize changes to files in /etc that were necessary and copy those 
files to <backup device>

Install the new version which wipes out the entire Ubuntu Studio 
partition, making sure the <backup device> is not on-line. The user I 
create is not my regular user name which allows me to make necessary 
changes on the system before restoring my user files.  Both user names 
get "sudo" permission, of course.

Make necessary changes to the new system using the alternate UID, 
including creating my new user account using the UID/GID I've chosen.  I 
do this since I can't easily mount SMB directories exported via "samba3" 
but can easily NFS mount the same directories if UID/GID equivalence is 
maintained.  This also avoids problems I've had with permissions when 
using SMB mounts.

Rename /home/<my user name> to /home/<my user name>.old

 From /home execute tar xvf /<backup device>/<my user name>.tar <my user 
name>

Check UID/GID of new /home directory

Log out, log back in as <my user name>

This seems to avoid problems I've had with upgrades; I came to Studio 
from FreeBSD where something like this was a more reliable method than 
upgrading from one major version to the next.  This also creates a 
backup of user files.

There will, of course, be problems created sometimes if a change in the 
installed software is not compatible with some part of the restored user 
environment, but I have yet to run into that.

Mike

-- 
Michael L. Squires, Ph.D., M.P.A.
546 North Park Ridge Road
Bloomington, IN 47408
Home phone:  812-333-6564
Cell phone:  812-369-5232
www.siralan.org or www.smithgreensound.com
UN*X at home since 1985