Removing an app without losing data

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:42:15 -0500
Wade Smart <wade at wadesmart.com> wrote:
> If I uninstall Thunderbird, will I loose the ./mozilla-thunderbird 
> directory or will that be left alone?

Removing the mozilla-thunderbird package shouldn't touch anything under
your home directory. Unless I'm mistaken, when you remove a package, it
should only remove files that are part of the package -- and you can
see which files are considered part of the package using "dpkg -L
packagename" 

If you want to be really, really safe, though -- you can just make a
quick backup of the directory (tar -jcf thunderbird.tar.bz2
~/.mozilla-thunderbird) to ensure that you have a copy of your mail &
Thunderbird prefs. In fact, I'd recommend doing that on a regular
basis, and before each major Thunderbird upgrade just in case. 

Best, 

Zonker
--
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier <xonker at gmail.com>
Editorial Director, Linux.com
http://www.dissociatedpress.net/