[Application reinstalls] Re: Will there be a supported upgrade path from Edgy to 8.04?

[NoOp]

On 04/09/2008 05:25 PM, SYNass IT Ubuntu / Linux wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-04-09 at 22:46 +0200, Mario Vukelic wrote:
>> On Wed, 2008-04-09 at 16:04 -0400, stan wrote:
>> > I have a production machine, that I was surprised to just notice is running
>> > Edgy. Should I upgrade now, or wait for the 8.04 release to upgrade?
>> 
>> Regarding your subject: no, not a supported one. There will be a
>> supported path from 6.06 (Dapper) and from 7.10 (Gutsy).
>> 
>> You can do Edgy -> Feisty -> Gutsy -> Hardy, but you are much better off
>> reinstalling. Omitting releases is also not recommended, again it is
>> faster to just reinstall.
>> 
>> By the way, Edgy was end-of-life'd on March 25:
>> http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu610end-of-life
> 
> 
> Hi Mario, Ubuntu experts and users
> This upgrade topic interests me very much too !!
> 
> Since Oct'07 I am an Gutsy with a simple ROOT / SWAP installation.
> With Hardy 8.04 LTS I am planning some changes, i.e a separate HOME
> partition.
> 
> Above in the answer "a reinstall" is suggested to be faster !!!
> How does this really work with an existing productive environment ???
> 
> All data are in HOME, sure and good ...
> ... with a reinstall I am getting a new setup into ROOT and etc !
> 
> This new setup has no applications one is used to !!

Courtesy of Sundar Nagara from a older thread (Identical Package-list):

====
On the original machine (source) type:
dpkg --get-selections | grep -v deinstall > ubuntu-files

Save the output file to a location / disk that will be accessible in the
new (target) machine.

On the new machine, do a minimal install. Once you have booted into the
new machine, do the following:

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

    dpkg --set-selections < ubuntu-files

where ubuntu-files is the original output file that you saved.

Now your new system's package management subsystem "knows" what you want
installed. Just use dselect to install it all. Type the following:

    sudo dselect

This will open up a dselect session. Type '/I/' and allow dselect to
install of the the packages listed in your ubuntu-files document. When
it's finished, type '/Q/' and hit the/ ENTER/ key to exit dselect.

You should have an identical package list (or close enough).
====

Put the file on a floppy, cd, or backup drive (or all). Also, it's a
good idea to bring up the file in a text editor & clean out all the old
junk that you don't want reinstalled on the new system. I have a habit
of installing just about everything that is of interest to me, or that I
want to test & then forget to uninstall it later.

Note: you'll still need to backup your home directory(s) as well, the
above only reinstalls the applications you had previously. Your home
settings should keep most of the original settings, but obviously it
won't do all of them, so some tweaking will be necessary.

I also backup my /etc and /user directories but don't put them back
after the new install - too much trouble w/broken symlinks etc. But I
use the backups to restore custom config files (xorg.conf, network,
samba, ssh keys, server settings etc) and my /opt installs, and system
fonts that I had previously, after I reinstall all the apps.  Besides,
I've found that sometimes starting out with fresh app installs cleans up
all the old junk that I've fiddled with (and usually broken) on the old
system.