Progress on 12.04 (Was: Re: 12.04 upgrade problem)

[Tommy Trussell]

On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 3:17 PM, Jim Smith <jim at oz.net> wrote:

> Colin Law wrote:
>
>> On 7 November 2012 01:32, Jim Smith <jim at oz.net> wrote:
>>
>>> ...
>>> Then it looks like 12Gb for / and 36Gb for /home should do it. That is
>>> if I
>>> decide to partition it like that and not just install on all 48Gb and
>>> then
>>> copy my /home files onto it.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> If you install over the top of the existing ubuntu partition, but
>> select /not/ to format the partition then it will leave /home as it
>> is, saving the need to restore that folder.  You should make sure all
>> is backed up anyway of course.
>>
>> Colin
>>
>>
>>
> I have thought of that option and it looks pretty good, especially if
> there is some app or other means to clear out all of the leftover crap from
> the previous install. It was a much upgraded system that started when I
> first got this laptop, I think it was originally 5.10 or 6.04. I was slowly
> losing the battle to keep the space on the disk free. It didn't help that I
> could boot into Gnome, KDE, FVWM, IceWM and maybe a couple other minor ones
> as well. I think the new one will be concentrated on Gnome with enough of
> KDE base to run apps like Kstars, some of their screen savers and their
> very good CD burner.
>
>
When you do an UPGRADE of the OS, the upgrader DOES examine the cruft and
pitch out packages that are no longer supported, but it upgrades any
package that's still available in the Ubuntu repositories.

When you do an INSTALL (replace Ubuntu) into an existing directory
preserving a separate /home partition the resulting system will be much
like a brand new install, except it won't change the filesystem type of
/home from ext3 to ext4. (If you care at all you can do that later, but I
haven't heard of much reason to even consider it.)

-->BTW If you have not already created a separate /home partition, be sure
to do it BEFORE you start to install Ubuntu!!!!! If you boot from the
installer CD you can use it to create the new partition and move the files,
but you MUST back up your data first, lest you lose it all. <--

I have recently done both an upgrade and a fresh install preserving /home,
and it took MUCH MUCH less of my time to install anew and preserve
/home. When I did the upgrades, despite years of refinement by the
installer folks, there are always two or three "hiccups" where it stops and
asks if I want to keep this or that file, so I had to go back to check up
on the upgrade progress, click "Replace" and let it go on again.

Over the years I have developed careful notes about what I need to get
running on a new install (my non-free Brother printer/scanner software,
DropBox, my self-compiled GnuCash accounting application, etc.). When I
upgrade I find I might STILL have to go through many of the same update
steps anyway, so when everything weighs out, I believe you might as well do
a fresh install.
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