[xubuntu-users] migrate to new system

[Patrice ARNAL]

Le 13/05/2014 00:19, James Freer a écrit :
> On Mon, 12 May 2014, Peter Flynn wrote:
>>
>> Like Patrice, I keep my /home directory on a separate partition, so I do
>> exactly as he describes. My /home/user contents is all on svn
>> ...
>> ///Peter
>
> When I tried that I found that the hidden files were then retained 
> which with a new release may not be what one wants (as I see it not 
> being that IT savvy). I was wondering if having /home was better left 
> on a 'system partition' and all the work files etc put on another 
> (e.g. on my 500 gb disk, system partition 100gb and the rest 400gb). 
> It means mounting that partition but does mean the system and config 
> files are all in one place.
>
> No one else has mentioned this so I am assuming I am wrong but I'd be 
> grateful if someone could suggest the best two partition setup. I used 
> to have two hard drives on my old machine - one system and the other 
> files.
>
> james
>
I encountered the same problem : in my home directory there is a lot of 
hidden files and directories that handles the user's preferences for 
applications. These preferences are on a per-user basis and not 
system-wide. Hence they should NOT be put on the system partition.
Even on my laptop, I have several accounts : me, my wife, and some 
"demo" accounts, with different settings.

When upgrading to new version, some side effect may occur.
BUT you have to take in account the pros/cons balance of keeping these 
preferences :

Mozilla Thunderbird/Firefox for instance check rather nicely these 
differences and you can start the new system keeping all your settings, 
favorites, mailboxes etc...

Same thing for RapidPhoto Downloader and shotwell : a database of more 
than 3000 photos is worth to be kept.

The only bug I encountered was Stellarium that has an odd behavior due 
to the upgrade. Removing the .stellarium directory and re-creating it 
solved the issue.

My opinion is that these hidden files ARE worth to be kept hence keeping 
the /home folder on a separate disk/partition seems a good choice.

 From time to time, when doing MAJOR upgrades (Jumping from an old 11.4 
to 14.04 for instance) I renamed the user's home directory (patrice to 
patrice.old) from the live cd before installation.

After installation, I moved visible documents/folders to the new home 
folder created by the installation, and I checked application by 
application which hidden folders/files I should keep or re-build.

Patrice