-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 11:20:24AM +0100, arian wrote: > > Just to make sure, your filesystem is OK, right? > > > But I thought I'd ask if there's anything close to this that would not > > require backing up everything and reformatting the hard disk. > > Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to boot the system up from a > > live CD, and reinstall the base system, leaving /home untouched? (I > > should mention that the hard disk in question is just one big > > partition, including /home and everything else.) > > Just do a normal install with manual filesystem configuration, choose > the existing partition with the prior filesystem format and make sure > to _not_ choose format partition.
This was my impression too: installation should not wipe home (actually it should'nt wipe anything, e.g. /usr/local and friends, just overwrite existing packages with their newer versions. That said, and as arian states, it's easy to fat-finger something and format your disks, so a backup is in order; and you might meet some niggles, like new packages stumbling upon older configurations and data in your home (think ~/.config, but also ~/.openffice.org, ~/.gimp and whatever nice things apps put into your home). Some may cope and some not. regards - -- t -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAlbK5AcACgkQBcgs9XrR2kbIKQCfUlb64LbSE2F5UHgT2hEGiYsI yDkAnjXbOy72G7BsuxPCBfS/qOWI6pyw =wbEI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
