On 4/21/22 05:59, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:
On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 07:03:01AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
I am not upgrading in place.
I currently have Debian 9.13 installed on one partition with /home on a
different partition.
I will install Debian 11.3 on a fresh partition and have /home remain on its
current partition.
Desktop environments and some programs (libre office,
browsers, that kind of stuff) putting their user configs
in your home might get confused should you plan to change
back-and-forth.
+1
I have a SOHO network with a few Debian instances. I put each OS on its
own SSD, leave the home directory on the root filesystem, and put the
vast majority of my data on a file server/ version control server. When
I want to run a different OS on a given machine, I power down and swap
OS disks. (When switching between Unix and Windows, I need t adjust the
CMOS clock on the next boot.)
My daily driver OS disk is usually in a laptop. Home directories remain
on the local disk, including their various dot files (notably
~/.thunderbird). I access the rest of the data via the LAN when local,
or via VPN/ SSH when remote.
When I want to upgrade or downgrade an OS, I check-in the machine
configuration files, backup any data (there should be little or none),
install a blank SSD in an available machine, do a fresh install,
check-out the old configuration to a side directory, configure the new
OS, and restore any data.
When migrating an application forward (e.g. migrating to a newer OS),
the new application needs data backward-compatibility. When migrating
an application backward (e.g. reverting to an older OS), the old
application needs data forward-compatibility. The former is reasonably
common; the latter is not. (At least one pair of Thunderbird versions I
used lacked data forward-compatibility).
When preparing for an application (or OS) upgrade or downgrade, you
would be well advised to prepare for any data incompatibilities. (Such
incompatibilities are a form of data disaster.) At the minimum, backup
your current data. Better yet, make an archival copy of your most
important current data (e.g. burn to optical disc).
David
