On 02/07/12 21:48, Gordon Burgess-Parker wrote:
If I want to replace Linux Mint 13 with Ubuntu 12.04, will it just be a case of installing over the top, and if so will that affect my Home directory at all? In other words if I do this will my Home directory stay intact or do I need to back it up then restore after installation of Ubuntu?
I would be a little cautious about trying to use a Mint /home on a new Ubuntu system. The main reasons are all the hidden configuration files, especially for your Gnome setup that will almost certainly be different. IIUC Mint has a customised Gnome 3 window manager called Cinnamon or something. This will almost certainly not be compatible with Unity.
If I were you, I would just backup your home (sudo tar zcf /path/to/somewhere/safe/myhome.tgz /home/username) then install a clean Ubuntu and then copy your "real data" back from your backup into your new home dir.
I often do this and find I can always copy the important stuff back like .firefox and .thunderbird. So although it takes a little while you end up with a clean system just with the data you need.
For copying back (after extracting your old home tarball somewhere sensible) use cp -a (the -a implies recursion and maintains all file permissions/ownerships etc).
FWIW - I tend to create a dir in /home and call it something like /home/alord-10.10 so I know what it was. Once I am sure I have copied everything I need I can then delete it.
HTH Al -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
