Arch Linux

jededale

Member

Registered: 2010-12-31

Posts: 18

Migration to a fresh install?

I was away from a computer for the better part of a year and now it is extreemly out of date and everyting seems broken(including pacamn). I'm currently leaning towards just doing a fresh install, but waanted to know what options I had for aiding the migration of my old setup (installed programs, configurations, etc).

oboedad55

Member

From: Baku

Registered: 2011-04-05

Posts: 392

Re: Migration to a fresh install?

I was away from a computer for the better part of a year and now it is extreemly out of date and everyting seems broken(including pacamn). I'm currently leaning towards just doing a fresh install, but waanted to know what options I had for aiding the migration of my old setup (installed programs, configurations, etc).

If it were me, I would backup my data and do a fresh install. Many things have changed in the last year; grub to grub 2, systemd, pacman, etc. I think it would be faster to do it that way. Just have a look at the beginner's guide as the install procedure has changed.

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Registered Linux user #436067

ichase

Member

Registered: 2011-02-10

Posts: 113

Re: Migration to a fresh install?

Definitely agree with oboedad55 on this one.  Trying to get your current build updated with all of the changes that has taken place over the last year is futile.
Not sure of your configuration but if HOME is on it's own partition, I would back that up and do the fresh install.
This link will walk you through how to perform the new install that is already configured with systemd and grub2.
http://lifehacker.com/5680453/build-a-k … he-process

It's easy to follow and I have already done 2 flawless installs using this link.

Best of luck

Last edited by ichase (2013-01-01 18:59:20)

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Parted Magic / CNI Radio

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,522

Website

Re: Migration to a fresh install?

Backups are always a good idea, but there is no reason to even mount /home during an installation (provided it is a separate partition).

In fact, you shouldn't even need to do a full install.  Just boot the installation media, mount your root and boot partitions, and `pacstrap /mnt base base-devel` and then you should be very near to completely "fixing" your current system.  Reboot or chroot into your system, then `pacman -Syu`.

All your configs and personal files will remain the same.  All the packages you had installed will still be there.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman