Arch Linux

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

I need to reinstall Arch. I'd like to just reuse my xorg.conf and rc.conf and network configurations, etc.

Which other files would you copy if you were reinstalling?

I really screwed up my installation and it's not worth attempting to save it.

Is it easy enough to mount a usb stick before the install then copy files off of it during the configuring steps?

kevin89

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2007-03-14

Posts: 218

Re: I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

In my case it'd backup:
+rc.conf
+mkinitcpio.conf
+fstab
+xorg.conf

And any .folders/.files in your $HOME.

kludge

Member

Registered: 2008-08-03

Posts: 294

Re: I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

if you also want to easily get the same exact set of installed packages, then i'd backup /var/lib/pacman/local, as well.

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[23:00:16]    dr_kludge | i want to invent an olfactory human-computer interface, integrate it into the web standards, then produce my own forked browser.
[23:00:32]    dr_kludge | can you guess what i'd call it?
[23:01:16]    dr_kludge | nosilla.
[23:01:32]    dr_kludge | i really should be going to bed.  i'm giggling madly about that.

timbosa

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2007-02-25

Posts: 21

Re: I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

I'd save /etc entirely so if you need something later you'll be able to get it. You could also save your pacman cache (/var/cache/pacman/pkg/) and any custom packages you might have made using abs and aur.

If I were to reinstall personally I'd copy /etc /var /home entirely to prevent any 'Oh why didn't I copy that...' which I've done frequently in the past

You should be able to mount the usb stick during the install. I'd try and edit them after the install as you need to rather than copying. Some are easier to just copy though, especially if they work for you (eg. wpa_supplicant.conf)

Good luck

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

Thanks for the tips. I only saved makepkg.conf, grub/menu.lst, xorg.conf, and rc.conf. I didn't do any repartitioning and just chose not to format /home. In retrospect, I should have saved my /var also, but I didn't want to sort through it and pick out all the old packages. So, the worst part was waiting for xorg to download. I easily dropped in my xorg.conf and installed a few necessary packages: Openbox, Opera, Claws-mail, and XFCE4-Panel. Now, I'm waiting for the rest of my stuff to download and install, but at least I'm up and running and can check email and websites (graphically).

Overall, operation stop-screwing-up-your-system-idiot is going well.

kjon

Member

From: Temuco, Chile

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 398

Re: I need to reinstall. Need some advice.

naaah. I'm only save xorg.conf for laziness. All remaining configuration is generated from scratch. At this very moment, my arch setup has survived a lot of failed experiments without dooming the whole system. I don't backup evrything, because installation tricks tends to be forgotten quite easily.

But, I always keep base + list_of_packages, just in case. My sys-backup fits in a file which is 8 kb. sized. That's all.
And 'no-arch install cd'. The download is huge. I prefer slax/slitaz/rip (or whatever) to _invoke_ a new install via pacman.static.

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They say that if you play a Win cd backward you hear satanic messages. That's nothing! 'cause if you play it forwards, it installs windows.