this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I am confusion. It seems like this wouldn't help much with distro-hopping at all. At least not the way I learned to reinstall OSes, i.e. keep
/homeand make sure to back up important config files you edited.Would it be possible just to copy /home to a separate drive and then point a fresh install to that location?
This is actually a great idea but I didn't separate my home when I installed my current distro
Yes. If you copy
/hometo a completely different drive, do make sure to be intentional about access rights (i.e. in your new install, you want your files to belong to you again and you want scripts to still be executable; sorting this out after the fact is possible but can be time-consuming) and make sure to copy hidden files/directories (i.e..dotfiles, which is where user preferences for your apps are stored; if you want e.g. your Firefox bookmarks and tabs to remain with you, keep these files).