Common /home Across Distro Versions

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 11/27/2009 10:14 AM, jbk wrote:
> I have a desktop that the family and guests share in the kitchen. The=20
> Fedora Distro is installed along with a virtual machine tailored to eac=
h=20
> of the users needs. I need to migrate my users to F12 from F10. This=20
> usually takes a week to a month to do because I want to make sure that =

> most things work. I have allocated distinct partitions that I rotate=20
> between distro versions. So in the past I would carefully recreate each=
=20
> user in the new version paying attention to matching each UID and GID=20
> exactly, copy  the users home to the new home preserving date and=20
> ownership of files. This is a cumbersome and time consuming process. To=
=20
> streamline this process I want to create a separate home partition and =

> move the users homes to that then delete the old homes and remount to=20
> the root partition. I have several questions that I need your help.
>
>    1. Can I copy the /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group fields for=

>       each user from F10 to F12 into the same named files?
>  =20
Certainly. I've done this a number of times over the years. Just be
careful.
>    2. What is the sequence of commands in tar to easily move the home
>       directories preserving ownership and dates?
>  =20
Tar will preserve permissions and ownerships using the normal x (extract)=
=2E
Assume a tar archive of /home built:
cd /home (old system)
sudo tar czf homes.tar.gz
Then you want to create your subdirectories:
cd /home (new system)
tar xzf homes.tar.gz
All directories and permissions will remain as they were on then old syst=
em
>    3. What are the other critical administrative tasks that I should be=

>       aware of in this process?
>
>  =20
Don't do what I did :-)
I created an F12 DVD, then I did an upgrade install without a media
check, and failed about 3/4 of the way so I ended up with a hybrid
system. All well and good, so I made another DVD, this time I did the
media check, but it did not want to upgrade, so I ended up with a clean
install and at the same time I inadvertently formatted the file system
(LVM), but all my data (/home and /etc and /usr/local) were completely
backed up so I didn't lose anything, not even SPAM :-)


--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
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