[arch-general] migrating Arch to a new machine - what config to keep
Hello, for migration to a new machine (i686>x86_64, msdos>gpt,ssd,diff disk layout) I decided to do a clean install, Now I have * basic Arch up and running: pacman -S base base-devel * I'll do pacman -Qe > installed.txt (on the old one), pacman -S $((cat installed.txt)) (on new) * cp -a /home For other directories: /boot - nothing, /var - I dont care about old logs, is there anything else important? /etc ... some files (related to hw) changed, but many (wifi, iptables, cron, security, ...) stay ...is it possible to copy/merge them in a smart way? Or I have to go through all the configuration? I read this one: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware and basically I'd like to elaborate on how to merge the configs in /etc (or else?) Thank you, Mark -- Marek Otahal :o)
[2012-12-11 23:34:39 +0800] Marek Otahal:
/var - I dont care about old logs, is there anything else important?
/var/spool
/etc ... some files (related to hw) changed, but many (wifi, iptables, cron, security, ...) stay ...is it possible to copy/merge them in a smart way? Or I have to go through all the configuration?
The smart way would have been to put all the /etc files you touched under version control. Otherwise, you can either go through each such file, or just copy the whole of /etc and fix incompatibilities as you notice them.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware and basically I'd like to elaborate on how to merge the configs in /etc
Please do; thanks. -- Gaetan
I read this one: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware and basically I'd like to elaborate on how to merge the configs in /etc (or else?)
You can get a list of files in backup arrays that you've modified with `pacman -Qii | grep '^MODIFIED'`, which won't include configuration files that you've created yourself but you can track those down by printing out a list of unowned files in /etc. Anything not either in a backup array or unowned would just be overwritten on package updates anyway.
On 12/12/2012 12:59 AM, Gaetan Bisson wrote:
The smart way would have been to put all the /etc files you touched under version control. Otherwise, you can either go through each such file, or just copy the whole of /etc and fix incompatibilities as you notice them. There is a tool [0][1] that does this job. Haven't tested myself though.
[0] http://joeyh.name/code/etckeeper/ [1] https://github.com/joeyh/etckeeper
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:34:39PM +0800, Marek Otahal wrote:
* I'll do pacman -Qe > installed.txt (on the old one), pacman -S $((cat installed.txt)) (on new)
That isn’t likely to work right. You should use your favorite AUR helper for this, because this list contains AUR packages, too.
For other directories: /boot - nothing, /var - I dont care about old logs, is there anything else important?
You may have some useful stuff (eg. databases) in /var. And copying over /var/cache/pacman/pkg may be a good idea to speed up the installation.
/etc ... some files (related to hw) changed, but many (wifi, iptables, cron, security, ...) stay ...is it possible to copy/merge them in a smart way? Or I have to go through all the configuration?
Go through a diff of both /etc’s and merge them by hand. That is the safest way.
I read this one: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware and basically I'd like to elaborate on how to merge the configs in /etc (or else?)
As I said: by hand is the safest way. If you make a non-human do it, you may end up without your kitten. PS. I did my migration back in February, from a system converted from i686 to x86_64 on an ext4 partition converted from ext3 (I am serious.) It went like this: dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/sdb2 # / dd if=/dev/sda5 of=/dev/sdb5 # /home grub-install /dev/sdb # configured for (hd0,1); GRUB1. -- Kwpolska http://kwpolska.tk stop html mail | always bottom-post www.asciiribbon.org | www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html GPG KEY: 5EAAEA16 # vim:set textwidth=70:
participants (5)
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Axilleas Pi
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Daniel Micay
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Gaetan Bisson
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Kwpolska
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Marek Otahal