On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 07:49:28 +0200
arne <sp113438@???> wrote:

> Another problem with systemd and I will switch to devuan.

I advise not to wait. Systemd's architecture is so overcomplexified
that it takes a highly paid crew of what, six developers, to keep it
from blowing up. Would you want a battery like that in your cellphone?
Would you want an engine like that in your car? Would you want software
like that as the basis of your computer's boot and process handling?

To the extent that systemd appears to work, that's only because Redhat
spends so much time and resource putting bubblegum in the leaks. I'd
advise to switch immediately to a trustworthy init and a trustworthy
distro.

[snip frustrating systemd problem]

> I am feeling a pain in my heart if I have to leave debian.

You're not leaving Debian: Debian left you. The former bastion of
rock-solid software went to the dark side, and really isn't Debian
anymore. Devuan is the closest you're going to get to having the Debian
you knew and loved before their subjegation by Freedesktop.Org.

>
> It was my companion for 10 years.
>
>
> Now the question: I run debian stretch.
> is it hard to switch to devuan or is a new install preferred?

Arne, a bunch of people have answered this question as it relates to
Debian->Devuan. I'm going to answer it as a generality...

I view a complete, bare-metal-up reinstall as an opportunity. An
opportunity to get back to a known state. An opportunity to eliminate
ghosts of operating systems past. I view it as spring cleaning, and as
such I think one fresh install per year is about perfect, although when
I used Windows and when I used KDE apps, every 6 months was more
appropriate.

Yeah, it takes a day or more, and you keep getting nailed by "gotchas"
for a couple weeks. It's a process that takes planning and meticulous
backup. But it's a way to keep your computer healthy.

The following is a partial list of what you must back up:

* Complete backup, so you can "put it back" if everything goes to hell

* Backup of MBR, or whatever the equivalent is on the new formats

* Backup of /etc/fstab and inittab and passwd and group

* Backup of /etc as a whole (not to be restored en masse)

* Backup of output of mount command

* Backup of output (as root) of lsblk -o +UUID,LABEL

* Backup of output of command to find packages you personally installed

* Backup of your data (not provided with any software)

Then go ahead and reformat your disk, add disk space if needed, make
all your partitions, do the install, update/upgrade, install all your
manually installed packages (probably by turning the list into a
shellscript).

DO NOT just restore your former home directory. One estupido piece of
Unix is the mixing of personal data (stuff you've written or made) with
config options. You want the latest config options, and then change
them to conform with how you like things. You DO NOT want to be
continually bringing forward config files 5 versions old. I always
restore my old home as /home/oldslitt, and then copy files over on an
as needed basis. On config changes, I edit the files in /home/slitt to
incorporate specific features from /home/oldslitt.

<RANT>Dennis Thompson and the boys really, really, REALLY should have
specified that every home directory have a subdirectory called etc, and
every and all config that gets done in the home directory get done in
the /home/slitt/etc tree. This would have saved a lot of work and
prevented a lot of ghosts of operating systems past, but nooooooo. Wait
right there while I take my time machine back to 1969 and convince
Dennis to do this.</RANT>

SteveT

Steve Litt
September 2017 featured book: Manager's Guide to Technical
Troubleshooting Brand new, second edition
http://www.troubleshooters.com/mgr