On 6/26/22 15:56, Radisson via Dng wrote:
>
>
> Am 24.06.22 um 16:05 schrieb o1bigtenor via Dng:
>> Greetings
>>
>> Hoping that I'm not asking too many questions.
>>
>> (moving from debian testing to devuan testing (daedalus)
>> the old system is under 5.17.xx and the new one is on 5.18
>> if that makes for differences)
>>
>
> When your changes are user-related only, have your changes in /home/user
> this is actually easy.
> rsync -avz src dst
>
> take same time to make yourself familiar with rsync use -n to have a dry
> run, but do also make same real copies.
>
>> (I've learnt the hard way that just winging things means a LOT more
>> work and even a greater chance for issues.)
>>
>> My existing system has been a work in progress for over 10 years. So
>> I've gotten things
>> set up quite the way that I like them so things change slowly but in
>> that there are also
>> less 'terror' moments when everything has gone 'goofy'.
>
> When your are like my and you have changed a lot of system stuff
> things are more complicated. propper Programms have there configuration
> with in /etc. So when you compare your current /etc/ with the new one
> you have a good change to figure out what you changed in the last 10 years.
>
> Unfortunately these days same people thing it is a good idea to store
> in /usr/share or same where. Here are you on you own.
>
> that should help with most issues.
>
>>
>> Is there any way to move over things like settings (and all the other
>> pamphernania) for browsers and libreoffice and the like?
>>
>> I was thinking of doing things by using scp from the old system to the
>> new one.
>>
>> Dunno if that would create issues or not.
>>
>> Any better ideas - - - - well I'm all ears!!!

+1 for rsync.

The Arch linux wiki has a nice rsync command for copying a system. It
is based on a virtual machine but works nicely for real machines. Adjust
the directories to exclude, as well as the source and destination
partitions based on your system. Afterwards, you just need to edit the
"/etc/fstab" file with the new identifications (UUID or labels based on
your system). If new hardware is installed such as a video card, you
may need to install the appropriate drivers. The command below assumes
/* is the source and /path/to/shared/folder is the destination.

# rsync -aAXHSv /* /path/to/shared/folder
--exclude={/dev/*,/proc/*,/sys/*,/tmp/*,/run/*,/mnt/*,/media/*,/lost+found,/home/*/.gvfs}

The link is:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Moving_an_existing_install_into_(or_out_of)_a_virtual_machine

I have used this method to copy over arch, ubuntu and opensuse installs
onto new hardrives for new machines.

Regards,
Eric