The SUSE startup guide does not seem to help much with restoring previous configuration when doing a clean install.
SUSE has an upgrade option when installing, however it sometimes gets this wrong and it can leave old stuff on the hard drive so I like to do a clean install when upgrading.
Because I put the home directory in a separate partition it is possible to reformat the system files but to install using the existing user directory. However sometimes the format of configuration files changes so we may need to delete the offending file if it causes a problem. It is often a good idea not to delete ~/.config (contains autostart files) before installing new version of operating system. Some files are just cashes (such as ~/.thumbnails) these can be regenerated if needed so it may be best to delete before installing new operating system.
Sometimes it may be worth doing a clean install including the home directory. In this case we need to:
Backup all user files, preferably to multiple destinations and multiple media types. If backing up to different file system filenames can be changed or not backed up, this can happen for:
- very long filenames
- filenames with unusual or non-ascii characters.
- filenames with upper case letters in 8.3 format can get converted to lower case (when backing up to dos).
I then check they have been backed up correctly by running kdiff3 and entering the following fields:
A (Base): /home/master
B: media:/sdd1/master
and then click OK button.
An alternative approach to that above would be to backup to a zip file or use an automatic backup program, I am wary of this approach because I'm concerned that one incorrect bit could make the whole file unreadable and also there may be limits to the size of one file?
When all my user files are baked up I then backup the following system files, in this case I do backup to zip file because of the non-standard filenames and smaller overall size:
Note to see these files enable hidden files in Konqueror.
| type | location |
|---|---|
| mail files | ~/Mail/* or ~/.kde4/share/apps/kmail/mail/* These are the usual default locations but the location can be defined in the kmailrc file (see below) KMail seems to give long file names with non-alpha characters so its safest to zip this before backing up because saving to some media causes the filenames to change. When restoring these files then KMail displays them in blue and there is sometimes a problem reading them, I sometimes have to move them from 'cur' directory to 'new' directory. ~/.kde4/share/config/kmailrc
~/kde4/share/config/mailtransports ~/.kde4/share/config/emailidentities ~/.kde4/share/config/emaildefaults ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/username:@pop.domain |
| Kontact configuration | ~/.kde/share/config/kontactrc <-- plugins ~/.kde/share/config/KWeatherServicerc <-- weatherstations |
| KPilot | ~/.kde/share/apps/kpilot/ |
kaddressbook Contacts |
~/.kde/share/config/kalarmdrc <-- holds pointer to contacts file ~/.kde4/share/apps/kabc <-- address book directory ( for kaddressbook not email)- contains file for each electronic business card ~/.kde/share/config/kresources/contact/stdrc <-- resource ids no data |
| Calendar | ~/.kde4/share/config/kaddressbookrc ~/.kde4/share/config/kresources/calendar/stdrc |
| News KNode | ~/.kde/share/apps/knode/* ~/.kde/share/apps/knode/nntp.1/ ~/.kde/share/config/knoderc <-- configuration of windows |
| RSS feeds | ~/.kde/share/config/rssservicerc <-- urls of rss feeds - this controls the rss reeds on the kontact summary tab but not the rss tab ~/.kde/share/apps/akregator/* |
| KDE | ~/.kde/share/apps/kwallet/kdewallet.kwl |
| Desktop | ~/Desktop <--- icons ~/.kde/share/apps/kdesktop/ <--- positions of icons Its a bit difficult restoring this information as it seems to check if applications are installed before allowing shortcuts to be transferred to desktop directory. |
| toolbar | ~/.kde/share/apps/kicker/ <-- folder containing applets, plugins, etc. ~/.kde/share/config/kickerrc <-- positions of menus and buttons |
| Java | comm port access to lock file: /etc/group |
| Google Earth | get latest version from http://earth.google.com/ |
| NVU | ~/.nvu/86turgb7.default/prefs.js |
| Filezilla | ~/.filezilla/sitemanager.xml local & remote site information for filezilla |
Notes:
- ~ is used here to mean your home (such as: /home/mydir) directory.
- ~/.kde4/* is used for kde4 and ~/.kde/* is used for kde3
For other setup issues such as configuring desktop and programs see this page.
