making a backup of user / program settings

Cinematography · 05-12-2005, 09:43 PM

My last copy of Linux died. I had to install a new copy of Linux so I could get my files from the old copy. I would like to format and start fresh now. Before I do that, I would like to save the user/program settings from my old copy of Linux.

Is there an EASY way I can backup user/program settings?

Matir · 05-12-2005, 09:57 PM

Moving them from distro to distro is not the easiest task as files have a tendency to be in slightly different locations on different systems. However, you'd want to keep your entire home directory (perhaps make a preserving-style tarball of the thing) and probably the files in /etc. These would at least give you a place to store settings to refer to later.

btmiller · 05-12-2005, 09:58 PM

In general, global configuration files go in the /etc directory. Individual users' configurations go in files or directory prefixed by a . (dot) in their home directory. You should back up the appropriate configs for /etc and of course copy over user home dirs you will need.

mrcheeks · 05-12-2005, 10:01 PM

Basically you just want to do a :

Code:

tar jcvf home-backup.tar.bz2 ~/.*

and a zip of global configuration files in /etc that you might need.

Cinematography · 05-12-2005, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matir
Moving them from distro to distro is not the easiest task as files have a tendency to be in slightly different locations on different systems.

How about if I'm moving from Mandrake to Mandrake?

Quote:

Originally posted by btmiller
In general, global configuration files go in the /etc directory. Individual users' configurations go in files or directory prefixed by a . (dot) in their home directory. You should back up the appropriate configs for /etc and of course copy over user home dirs you will need.

Are these directories hidden? I can't seem to find them.

Quote:

Originally posted by mrcheeks
Basically you just want to do a :

Code:

tar jcvf home-backup.tar.bz2 ~/.*

and a zip of global configuration files in /etc that you might need.

Beautiful command line.

What if I wanted to just backup the files in my home directory and not the files on my desktop? I have a huge video editing directory on my desktop that I would like to backup later.

Thanks a lot for the replies, folks.

Matir · 05-12-2005, 10:28 PM

Directories and files beginning with a '.' are indeed hidden. Those in your home directory are generally configuration, preference, startup, and history files. I would add 'p' to the tar command line to preserve permissions, though!

Cinematography · 05-13-2005, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matir
Directories and files beginning with a '.' are indeed hidden. Those in your home directory are generally configuration, preference, startup, and history files. I would add 'p' to the tar command line to preserve permissions, though!

Is there a way I could see these files so I can see what I'm doing with them? Or backup just my program/os settings?

Cinematography · 05-13-2005, 11:21 AM

*bump* ^_^

Cinematography · 05-13-2005, 07:01 PM

Matir · 05-13-2005, 10:10 PM

ls -A in the console will show the hidden files as well.

Cinematography · 05-13-2005, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matir
ls -A in the console will show the hidden files as well.

[tony@localhost tony]$ -A
bash: -A: command not found

mrcheeks · 05-13-2005, 11:11 PM

is

Code:

ls -A

not

Code:

-A

Matir · 05-13-2005, 11:12 PM

Sorry for the lack of clarity.

mrcheeks · 05-13-2005, 11:13 PM

by the way if you are using gnome or kde, just use the view or display menu of your file manager to display hidden files.

Cinematography · 05-13-2005, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mrcheeks
is

Code:

ls -A

not

Code:

-A

Oh good god... After 2 days of hell I'm finally making some progress. I can now see the files I want to backup. Thank you guys very much.

And now.... for my last question.... How do I backup JUST those program setting directories into a tar file?