Re-installing FC5

[Timothy Murphy]

Dean S. Messing wrote:

> : How do you know which files in /etc to copy to your new system?
> 
> Over the years I've disciplined myself to do the following to
> each and every system file I alter for the first time:
> 
> cp -p system_file system_file_tag
> 
> where "tag" is a tag identifying the OS.  For FC5 I use (surprise)
> "FC5".  Then when I am about to do a fresh install of the next rev I
> issue as root:
> 
> # /etc/cron.daily/mlocate.cron
> # locate '_FC5' | grep '_FC5$'
> 
> The result on my freshly installed three week old FC5 machine gives:
> 
>   /boot/grub/grub.conf_FC5
>   /etc/fstab_FC5
>   /etc/group_FC5
>   /etc/inittab_FC5
>   /etc/ld.so.conf_FC5
>   /etc/logrotate.conf_FC5
>   /etc/modprobe.conf_FC5
>   /etc/mozpluggerrc_FC5
>   /etc/ntp.conf_FC5
>   /etc/passwd_FC5
>   /etc/sysctl.conf_FC5
>   /etc/X11/xorg.conf_FC5
>   /etc/cron.daily/+grimreaper_FC5
>   /etc/cron.daily/+tmpwatch_FC5
>   /etc/fonts/fonts.conf_FC5
>   /etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc_FC5
>   /etc/pam.d/system-auth-ac_FC5
>   /etc/rc.d/rc.local_FC5
>   /etc/ssh/sshd_config_FC5
>   /root/.bashrc_FC5
>   /usr/include/magick/image.h_FC5
>   /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.13/res/fonts/fontEncoding.properties_FC5
>   /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/browse-url.el_FC5
> 
> which are files I've modified already.

But what about files that are changed by applications,
eg CUPS, httpd, xorg.conf, mysql?
Of course one can go through all the initializations again.
But it seems to me to mean that one is taking quite a lot more time
to install afresh than to upgrade.

I do see the advantages of a fresh install;
but there are a several advantages in the opposite direction too.
I don't think anyone should say one or the other is "better".


-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland