The biggest problem you might run into is some config files in your home directory that have changed spec, but that has only happened to me once - I think when going from a pre 1 version of gnome to a much newer one.
If that happens - just delete the config file. What you want to do - copy these files to a floppy: /etc/shadow /etc/group /etc/passwd Any data not in your home directory that you want to save, back them up too. Such as /etc/httpd/httpd.conf if you use Apache and have customized it. You might want to save your ssl key too, but I never bother to on a home machine. When you install the new distro, choose your current /home partition with a mount point of /home but DO NOT choose to format it. Let the install go, don't create a new user - just the root user is enough. Boot into single the root account, mount the floppy, and run: cat /mnt/floppy/shadow > /etc/shadow cat /mnt/floppy/group > /etc/group cat /mnt/floppy/passwd > /etc/passwd reboot - and you should be able to log into any of your user accounts just fine. If you don't have a burner - I *really* recommend you have a friend burn the iso's. Really. I don't know where you live, but in California (most of the US I suspect) you can get an IDE cdrw drive for about $50.00 now new. They really have dropped in price. But if you can't afford it, really - get a friend to burn it. You probably want to burn backups of your home directory anyway just in case something goes wrong. If I were you, though - I'd wait to install RH9 until about a month after it has been released. That way you can see pitfalls to avoid - and show stopper bugs have a better chance of having patches easily available. On Tue, 2003-03-25 at 00:36, Jim Wilferling wrote: > Alright, so I'm annoyed. Just learning linux, and I've gone through 7.2, > 8.0, and was anticipating 8.1. so now there's 9.0, so what....I've tried to install > 8.1 beta rpms, and there were worse problems than there were with 8.0. > So we cope....I'm not about to switch distros so quickly, just cause of some > version hullaboo. But I want the new release, If it contains gnome 2.2. Heres the > rub. When they say binary incompatable, will my /home dir, which is its own > partition, mess up a new9.0 istall? should I delete all my /home/Jim/.* files? And > does this binary incompatability mean that I wont ever be able to just upgrade rpms > on the fly? If not, is there a way to mount a disc image without it being on a disc? > (I dont have a burner.) > Basically, I'm game, But does it brown the food? > > _jim -- Michael A. Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
