Bug#238424: preserving old data
Package: installation-reports
(This is a documentation bug.)
Just did a pretty-much stock i386 IDE installation using
sarge-i386-businesscard.iso, dated 15-Mar-2004 the version just before
beta-3.
The machine had an old installation of Redhat or something, and we
wanted to preserve /home/ftp. To do this I briefly manually mounted
the target root partition, deleted /* (except home and lost+found),
then ... well, then it took me quite a while to figure out how to tell
the partition tool to *not* reformat the partition in question.
One thing that would really help would be "example" screens at
strategic points showing sample pairs: (scenario, what-to-do). Eg,
To: Preserve /home on partition used by old distribution
Do: In partition menu select ... Dirs /usr /etc /lib ... will be
lost; others not listed include /home will be preserved.
(Of course I don't know if that is the case, just guessing.)
No need to go on a length. As the old Roman saying goes, "Longum iter
est per preaecepta, breve et efficax per exempla!" (It's a long way
by the rules, but short and efficient with examples!)
--
Barak A. Pearlmutter <barak@cs.may.ie>
Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
http://www-bcl.cs.may.ie/~barak/
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