Re: Removing desktop environments
On Sun, Feb 04, 2007 at 02:06:57PM EST, Greg Folkert wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-02-04 at 13:42 -0500, cga2000 wrote:
> > Sorry I was unclear.
> >
> > I want to remove all the crud from my system in order to be able to run
> > backups that are fast, small, and simple.
> >
> > I installed gnome and kde at one point but I never use them.
> >
> > I have no intention of reinstalling them at a later date.
>
> The issue here is that you only need to backup your data. Backups
> of /usr and /var and so on mean nothing.
you don't think backups of /var/log might come in handy?
> dpkg --get-selections > installed.packages.list
>
> tar jcvf $DATE-backup.tar.bz2 /home installed.packages.list /etc
>
> It really make ZERO sense to do full backups this way. Debian can be
> installed as a base system and then re-installed faster and easier than
> restoring.
In this particular case you are probably right.
Now on the other hand if your are looking at a system that has dozens of
patches installed and lots of customized software you definitely do not
want to reinstall and then have to go through the hassle of going
through all that customization in an emergency. In the real world,
that's one excellent reason why having a copy of your executables makes
a lot of sense.
And that's precisely what full backups of a system are for.
So for the helluvit I'd rather do it the "right way" -- full backup +
incrementals than rely on a couple of copies of my data files.. Which, by
the way .. is exactly what I have been doing for the last ten years or
so..
Thought it was time for a change.
:-)
> You really only need backup your list of installed packages, /etc
> and /home and anywhere else you have stored REAL data.
>
> Remember, you are not dealing with Windows.
Well... thank goodness for that. I know a tiny bit about Microsoft Word
and Microsoft Excel as a reluctant user ... but quite honestly, I know
next to nothing about Windows administration.
> Most Unix systems, things like Netware and OSX are all designed to be
> re-installed quickly and then the "data" restored quickly.
>
> A /usr on a CD does you a crap-load of no-good if you system is toast.
Please explain.
I have a well-thought out selection of apps in /usr .. /usr/local/ ..
Some of them were built from source and ./configured to meet my exact
needs.
The whole process of customizing this system spans a period of about two
years. Yes, I do have notes about what I did but I may have left out a
few things .. etc.
Why would I want to start all over with all the headaches when I could
restore from a recent snapshot of the entire system in a few minutes?
Thanks
cga
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