Re: A response from Walnut Creek

[turnbull@example.com (Stephen J. Turnbull)]

>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen P Casmar <scasmar@example.com> writes:

    Stephen> OK, here goes my newbie question...  I have an old
    Stephen> installation of Linux on my computer. I haven't tweaked
    Stephen> it all that much so I have decided to do a NEW install
    Stephen> using Redhat. However, I have got the printing, X-windows
    Stephen> etc. up and working very well with all my hardware -->
    Stephen> Sooo, What do I need to save; i.e. which and where are
    Stephen> all the config files, so that I can refer back to them if
    Stephen> Redhat decides all I need is vga or something?

This is the best reason to upgrade and the best reason not to
upgrade.  To be a little more straightforward, *all* of your
configuration files should reside in a small number of places.  Mostly 
this is /etc, /usr/etc, /usr/local/etc, /etc/X11, users' HOME
directories, and so on.  Unfortunately, it just ain't so, making
preserving a configuration a royal pain, and a new install decidely
ulcer-prone.  (Why *not* to upgrade ...)  New distributions are better 
about this than old ones (kudos to the FSSTND crowd), and RedHat has
amazing PMS, RPM, which helps a lot.  (... why *to* upgrade.)

Most of the essentials are there, though, so ....  On my system,
/usr/etc and /usr/local/etc have nothing interesting.

The basic things from /etc:
DIR_COLORS	aliases		csh.cshrc	csh.login
dosemu.conf	fstab		ftpaccess	ftpconversions
ftpusers	gateways	gettydefs	group
host.conf	hosts		hosts.allow	hosts.deny
hosts.equiv	hosts.lpd	inetd.conf	inittab
lilo.conf	mail.rc		mailcap		motd
networks	passwd		printcap	profile
protocols	resolv.conf	services	shells
syslog.conf	termcap

Many of those you don't need; if you've never touched them, then
probably you don't need to preserve them.  Absolutely essential are
passwd and group; RedHat probably doesn't overwrite these, but if it
does your user -> name mapping will get screwed up.  Most of the rest
probably will either get reasonable defaults from the installation,
won't be touched, or are easy to figure out, but why not have them
handy?  Personalizations like motd help you feel at home in the new
system...

** If you're using Slackware or similar, preserve /etc/rc.d entirely. **
These startup scripts can be a real pain to recreate.

/etc/[X11/]XF86config is absolutely essential, and it's best to keep
everything in /etc/X11 if your installation is recent enough (X11R6)
to use that directory.

Don't forget /usr/src/linux/.config!

For a start, preserve those /etc directories *offline*:  tar cz -> MO, 
tape, or floppy.  Back up all user homes, preferable offline, but
RedHat can be relied upon not to trash user HOMEs.

What more you need to worry about depends on what you mean by
"install."  For example, if you decide to take advantage of RPM for
TeX or GCC something like that, you need to figure out where their
config files are....  Mostly they autoconfigure, but if you have local 
mods, it can be tough.

If you use sendmail, sendmail.cf ....  Dunno where it lives, probably
/etc?  Smail, you need to preserve /etc/smail.

Mostly, you probably don't need too much.  You probably won't go too
far wrong with /etc/rc.d/* (but note that RedHat's system is quite
different here, you'll need to translate if something screws up),
/etc/X11/XF86config, /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/printcap,
/etc/fstab, /etc/lilo.conf, and /usr/src/linux.cfg.

Steve

-- 
                           Stephen John Turnbull
University of Tsukuba                                        Yaseppochi-Gumi
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences  http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, 305 JAPAN                 turnbull@example.com
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