upgrade to jessie, what to backup

[Jude DaShiell]

I forgot, tar default is automatic resursion that would have to be 
turned off to only copy one directory.  That p in the command string 
does preserve file attributes like permissions though.

On Thu, 5 Nov 2015, Tom Fowle wrote:

> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2015 23:15:01
> From: Tom Fowle <wa6ivgtf at fastmail.fm>
> Reply-To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
>     <speakup at linux-speakup.org>
> To: speakup at linux-speakup.org
> Subject: Re: upgrade to jessie, what to backup
> 
> the reccommended command, as root, from /etc# gets
> tar -cprf etc.tar.gz /etc
> tar: You may not specify more than one `-Acdtrux' or `--test-label' option
> Tom Fowle
>
> On Thu, Nov 05, 2015 at 06:58:13PM -0800, Tom Fowle wrote:
>> tony,
>> thanks for all this. Looking at the upgrade documentation leaves me
>> thoroughly  intimmidated. My major reason for upgrading was to get beyond
>> the current kernel crash that happens a couple 3 times a week.  However with
>> my lack of experience, I'd be pretty sure trying the upgrade would be a
>> bigger mess.
>> I'll re-evaluate the situation from time too time especially if/when they
>> stop supporting jessie, and see what happens.
>> Thanks again.
>> Tom Fowle (official wimp!)
>> 
>> On Thu, Nov 05, 2015 at 02:22:55AM -0800, Tony Baechler wrote:
>> > I know this seems obvious, but did you make a tar archive of /etc in
>> > single user mode?  Just doing a file copy to an external drive won't
>> > usually work because file permissions aren't preserved.  Most
>> > external drives are formatted as NTFS or FAT32 and are not suited
>> > for file backups.  Making a tar archive of /etc is generally safer
>> > and does preserve permissions.  This command should work, but if
>> > not, someone will hopefully correct me:
>> > 
>> > cd /
>> > tar cf etc.tar etc
>> > 
>> > You might want to check the official Jessie release notes here:
>> > 
>> > https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
>> > 
>> > I suggest installing something like Screen or tmux, just in case the
>> > upgrade takes longer than planned or somehow leaves you without a
>> > working shell.  It is very useful to be able to create a new window
>> > to check configuration files, manuals, web sites, etc.  You can
>> > detach, create new windows, etc. Also, keep a script of the output
>> > as sometimes messages and warnings are displayed which you might
>> > miss.  You do that with the script command.  Run "script" first
>> > before starting the upgrade but after launching screen or tmux.  You
>> > want to be especially careful about upgrading your kernel and
>> > probably want to do that separately after the system upgrade, but
>> > follow the guidance in the release notes if in doubt.
>> > 
>> > On 11/4/2015 10:38 PM, Tom Fowle wrote:
>> > >Planning to upgrade from wheezie to jessie.
>> > >Backing up to a usb external hard drive, I've done everything under /home
>> > >and /etc.
>> > >Is there anything else I should backup? or other things to be aware of
>> > >before or during the upgrade?
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