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On 05/02/2018 06:59 PM, Samuel Sieb
wrote:
On
05/02/2018 02:49 PM, Temlakos wrote:
On 05/02/2018 05:39 PM, Samuel Sieb wrote:
Are you trying to remove all the user
configuration files as well? If so, then just turn on "show
hidden files" in Nautilus and delete the dot directories. But
of course, only do that if you really want to have to
reconfigure everything again.
Here is the primary benefit I derived from
this method. Each user's home directory has a number of hidden
files (whose names begin with a dot) that contain configuration
variables. After several iterations of the operating system,
errors accumulate in those files. This results as much from the
sheer obsolescence of certain configuration files and their
parameters as from careless handling of the desktop. In my case,
I had several icons of Mozilla Firefox in my system tray that I
could not for the life of me remove. Furthermore, a password
manager I liked to use, simply refused to load.
So just delete the dot directories as I mentioned above. If you
really want to do it for all the users, then run:
sudo rm -rf /home/*/.??*
and don't mistype that!
Mounting /home on a separate filesystem
does nothing to solve the problem of the accumulated errors of
configuration. You asked whether I have to reconfigure
everything. That's just it: yes. Because especially after
several iterations of "dnf system-upgrade," the configuration is
a mess!
I have only very rarely (single digit number of times) had an
issue with configuration files and when I did, I just deleted that
specific application's config files. I generally want my config
files to stay around.
But mounting user data, like the contents
of Documents, Pictures, etc., and even the contents of hidden
application-specific directories like .mozilla (for Firefox) and
.thunderbird, /does/ eliminate the problem. The errant files get
erased with the rest of the filesystem, but the good user data
remains.
Actually thinking about this, you would have to recreate all the
user directories and the symlinks again (with the right
permissions) after you do the reinstall! Is that really easier?
Now for that matter, I remind you that if
you're going to mount a separate file system as /home, you still
have to use a command that will make the mounting permanent and
not something you have to execute every time you start the
system up. So maybe you can tell me what the syntax of the mount
command would be for that. I'm sure I can adapt that to the
system I borrowed from that other user.
You add a line to the /etc/fstab file to automatically mount it at
boot.
Now I'd like to know the syntax of that line.
Now about zero-ing out the configuration files: the problem is that
the configuration involved is the desktop configuration.
Application configuration is fine, especially Firefox, thunderbird,
and a specialized program called MakeMKV where I like to retain
registration keys. But the KDE configuration really suffers, and
suffers at every major upgrade--meaning from one version of Fedora
to the next. That's when the biggest changes take place. Suddenly
all bets are off, and the old configurations are obsolete.
The further trouble is that if I just erase the configuration files,
some of these programs won't load. Better to start fresh.
Prize example: the inauguration of the dnfupdater to replace Apper
for software management. I did not see that one coming, and I doubt
the automatic upgrade would have been kind to it.
Symlinks are easy enough to re-create. I'm writing a script to do
them all at once. All it will take is a simple re-execution.
Temlakos
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