Whenever I do a fresh install (preferably a net install or one from a live medium -- they're smaller), as soon as I reboot into it and update it, I launch dnfdragora and go through, first, all the apps I know I don't need, or hope I won't. (When in doubt, I hit Apply often and read through the resulting list with great care.)
That done, I start over, this time looking for things I know or hope I will want. By the time I've done both, I've pretty well killed a day, often two.
And then I still have to do the other half: arranging panels, icons, and the like into places where my fingers can find them, without taking what's left of my mind off what it's doing.
As an old retired fart blissfully unconcerned with production of anything, I can afford all this; but it's gawdawful tedious. If there's a better way that a non-technoid can use, somebody please clue me in!
If I could have my druthers, I'd like some snapshot that would record my tweaks shortly before a fresh install, and write them to a temporary external medium. Then after the fresh install, it would check as best it could, show me the changes, and offer to carry them out.
I realize such a tool could never be perfect. There will always be new releases of one standby or another, and other bigger changes that give the May or November release of Fedora good reason for taking a new number. Nevertheless, there are also mature apps, such as mailers and list servers, that some of us want and some of us don't, which change only slowly. There are terminal tabs, font sizes, locations of launchers, and so forth and so on. The tool I'm wish-dreaming of would seize *my* tweaks and carry them over to feed into the new install.
All this or something like it happens now with an upgrade, and may the developers be blessed above all nations for making it the preferred way! But sometimes for instance I replace a machine ....
Interesting that you say this. My experience is the opposite. Here's what I do:
* install a fresh image * use the same user and UID as previous install * reboot * rsync my backed-up home dir to my new home dir location. This brings in all application-specific preferences so I don't have to arrange panels and so on. * add rpmfusion to yum * do a yum -y update && yum -y install $( < app.list ) from my app.list file, a newline-delimited list of all the packages I expect to be installed (vlc, ffmpeg, audacity, and so on) * reboot out of habit (logging out is probably sufficient)
It usually takes me about two hours, depending on how long rsync and yum take. Actual time sitting in front of the computer is a lot less, since rsync and yum can run concurrently, and I don't sit around waiting on them.
I keep thinking I should use Ansible for all of this, but frankly the above workflow is pretty well-engrained (it's basically the same workflow I use for my Slackware machines). Maybe some day.
On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 5:08 AM Beartooth Beartooth@comcast.net wrote:
Whenever I do a fresh install (preferably a net install or onefrom a live medium -- they're smaller), as soon as I reboot into it and update it, I launch dnfdragora and go through, first, all the apps I know I don't need, or hope I won't. (When in doubt, I hit Apply often and read through the resulting list with great care.)
That done, I start over, this time looking for things I know orhope I will want. By the time I've done both, I've pretty well killed a day, often two.
And then I still have to do the other half: arranging panels,icons, and the like into places where my fingers can find them, without taking what's left of my mind off what it's doing.
As an old retired fart blissfully unconcerned with production ofanything, I can afford all this; but it's gawdawful tedious. If there's a better way that a non-technoid can use, somebody please clue me in!
If I could have my druthers, I'd like some snapshot that wouldrecord my tweaks shortly before a fresh install, and write them to a temporary external medium. Then after the fresh install, it would check as best it could, show me the changes, and offer to carry them out.
I realize such a tool could never be perfect. There will alwaysbe new releases of one standby or another, and other bigger changes that give the May or November release of Fedora good reason for taking a new number. Nevertheless, there are also mature apps, such as mailers and list servers, that some of us want and some of us don't, which change only slowly. There are terminal tabs, font sizes, locations of launchers, and so forth and so on. The tool I'm wish-dreaming of would seize *my* tweaks and carry them over to feed into the new install.
All this or something like it happens now with an upgrade, andmay the developers be blessed above all nations for making it the preferred way! But sometimes for instance I replace a machine .... -- Beartooth Staffwright, Historian of Tongues Squirreler, Double Retiree, Linux Evangelist
users mailing list -- users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org
@ Seth Kenlon a separat and during install untouched (just mount it) /home partition could save the sync time too :-)
@ Beartooth 1. after install: dnf list installed | sort -u >> rpm_to_delete.txt
2. edit rpm_to_delete.txt and clean it up so that only the rpm are left over you want to delete. hint 1: you could shorten the entries in the delete list e.g. for all intel wifi firmware I don't need to iwl*
3. then: for i in $(cat rpm_to_delete.txt); do sudo dnf remove $i; done
4. keep rpm_to_delete.txt for later use e.g. Fedora 31, ...
hint 2: analog for an list of additional to install rpm's
Urrrggghhh
in 1. you need to generate the list via:
dnf list installed | cut -d " " -f1 | sort -u >> rpm_to_delete.txt
I guess we all have our own methods......as I don't have that many apps that I customize (aside from Thunderbird!....can't live without that one!) and with all the calendars, contacts etc?...I just grab the profile that was created when I first installed and configured it....and transfer it to whatever machine / device I'm installing Fedora / CEntOS on....and voila'! All my information is there!...all my contacts....all the email addresses and mailing lists! Everything else?...(Firefox....GNome Boxes...etc.) I can just use as is...or dress them up a bit...but nothing so drastic that I have to worry about losing data or config files!
EGO II
On 4/15/19 2:31 PM, sixpack13 wrote:
Urrrggghhh
in 1. you need to generate the list via:
dnf list installed | cut -d " " -f1 | sort -u >> rpm_to_delete.txt _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 15:07:01 -0400, Eddie G. O'Connor Jr. wrote:
I guess we all have our own methods......as I don't have that many apps that I customize (aside from Thunderbird!....can't live without that one!) and with all the calendars, contacts etc?...I just grab the profile that was created when I first installed and configured it
Profile?! What profile?? Where is it?? And HOW do you transfer it to the new device?? It sounds like the "better way" I'm looking for!
On 4/16/19 8:53 AM, Beartooth wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 15:07:01 -0400, Eddie G. O'Connor Jr. wrote:
I guess we all have our own methods......as I don't have that many apps that I customize (aside from Thunderbird!....can't live without that one!) and with all the calendars, contacts etc?...I just grab the D profile that was created when I first installed and configured it
Profile?! What profile?? Where is it?? And HOW do you transfer it to the new device?? It sounds like the "better way" I'm looking for!
The profile for Thunderbird should be at a location similar to
~/.thunderbird/xyzzzy.default
check out Thunderbird Edit> Account Settings and look at the "Local Directory" settings (typically) and it should give you the path, I believe.
-- ~~R
Richard England:
On 4/16/19 8:53 AM, Beartooth wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 15:07:01 -0400, Eddie G. O'Connor Jr. wrote:
I guess we all have our own methods......as I don't have that many apps that I customize (aside from Thunderbird!....can't live without that one!) and with all the calendars, contacts etc?...I just grab the D profile that was created when I first installed and configured it
Profile?! What profile?? Where is it?? And HOW do you transfer it to the new device?? It sounds like the "better way" I'm looking for!
The profile for Thunderbird should be at a location similar to
~/.thunderbird/xyzzzy.default
check out Thunderbird Edit> Account Settings and look at the "Local Directory" settings (typically) and it should give you the path, I believe.
If I to reinstall and that is rarely, I have a backup of all my files and configs. The configs are in your home folder but hidden, with a dot before the file name. You have to enable hidden files from your file manager. Then you can see them.
On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:38:51 +0200, David Dusanic wrote:
Richard England:
On 4/16/19 8:53 AM, Beartooth wrote:
Profile?! What profile?? Where is it?? And HOW do you transfer     it to the new device?? It sounds like the "better way" I'm looking for!
The profile for Thunderbird should be at a location similar to
~/.thunderbird/xyzzzy.default
check out Thunderbird Edit> Account Settings and look at the "Local Directory" settings (typically) and it should give you the path, I believe.
Big oops: I don't do Thunderbird.
If I to reinstall and that is rarely, I have a backup of all my files and configs. The configs are in your home folder but hidden, with a dot before the file name. You have to enable hidden files from your file manager. Then you can see them.
That's one of the tweaks I always do right away, yes. But aren't there individual things in /usr, /bin, /usr/bin, and other such places?
Beartooth:
That's one of the tweaks I always do right away, yes. But aren't there individual things in /usr, /bin, /usr/bin, and other such places?
All user files are in the user's home directory. Now you could of course also look into /etc/, /var/ and maybe some more but for me the home folder is sufficient.
On 4/17/19 12:35 PM, Beartooth wrote:
That's one of the tweaks I always do right away, yes. But aren't there individual things in /usr, /bin, /usr/bin, and other such places?
Anything user related is in /home/<user> (or /root). System-wide configuration is in /etc. That should be it.
If you install third-party bits, then there can be things in /opt or /usr/local.
On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 05:40:55 +1200, Seth Kenlon wrote:
Interesting that you say this. My experience is the opposite. Here's what I do:
- install a fresh image * use the same user and UID as previous install
Won't Anaconda do the UID automatically? I don't know UID from Union Pacific, but I do almost always stick to the same username.
- reboot * rsync my backed-up home dir to my new home dir location. This
brings in all application-specific preferences so I don't have to arrange panels and so on.
<sigh> rsync, or maybe now grsync, is one of those things I keep meaning to get around to learning .... Absent-mindedness gets worse with age ....
- add rpmfusion to yum * do a yum -y update && yum -y install $( <
app.list ) from my app.list file, a newline-delimited list of all the packages I expect to be installed (vlc, ffmpeg, audacity, and so on)
- reboot out of habit (logging out is probably sufficient)
I didn't know yum still worked in Fedora. Is && a command?? Or what? I did use to have an app list -- in my head, unfortunately. As soon as any install finished and I rebooted, I routinely typed out a list of what to delete, then an app list, and then "dnf upgrade."
It usually takes me about two hours, depending on how long rsync and yum take. Actual time sitting in front of the computer is a lot less, since rsync and yum can run concurrently, and I don't sit around waiting on them.
Are you really saying you can have two different programs both installing things at once??
I keep thinking I should use Ansible for all of this, but frankly the above workflow is pretty well-engrained (it's basically the same workflow I use for my Slackware machines). Maybe some day.
- install a fresh image * use the same user and UID as previous install
Won't Anaconda do the UID automatically? I don't know UID from Union Pacific, but I do almost always stick to the same username.
Yes, sorry - I was being explicit because it's possible that a user chooses a custom UID (as I do). If you use the defaults, then the UID is not something you would need to set manually.
- reboot * rsync my backed-up home dir to my new home dir location. This
brings in all application-specific preferences so I don't have to arrange panels and so on.
<sigh> rsync, or maybe now grsync, is one of those things I keep meaning to get around to learning .... Absent-mindedness gets worse with age ....
rsync -av /path/to/backup/seth/ /home/seth/
- add rpmfusion to yum * do a yum -y update && yum -y install $( <
app.list ) from my app.list file, a newline-delimited list of all the packages I expect to be installed (vlc, ffmpeg, audacity, and so on)
- reboot out of habit (logging out is probably sufficient)
I didn't know yum still worked in Fedora. Is && a command?? Or what? I did use to have an app list -- in my head, unfortunately. As soon as any install finished and I rebooted, I routinely typed out a list of what to delete, then an app list, and then "dnf upgrade."
I typed 'yum' by accident because I run RHEL at work and it still uses yum. I also alias yum to dnf on Fedora, so I'm doubly confused :)
The && means "if the previous command exits without error, then do...". It is literal; you can type one command, and then && followed by a second command; as long as the first doesn't fail, the second runs afterwards.
Are you really saying you can have two different programs both installing things at once??
My rsync command is mostly just copying my personal data. I guess there's a chance of yum trying to install something to ~/.local or ~/.config and conflicting with what rsync is attempting to copy over, but if so I have yet to encounter (or notice?) it.
On Thu, 18 Apr 2019 10:07:37 +1200 Seth Kenlon wrote:
- reboot * rsync my backed-up home dir to my new home dir location.
My technique is to have home on a separate disk and just change /home in the install partition to a bind mount of home from the other disk (rename the installed /home and make a new empty /home mountpoint first).
This line in my fstab does it:
/zooty/home /home none rw,bind 0 0
On 17Apr2019 18:43, Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2019 10:07:37 +1200 Seth Kenlon wrote:
- reboot * rsync my backed-up home dir to my new home dir location.
My technique is to have home on a separate disk and just change /home in the install partition to a bind mount of home from the other disk (rename the installed /home and make a new empty /home mountpoint first).
This line in my fstab does it:
/zooty/home /home none rw,bind 0 0
Historically I've done this kind of thing with a symlink:
mv /home /home.orig ln -s /zooty/home /
Is there an advantage to doing this with a mount?
Cheers, Cameron Simpson cs@cskk.id.au
On Thu, 18 Apr 2019 09:07:24 +1000 Cameron Simpson wrote:
Is there an advantage to doing this with a mount?
I used a symlink for a while till various programs started refusing to work with /home a symlink because the security geeks had decided something dodgy must be going on.
If the same programs start checking for bind mounts I'm going to take out a contract on someone :-).
On Wed, 2019-04-17 at 21:36 +0000, Beartooth wrote:
I didn't know yum still worked in Fedora. Is && a command?? Orwhat?
yum is now just a symbolic link to dnf. The old version of yum is still avaliable as yum-deprecated.
'&&' is standard Shell syntax. 'foo && bar' means 'run bar iff foo worked (i.e. returned a 0 exit code'
poc
On Wed, 2019-04-17 at 21:36 +0000, Beartooth wrote:
Won't Anaconda do the UID automatically? I don't know UID from Union Pacific, but I do almost always stick to the same username.
Yes, and no... (Anaconda picking the same UID.) It's the *numerical* user identification. Likewise, GID is the group user number. Remember, file permissions have sets for the user, group, and other (everyone/everything else).
In general, the system doesn't care what name you've picked for the username, it uses the user *numbers* (for file access, permissions, etc). The name matters when logging in, of course. In that case, it's doing the reverse; you enter a name, it associates your login with the numerical number IP.
On ye old Linuxe, user numbers started from 500. So the first user account created would be user number 500, the next 501, etc. In modern Linux, they start from 1000, and my guess is that won't need to change again.
So, generally, when nothing has changed in the OS, each time you create your user, you'll get the same UID. And if you create any extra users in the same sequence each time, they'll get the same numerical IPs.
But if you create user accounts in a random order, each time you set up a system, you won't get consistent user IDs. This is where most multiuser systems hit a problem, one they don't realise until they try to use NFS, or import old user data. Remember the system cares about the numerical IP, that's what it uses.
We are all numbers, we have no names, to the system.
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 17:07 +0000, Beartooth wrote:
As an old retired fart blissfully unconcerned with production ofanything, I can afford all this; but it's gawdawful tedious. If there's a better way that a non-technoid can use, somebody please clue me in!
This may not be the answer you're looking for, but (if this is all on the same machine of course) why are you reinstalling instead of updating? I for one can't remember the last time I did a fresh install. I've been updating version after version for at least the past 4 years, maybe more. I keep thinking that maybe I should reinstall just to get rid of random cruft, but can never be bothered to do it.
poc
+1 Updating on Fedora is [surprisingly?] effective.
On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 7:23 AM Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 17:07 +0000, Beartooth wrote:
As an old retired fart blissfully unconcerned with production ofanything, I can afford all this; but it's gawdawful tedious. If there's a better way that a non-technoid can use, somebody please clue me in!
This may not be the answer you're looking for, but (if this is all on the same machine of course) why are you reinstalling instead of updating? I for one can't remember the last time I did a fresh install. I've been updating version after version for at least the past 4 years, maybe more. I keep thinking that maybe I should reinstall just to get rid of random cruft, but can never be bothered to do it.
poc _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@lists.fedoraproject.org Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:22:29 +0100 Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I keep thinking that maybe I should reinstall just to get rid of random cruft, but can never be bothered to do it.
I always reinstall for that very reason. Plus I've worked out a great way to do it: Install a virtual machine, guestmount it, then rsync the disk image to the real partition I'm going to run on. Edit a few files like grub.cfg and fstab, and you can boot into it with a grub entry that uses the configfile directive, then install grub for real. No need to have your system down while installing :-).
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 17:01 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:22:29 +0100 Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I keep thinking that maybe I should reinstall just to get rid of random cruft, but can never be bothered to do it.
I always reinstall for that very reason. Plus I've worked out a great way to do it: Install a virtual machine, guestmount it, then rsync the disk image to the real partition I'm going to run on. Edit a few files like grub.cfg and fstab, and you can boot into it with a grub entry that uses the configfile directive, then install grub for real. No need to have your system down while installing :-).
Presumably the real partition you're going to run on is different from the one you are currently running on, so are you flipping between two partitions on each new install (in the manner of recent versions of Android) or is this something else?
poc
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 22:33:08 +0100 Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
so are you flipping between two partitions on each new install
Correct. I have a 64G SSD drive with two partitions for two versions of fedora, and I flip between them for each install (and can refer back to the old one if I find something I failed to setup right). The other spinning disks with space for real data to survive across the install get mounted the same way in both.
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 18:20 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 22:33:08 +0100 Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
so are you flipping between two partitions on each new install
Correct. I have a 64G SSD drive with two partitions for two versions of fedora, and I flip between them for each install (and can refer back to the old one if I find something I failed to setup right). The other spinning disks with space for real data to survive across the install get mounted the same way in both.
Nice. Something to consider, or even automate as a standard option in Fedora.
poc
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 20:22 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
why are you reinstalling instead of updating?
I haven't done that for ages, but I always found it dead slow (it spends ages computing what to do, and ages updating individual packages), and I'd get compatibility problems (changes between versions of things, there'd be revoked packages, etc). It always took me longer to sort that out, than a quick fresh install with a few tweaks.
On 4/15/19 8:18 PM, Tim via users wrote:
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 20:22 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
why are you reinstalling instead of updating?
I haven't done that for ages, but I always found it dead slow (it spends ages computing what to do, and ages updating individual packages), and I'd get compatibility problems (changes between versions of things, there'd be revoked packages, etc). It always took me longer to sort that out, than a quick fresh install with a few tweaks.
It does take longer, but I haven't had any upgrade issues for a long time.
On Tue, 2019-04-16 at 12:48 +0930, Tim via users wrote:
On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 20:22 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
why are you reinstalling instead of updating?
I haven't done that for ages, but I always found it dead slow (it spends ages computing what to do, and ages updating individual packages), and I'd get compatibility problems (changes between versions of things, there'd be revoked packages, etc). It always took me longer to sort that out, than a quick fresh install with a few tweaks.
It can take a while certainly, but any compatibility problems I've had tend to be because of packages changing between versions, and that's the same whether you upgrade or reinstall (I assume you don't wipe all your ~/.config or ~/.local when doing this).
poc
(Re: *my* installing rather than upgrading)
On Tue, 2019-04-16 at 11:46 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
It can take a while certainly, but any compatibility problems I've had tend to be because of packages changing between versions, and that's the same whether you upgrade or reinstall (I assume you don't wipe all your ~/.config or ~/.local when doing this).
Actually, I like to do complete fresh starts.
I used to do a HDD swap for a new install. Rip out the old one, install on a new one (which avoids the common problem of accidentally installing on the wrong one). Plug the old one in as a second drive in case I wanted anything from it. But since I stopped keeping things on client's disk drives, there's been less need to do that.
I don't customise my installs much. I used to be Gnome, now it's Mate, with little beyond the default configuration (e.g. a plain screen background, without pictures, remove a few auto-starting things from the session manager). I'd tried KDE, but that comes with a huge amount of baggage, a plethora of unhelpfully named applications that I don't even use, and a gazillion annoying configuration options (not to mention I can't stand its defaults). So that can easily start with a blank slate.
My mail is on an IMAP server, so new mail clients just need to set up the details for email addresses (email addresses, server names). It's less horsing around to enter them in than trying to export/import configurations.
I'd given up on web browser bookmarks years ago (good for recalling an address for a couple of days, then a nightmare of scads ancient links that really should be culled), now I use the history search feature. I only use about one plugin - a noscript one. My ad-blocking was done in the DNS server (I create deadzones for annoying advert farms, so there's no IP for the browser to find, never mind connect to). And I use very few websites that need logging in to.
I keep some VIM customisation files on the server, and just import them into new clients.
That's pretty much it, for me.
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:22:29 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
This may not be the answer you're looking for, but (if this is all on the same machine of course) why are you reinstalling instead of updating?
I tried to forestall that question by saying "But sometimes for instance I replace a machine ...." I guess I should have made the thought more conspicuous -- and maybe also mentioned that I sometimes bollix a machine up so badly that a fresh install is the easier or the only alternative.
Last week, for instance, I managed to so foo a brand new laptop that anything I did on the login screen killed it. (I'd've tried a repair if I'd been able to remember how to boot straight into single user, or find out again how. I spent a few days trying, and then just put the install disc back into it. <sigh>)
On 4/16/19 9:08 AM, Beartooth wrote:
Last week, for instance, I managed to so foo a brand new laptop that anything I did on the login screen killed it. (I'd've tried a repair if I'd been able to remember how to boot straight into single user, or find out again how. I spent a few days trying, and then just put the install disc back into it. <sigh>)
Add "single" to the kernel command line. You will need the root password.
On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:21:40 -0700, Samuel Sieb wrote:
On 4/16/19 9:08 AM, Beartooth wrote:
Last week, for instance, I managed to so foo a brand new laptop that anything I did on the login screen killed it. (I'd've tried a repair if I'd been able to remember how to boot straight into single user, or find out again how. I spent a few days trying, and then just put the install disc back into it. <sigh>)
Add "single" to the kernel command line. You will need the root password.
Remember, the minute I typed my password at the login screen, I lost all electronic contact. No response to mouse nor keyboard. The machine eventually displayed an error message, and sometimes after another long interval a second error message. But that was all.
I'd've tried to use those messages -- I had an inkling what to do and how -- but I'd've had to do it *before* the machine got to the login display. Iirc, that used to be doable, and I think some kind soul walked me-on-another-PC through doing it on a problem PC, long ago.
Of course the ability's existence was one thing that meant no machine that a bad guy could get to physically could be secure; lots of other things in life have that problem. <shrug>
I *believe* that, IF (big if) I could get the machine to boot from a live medium, I'd've been able -- somehow -- to use that live OS to mount the hard drive, and edit its grub.conf or something. But I never really knew how to do the mount.
On 4/18/19 1:15 PM, Beartooth wrote:
On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:21:40 -0700, Samuel Sieb wrote:
On 4/16/19 9:08 AM, Beartooth wrote:
Last week, for instance, I managed to so foo a brand new laptop that anything I did on the login screen killed it. (I'd've tried a repair if I'd been able to remember how to boot straight into single user, or find out again how. I spent a few days trying, and then just put the install disc back into it. <sigh>)
Add "single" to the kernel command line. You will need the root password.
Remember, the minute I typed my password at the login screen, I lost all electronic contact. No response to mouse nor keyboard. The machine eventually displayed an error message, and sometimes after another long interval a second error message. But that was all.
You edit the grub entry from grub at boot time. Put "single" and the end of the kernel line. It's not permanent, it only affects that boot.
At the login screen, before typeing, you could try pressing CTRL-ALT-F3 to get to a console and see if that works.
I *believe* that, IF (big if) I could get the machine to boot from a live medium, I'd've been able -- somehow -- to use that live OS to mount the hard drive, and edit its grub.conf or something. But I never really knew how to do the mount.
The easiest one is to use the netinst image. There's a rescue option on the boot menu. That will give you an option to automatically mount the installed system. Doing that will also trigger a full selinux relabel of the system, so if you're sure you didn't mess up any labels, you can delete the .autorelabel file from the mounted root to avoid that.
On Thu, 2019-04-18 at 14:35 -0700, Samuel Sieb wrote:
Remember, the minute I typed my password at the login screen, Ilost all electronic contact. No response to mouse nor keyboard. The machine eventually displayed an error message, and sometimes after another long interval a second error message. But that was all.
You edit the grub entry from grub at boot time. Put "single" and the end of the kernel line. It's not permanent, it only affects that boot.
Just in case: editing is accomplished by using the arrow keys to select one of lines from the boot menu and typing 'e'.
poc
Patrick O'Callaghan:
This may not be the answer you're looking for, but (if this is all on the same machine of course) why are you reinstalling instead of updating? I for one can't remember the last time I did a fresh install. I've been updating version after version for at least the past 4 years, maybe more. I keep thinking that maybe I should reinstall just to get rid of random cruft, but can never be bothered to do it.
That would be exactly my answer. Why reinstall? It has to run and run and run and...
Upgrading painlessly to another release is *the* killer feature why I use Fedora and Debian.
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Beartooth -
Cameron Simpson -
David Dusanic -
Eddie G. O'Connor Jr. -
Patrick O'Callaghan -
Richard England -
Samuel Sieb -
Seth Kenlon -
sixpack13 -
Tim -
Tom Horsley