Slackware Re-Installation

corteplaneta · 05-06-2009, 03:06 PM

Hello,

I asked this question in another thread (as a sub question), but I was curious as to whether it was possible to delete all directories on / with the exception of /home, then re-install slackware without a re-format?

Thanks,

corte

MS3FGX · 05-06-2009, 03:31 PM

The best way would be to move /home onto it's own partition, thus separating it completely from the OS.

But the Slackware installer does offer the option to install without formatting first, which would preserve your /home/username directory.

corteplaneta · 05-06-2009, 03:59 PM

Excellent, I'll go ahead & back everything up then attempt to re-install without a reformat. I've always been afraid of having too much free space 1 partition & not enough on another, therefore, I never put /home on a separate one (though I now see the value in this!!)

Thanks for the quick response.

onebuck · 05-07-2009, 07:22 AM

Hi,

The problem with a re-install without format will be that there will be stale files or directories with files that will remain.

I suggest that you copy or move the '/home' to a alternate storage, then when you do rebuild you can move to a separate storage or device. You could create a new '/home' at the end of your hdd to allow you to rebuild without over writing or formatting.

A good solution would be to create a extended partition on your hdd that would allow you to have more than just the 4 primary partitions. That way you could create your '/' and '/home' on separate partitions. I use the '4th' primary assignment as my extended partition then create;

Code:

~# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf5b5f5b5

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        3824    30716248+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            3825        4074     2008125   82  Linux swap
/dev/sda3            4075       10300    50010345   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           10301       60801   405649282+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           10301       10425     1004031   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           10426       11671    10008463+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7           11672       12668     8008371   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           12669       12918     2008093+  83  Linux
/dev/sda9           12919       13915     8008371   83  Linux
/dev/sda10          13916       15161    10008463+  83  Linux
/dev/sda11          15162       16407    10008463+  83  Linux
/dev/sda12          16408       28856    99996561   83  Linux
/dev/sda13          28857       41305    99996561   83  Linux
/dev/sda14          41306       53754    99996561   83  Linux
/dev/sda15          53755       60801    56604996   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdd: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb2214719

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1   *           1        4981    40009851    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdd2            4982        9962    40009882+  83  Linux

Code:

cfdisk (util-linux-ng 2.13.1)

                              Disk Drive: /dev/sda
                       Size: 500107862016 bytes, 500.1 GB
             Heads: 255   Sectors per Track: 63   Cylinders: 60801

    Name        Flags      Part Type  FS Type          [Label]        Size (MB)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    sda1        Boot        Primary   NTFS             [^C]            31453.48
    sda2                    Primary   Linux swap                        2056.32
    sda3                    Primary   Linux ext3       [/spare1]       51210.60
    sda5                    Logical   Linux ext3       [/]              1028.16
    sda6                    Logical   Linux ext3       [/home]         10248.70
    sda7                    Logical   Linux ext3       [/usr]           8200.61
    sda8                    Logical   Linux ext3       [/var]           2056.32
    sda9                    Logical   Linux ext3       [/tmp]           8200.61
    sda10                   Logical   Linux ext3                       10248.70
    sda11                   Logical   Linux ext3                       10248.70
    sda12                   Logical   Linux ext3                      102396.52
    sda13                   Logical   Linux ext3                      102396.52

Code:

~# cat /etc/fstab
/dev/sda2        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/sda5        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
/dev/sda6        /home            ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda7        /usr             ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda8        /var             ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda9        /tmp             ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda1        /mnt/winxp       ntfs-3g     umask=000        1   0
#/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,owner,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
tmpfs            /dev/shm         tmpfs       defaults         0   0

MS3FGX · 05-07-2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

The problem with a re-install without format will be that there will be stale files or directories with files that will remain.

As stated in his initial post, he intends to delete everything but /home from the drive before running the installer.

kslen · 05-08-2009, 05:54 PM

Don't forget to bring along your configuration files.

Code:

su -c "cp -r /etc /home/user/backup/"

Backing up the whole thing and then copying what you need back into their rightful places is preferable over rewriting perfectly good configuration files any day.