1

After having these issues: How do I fix broken installation?

... I've decided to reinstall Ubuntu (11.04). I need to do so from the command line. And, while I am reinstalling to clean up and solve some general, confusing problems, I'd still prefer to keep preferences like Keyboard Shortcuts if possible. Is there some magic wand to reinstall like there was with upgrading from 10.10 to 11.04? If I have to back things up on my own, what's a good way to do so from the command line? Are there any other tips you might give me based on the problem I described in the above thread? Finally, do keep in mind that Ubuntu is one of multiple partitions on my machine.

I suppose the main question here is, what is the easiest way to reinstall from the command line? I obviously have my own particular sub-questions here, but, for the sake of the community, a generalized answer will, at least, earn you an up vote from me. I suppose the ideal answer would have one big line with the simple command at the top, and details for my situation somewhere under that.

Community
  • 1
Daniel
  • 1,939

3 Answers3

1

So, the answer to the main question:

You can't.

Daniel
  • 1,939
0

You can backup by doing things like

#cd to flash drive
tar -cvvf home.tar /home
tar -cvvf etc.tar /etc
user606723
  • 1,802
0

IMHO, you cannot doing any re-installation process without removing command line system. But if you want to do preserve your settings, you can back your home folder up. Most Linux configuration files store in the . (dot) folders which is hidden by default.

For your system configuration you may back the /etc directory up. And for backing up your application you can use these command:

sudo dpkg --get-selections > /home/<username>/applicationlist.txt

Copy that text file to your media backup. When you have completed new installation, you can fire up your terminal and do this:

sudo dpkg --set-selections /path/to/applicationlist.txt && sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade
rakhmad
  • 1