Should preserving /home be default for installation?
Posts: 60
Just wondering whether it would make more sense for the installer to default to preserving any existing /home folder on the hard drive.
I have succesfully installed Mepis on a number of end-user machines, both for myself and for users with no Linux experience (and, in fact, users with no experience or interest in computer configuration matters who, sick of virus problems and lack of useful, affordable programs, were easy to convince to try Linux (Hi Mom!)), and find it to be the best end-user distro around. The fact that it is relatively painless to upgrade (by downloading the latest version on ISO) is a huge plus (I now generally only upgrade when a new ISO is released, as I have had problems with apt-get dist-upgrade - type attempts from Mepis). A really nice stroke of genius is the option to preserve the /home directory, which means that aside from custom application installations users won't notice the fact that the entire underlying system has been replaced. You guys thought about this. Thanks.
I wonder why, though, keeping the /home partition isn't the default? If I have installed a system for a friend who subsequently wants to upgrade, I have to warn her that she can accept all the defaults EXCEPT the one about the home directory. It seems to me that if someone already has a /home directory, they will almost always want to keep it. People also assume that the default is the 'safe' choice that does not involve destruction of data, i.e., if in doubt, go with the default. debconf works on this principle. Generally, shouldn't the default be to not delete/remove something?
I am sure there are reasons why you wouldn't want to do this (i.e. upgrading from "Bizarro Linux" distro to Mepis). Perhaps it is because I have been using Mepis for well over a year that any machines I am upgrading are already running Mepis, so I always want to keep the /home partition.
A minor point, perhaps. But choosing the right default is very, very important. Is erasing /home by default the right choice for a distribution focussed on ease of use and the end user?
-- bbb
"defaults should be conservative"
Posts: 613
Seem like a perfectly reasonable argument. Error on the side of caution.
Why not?
You got my vote.
If you treat your beta-testers as if they're your most valuable resource, they will respond by becoming your most valuable resource.
I agree. Did you sent an
Posts: 4077
I agree. Did you sent an e-mail to Warren?
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Very Good Idea
Posts: 3
I think that preserving /home should be the default, regardless of the distribution. I have been able to move from Red Hat, to Linspire, to SimplyMEPIS without losing any of my data by making sure that /home was not overwritten.
The only caveat is that /home has to be a separate partition for this to work.
-- cthibodeau
"The only caveat is that
Posts: 4077
"The only caveat is that /home has to be a separate partition for this to work."
No it doesn't, anything that's in /home is preserved if you select the option, it doesn't matter if it's a partition or directory.
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Caveat caveat
Posts: 5513
Quote cthibodeau and adrianTM:
"The only caveat is that /home has to be a separate partition for this to work.
"No it doesn't, anything that's in /home is preserved if you select the option, it doesn't matter if it's a partition or directory."
You forgot to add Adrian, that this functionality is within Mepis. Other Linux distributions aren't as "nice" as Mepis and will delete directories if they are within the "root" partition. I'm not absolutely positive about this, but I believe even some of the "big distributions" like SuSE, and Mandriva will do that. To be safe in their world one MUST have home on a separate partiton.
If I am completely wrong on this (wouldn't be the first time), please correct me 
That's one of the many things I like about Mepis
Jon
Good Point!
Posts: 5513
bbb, you make a good point, that "defaults should be conservative" on an upgrade. Especially since loading from a CD will be doing a lot of damage if done improperly. Perhaps an initial, easy question at the very beginning of "Install ME" that asks, "Is this a NEW Installation, or an UPGRADE?" From there one could take the radical (blow everything away) or conservative (save stuff) direction
Jon