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Get all differences from original installation

ca flag

I want to know if there is a valid way to get all manual done modifications to all files of an Ubuntu installation (in my case xubuntu 20.04).

The installation is completely updated and the diffs also should be between my installation and the newest available updates from the Ubuntu repos for this version.

The aim is, because I cannot upgrade to 22.04., to get a list of all configurations I have to do after a fresh 22.04 install from the scratch.

Thank you a lot.

woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
I always start my question with 'Hello community', but this was deleted. I want to be friendly. Sorry.
David avatar
cn flag
No such tool exists.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
I'm not sure what you are actually asking for; but if you installed a Xubuntu 22.04 LTS Desktop system on one system (*even if you fully-upgraded*), and a Xubuntu 22.04.2 LTS system on another box with identical hardware & likewise fully upgraded - the result will not be identical! The different installation media in my example cause different kernel stack *defaults* which results in different kernels/packages on those two systems & you didn't specify what ISO you used for your install. Why not just backup your data, then *upgrade via re-install*? (ie. non-destructive!) or *release-upgrade*?
guiverc avatar
cn flag
If you *release-upgrade* your system, the defaults you have now will follow you (ie. remain on your new install), however if you *fresh* install you'll have the defaults of the media you freshly install with.. Yes I realize you're after a way to get around issues like this, but your approach is just to me wrong (*I used to like being able to do what you are trying to do, but it was I now consider a waste of effort, given how easily you can non-destructively re-install a newer release ... and I frequently use instead of release-upgrade as its immensely faster!*).
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
Hello, for the fresh testinstallation I used xubuntu-22.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso downloaded on 22.3.2023.
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
The problem with the do-release-upgrade from 20.04 was, that I couldn't log in on lightdm anymore. The login-dialog disappeard, I could move the mouse pointer, on the backgroundimage, but nothing else was to be seen (no icon, no menu, no contextmenu on right-click). I didnt find any helpful log (dmesg, syslog, Xorg.0.log .xsession-errors). However logging in from text console worked.
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
Since I did a lot of configurations over the years (as there are rygel media server, mirroring harddisks, vncXserver, network scanning via sane, specific samba configuration to work together with my TV, nextcloud instance, rsync daemon, and a lot more, the machine is something like my universal homeserver), I would like to have an overview of all special configurations I did. So this could hopefully save some time, when I install 22.04 from the scratch.
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
@guiverc "Why not just backup your data, then upgrade via re-install? (ie. non-destructive!)" How do you mean re-install non-destructive? Can I do something like an install from an iso (booted from usb-key) and then say: install all things execpt these I modified? Thats not possible, I think. How should the installer know, which is an original file from 20.04 (to be replaced) and which is one that I manually changed (to be left on the disk)
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
The best goal to achieve would be a list with the following content: you have modified /etc/sambe/smb.conf you have added /etc/rygel,conf you have added /opt/videocut/... compared to the standard installation 20.04
guiverc avatar
cn flag
The non-destructive is selected by Ubuntu *flavors* like Xubuntu when you re-use your existing partitions **without** format; where it notes the *manually installed* packages, erases only system directories (*it's intended for desktop systems not servers*), installs system from media then if internet is available downloads the noted *manually installed* packages (*if available from Ubuntu repositories for new release*) without touching any user config in $HOME (where xubuntu has them). Server apps use system directories for configs (*desktop systems use $HOME*) thus will suffer loss
guiverc avatar
cn flag
You'll find it documented on this site 30+ times (*alas no high-upvote answers so harder to find*) but I'll provide https://discourse.lubuntu.me/t/testing-checklist-understanding-the-testcases/2743 which is intended for QA-testers of Lubuntu, refer to the "*Install using existing partition*" QA-testcase as its a tested install method for Lubuntu (works with all *flavors* though using `calamares` or `ubiquity`). Note: Global configs will be lost which primarily impacts server apps (it's for desktops like Xubuntu!), but user level configs are untouched for user systems
woelfchen42 avatar
ca flag
@guiverc Ok I understood (and knew this btw.) and this is what I was afraid. So this is no method for me. The only way is to backup the complete installation to a folder and then manually fiddle out what I have configured over the years. Thank you all the more for the detailed comments.
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