Tips and tricks for a default setup?

V

veryuniquename

I am going to reinstall FreeBSD soon and I'd like to have an identical setup as before, since I am happy with the one I got right now. Does anybody have any tips or tricks on how easily copy a setup (settings for different programs, OS tuning, packages, files, etc) to a fresh install?

I currently just have a bash script for my packages but it sometimes fails (e.g. when some packages are removed or change name). I feel that this bash script is kind of bad. It is difficult to copy without having some "enter" pop up and short cut the command or some other error.
 
veryuniquename said:
Does anybody have any tips or tricks on how easily copy a setup (settings for different programs, OS tuning, packages, files, etc) to a fresh install?
Click to expand...
Run pkg leaf and note the packages that have been installed. This will only show so-called 'leaf' packages, which doesn't include all the dependencies (you don't have to install those, they're automatically pulled in).

You also want to backup /usr/local/etc/, it should contain all the configuration files for the various things you installed and configured. Maybe also backup /etc/rc.conf so you know what was enabled.

Backup your /home/* directories too, you probably want to keep your user's files.
 
I copy the entire /etc Directory so I have all my system settings on USB stick and can copy them off into the Directory as root.

Things like /etc/ssh/sshd_config can just as easily be "Saved As" the same filename and overwrite the existing file in that Directory. If you're comfortable working as root.

I keep all my x11-wm/fluxbox styles, sysutils/gkrellm2 skins, fonts, images, documents from the last build, etc. on the same USB stick and can transfer all that at the same time.

I do the program tweaking manually but /usr/local/share/ is where the fluxbox styles, x11-fm/xfe icons, fonts and such are stored.

I transfer fonts directly into /usr/local/share/gimp/fonts as root, run rehash and they're available for use with graphics/gimp the next time I open it without any editing done.
 
SirDice said:
Run pkg leaf and note the packages that have been installed. This will only show so-called 'leaf' packages, which doesn't include all the dependencies (you don't have to install those, they're automatically pulled in).

You also want to backup /usr/local/etc/, it should contain all the configuration files for the various things you installed and configured. Maybe also backup /etc/rc.conf so you know what was enabled.

Backup your /home/* directories too, you probably want to keep your user's files.
Click to expand...
I have done a backup of my /home files alongside some other directories and files, everything stored in one directory ('backup'). I used the tar command and followed the docs. Can I use the tar command again on the folder ('backup') and 'tar it' again, or will that level of compression break things? What do you think?
 
Code: 
pkg leaf
Thanks, a list of packages without their dependencies, that is extremely useful.

BUT run that that AFTER pkg autoremove if you've just done 12.2->13.0 .It would be good for the FreeBSD handbook to suggest this step (pkg autoremove)after a major version upgrade.
docs.freebsd.org

Chapter 26. Updating and Upgrading FreeBSD

Information about how to keep a FreeBSD system up-to-date with freebsd-update or Git, how to rebuild and reinstall the entire base system, etc
docs.freebsd.org docs.freebsd.org
 
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