How to backup Linux install settings and config

[Alir]

I'm trying to backup my Linux install. Anyone know how I could do this?

 

I am using Linux Mint Cinammon (17.2).

 

Note: I am trying to backup my Linux programs and everything, not my home directory. I want my Linux install on the PC to have the same settings as my laptop does.

[RedWulf]

Drive cloning? or maybe just swap some config files, program directories, and user files into a fresh install. 

[Alir]

1 hour ago, RedWulf said:

Drive cloning? or maybe just swap some config files, program directories, and user files into a fresh install. 

Question is which files would I need to replace? Exactly? I don't want to leave out any important files.

 

Also, drive cloning would only work if both computers were exactly the same.

[RedWulf]

I'm not entirely sure, but if they aren't identical only a few of the files would work anyways. Your would be better of just doing a new install, but some others have tried doing what you want. 

http://askubuntu.com/questions/320826/is-it-possible-to-make-an-exact-iso-of-my-system-to-put-on-other-computers

 

[komaru]

Your best bet is to do a clean install on the new machine, however there are was once that's done to get a close to same install. You can try the following. Please note, while I do know Aptitude-based disto commands, I did use my Fedora 23 install as reference for the file paths and Mint may vary here. In addition, some configs may be unique to the PC and could cause errors if replaced with another. So, to be safe, follow what's below at your digression.

 

On the current Mint PC (laptop I believe in your case), open a terminal and run:

sudo dpkg -l

Type your password and it should list every installed package (program). Don't write them all down since most will either be system packages or dependencies, but do take note of the names you do know (I.E. filezilla, gimp, wine). You can ignore the x86_64 or i686 near the ends and any extension if shown. The easiest way is to look at you application list in Mint (only the one's you've installed) and find the package name for it. Once you're satisfied, close the terminal window.

 

As for the config files, this can very from each program. I'd start by looking in ~/.config and see what programs have made directories there and backup their respective files. Other programs may just make a hidden directory right in the you Home directory (~/). Either way, you're best off using your file manager, enabling the option to show hidden files, and backup what you can find. Be sure to make note of where everything goes.

 

On the PC to get Mint, as mentioned before, do a clean install. Once online run:

sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

This is just standard practice. You may be asked to confirm the installs. Once complete, you can installed the applications from the list you made. In example:

sudo apt-get install filezilla gimp wine

This will install the specified applications also with any required dependencies. You may be asked to confirm  installs like before. It may also be wise to do this in small chunks if the list is long to avoid typos since if one or more package name are wrong, the whole command will not work. Once everything is installed, reboot the PC. Then you can go about replacing the config files you backed up, though I would also keep the originals (rename as .bak or in a sub-directory) just in case. Reboot, open an application, and see it all went well.