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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Package up and transport a linux? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 11 months ago by UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I have a simple wish, with a probably not so simple solution.

I recently started with linux (Arch kde), I'm loving it, I quickly realized that this OS and almost all apps, are highly customizable, I'm laving that as well. My problem is the unavoidable reinstalls and that I have a laptop.

Is there any way that I can save all my configs, apps and my apps' configs, and transfer them over to my laptop, while almost having a very quick back-up. I realize that I could turn it into an ISO somehow, but that wouldn't work (I think) because my laptop has vastly different hardware. I also realize the partitioning problem. So in my idealistic world, there should be a solution that requires a clean install (from scripts or manual) and some .sh file, that installs all my apps, pastes all my configs and reboots.

So is this possible? and if yes, how should I go about this? did someone make a tool for this already? Or(!) can I burn it to a flash and the drivers will correct themselves/I'll deal with them later?

For final words I'd like to say that I'm far from finished configurating, but I'd like to know the proccess, to not shoot myself in the foot somewhere along the way of configing, thanks!

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[–] iopq@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There's a distro called NixOS that is created for this purpose. It also has a tool called home manager that will manage your dot files for you. Once you back up like two or three configuration files you can recreate your system (minus any actual data)

When you do this in Arch there's no guarantee you get the same package versions and there's no guarantee everything works

[–] lupec@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

To add to this, another viable path is using Nix, the package manager, on its own. That way you can get Home Manager to manage your applications and dotfiles independently of your base system, as long as you are able to install Nix.

It's my general workflow, run Determinate Nix Installer, install Home Manager, clone my config and I'm off to the races. Been sharing that config between Debian, Ubuntu on WSL and Bazzite for a while and it's served me well so far.