Steps to move from Debian+KDE to KDE Neon, while preserving most settings?

[salsa241]

Hello, I am wondering if it would be good idea to try KDE Neon based on Ubuntu LTS rather than Debian. The reason is to have latest KDE because current one has some issues and also if possible to utilize BTRFS filesystem rather than EXT4, + to use larger SSD drive than current one.

https://lumo.proton.me suggested me backup (on Debian):
dpkg --get-selections > ~/pkglist.txt && \
sudo tar czpf ~/backup.tgz /etc /var/lib/dpkg $HOME/.config $HOME/.local

Restore (on Neon):
sudo dpkg --set-selections < ~/pkglist.txt && sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade
sudo tar xzpf ~/backup.tgz -C /

(-p is for preserving permissions from archive)

I should likely snapshot (using timeshift) the system before restore and for simplicity backup /etc/apt/ or whole /etc using "cp" or "rsync"..

Do you have any feedback to this approach? Ideally if you can share better or additional commands or steps.

[claydoh]

also if possible to utilize BTRFS filesystem rather than EXT4,

Debian can't do this?

dpkg --get-selections > ~/pkglist.txt && \
sudo tar czpf ~/backup.tgz /etc /var/lib/dpkg $HOME/.config $HOME/.local

Restore (on Neon):
sudo dpkg --set-selections < ~/pkglist.txt && sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade
sudo tar xzpf ~/backup.tgz -C /

No.
This is only good for restoring installed packages when (re)-installing the exact same distro and release. Package names, more specifically package versions will be different, or even not used, or not available between the two, even if they share a lot of DNA..

To preserve desktop and application settings, all you need to do is back up your entire /home/username directory.
If /home is already on its own partition, then a custom install pointing /home to the existing partition, making sure that it is set to NOT be formatted.
But going to BTRFS, you would not do that anyway, as this uses subvolumes.

Now, restoring your current $HOME will have all your user, desktop and application settings, as well as your files.
This might be overkill, but there is no single place for Plasma, or many others.

Preserving ~/.config and ~/.local will get you most desktop and app settings, minus your documents, and for Firefox/thunderbird stuff-- which is in ~/.mozilla.

What I do is back up the entire $HOME, but only restore ~/.local and ~/.config, plus documents, and maybe my ~/.mozilla dir to save time re-syncing. Then, if needed, I restore any configs that I may have manually modified and know I will need. Then, I just go about my business and see what may be missing as I use things. Usually there is very little that I need to grab from the backup.

I should likely snapshot (using timeshift) the system before restore and for simplicity backup /etc/apt/ or whole /etc using "cp" or "rsync"..

A timeshift snapshot (the rsync type) won't work restoring to a different distro. It only touches system level items, and these will be very different.
Restoring /etc/apt is not useful at all, because different distros will have very different configs and rules used.

/etc/ is the same, but if you manually edited something, these individual things might be worth saving, if you are completely sure it is not specific to the distro or system. Say your Samba config, maybe, but being aware that the newer stuff in Ubuntu might not care for the old config settings.


Now, as for the more current Plasma, this should not be an issue. , or not much. Going from 6.3.x to 6.5 is not a big jump, in terms of settings, and KDE has been pretty good not breaking things at this level. Now, if you have a highly customized desktop.....ymmv.



Another potential alternative to look at, if you are very comfortable with Debian overall, is to move to Testing. This is where Ubuntu grabs a snapshot, so to speak, every 6 months as the basis for the next release. Many people run this as their daily driver, though I myself have no firsthand knowledge.

[oshunluvr]

EXT4 can handle large drives so that's not really a reason to switch to BTRFS. However, there are many many other benefits to BTRFS over EXT4.

Otherwise, I think Claydoh explained what you're attempting to do rather well.