Sometimes, one needs to reinstall Fedora because it got messed up by mistake or because it has not been updated for several releases.
Note: This is fallout of https://ask.fedoraproject.org/en/ques... worthy getting a separate answer. I will answer this question myself.
Preparation
Backup
First, you need to carefully make a backup.
rpm -qa) just in case.¹dnf leaves using the dnf leaves plugin). This will be needed later if you want to reinstall all the extra packages you've installed before.¹dconf dump / as their user ID.¹/etc. Do this as root or with sudo because otherwise you will be missing important files due to missing permissions. This will backup system-wide configuration.²systemctl list-unit-files | grep enabled.¹/opt or files in /usr/local, make a backup too.²/var too. This is not normally needed.rpm -Va. Have a look at this list as it will contain all files which differ from package defaults. This is especially important for config files which may reside outside of /etc, but also for permissions./home.³ If it is on a separate partition, take an image, e.g. by using GNOME disks or dd (dangerous). If it is not on a separate partition, consider putting it on a separate partition as this will ease future reinstallations. If you don't have a separate partition, then carefully back-up your /home and store it useing tar or cp -a ... to ensure the permissions of all files remain unchanged when you restore.¹: Do this from the currently running system or through a chroot environment from a live image. ²: Do this either from the currently running system or a live image. ³: Do this from a live image, not from the running system! Otherwise file modifications will be lost. You may also get problems with permissions.
Fedora installation
Boot from any installer media and do a full installation, wiping the root partition. You do not have to wipe a separate /home partition. You need to wipe any partition containing the boot manager (/boot) or the system-managed folders below /usr. If you have a separate partition for /var, you ...
This is really good. I commend you.
I have the following questions, needed clarifications 1. Any partitions outside root, do not have to be wiped with the new install, correct? 2. If the rebuild is on a hardware raid, with LVs, can re installation be defaulted to the standard fedora lv/partition/ then mount the salvaged partitions?
Not only is this a very good post, but it, given its lengthy and intricate contents, is worthy of some automation. I'm a noob and in no position therefor to be trusted (even with my own system), but I would like to call on anyone who would be able to provide some out-of-the-box experience for this functionality to contribute to the community.
I've installed deja-dup, but that looks to me as rather simplistic (at least the out-of-the-box experience) as the default is to save my home folder (duh).
@ecjbosu: I added a few more details on which partitions to remove and which need not to be removed. I have no experience with RAID or multi-disk-btrfs so I cannot give more details. If you can, I will be happy to include your description. I do not know how to turn this post into a wiki though.
@degski: Due to the fact that this process requires at least 4 reboots, I doubt that there is an easy way to automate it. I have put some of the steps below "Backup" into a bash script which works fine for me, but there is not much magic to that.
/boot/efi should be preserved, unless you are sure it contains nothing coming from other OS installations.
/usr/local may need to be saved, although its contents is usually coming from software installed from source. If you have any of these, they should be installed from source again.
/etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are tricky as it contains user ids created by rpm packages as well as user ids. The former would usually get different uid numbers after re-installation, and should not be modified.
Same goes for /etc/group.
Asked: 2018-09-19 12:29:17 -0600
Seen: 2,366 times
Last updated: Sep 21 '18
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a workstation or a server as described in the question linked? Backup strategy may be different.
I do not see any difference. Do you have an example?
your point 3. and point 7. for example. However, I think those are minor differences! Great question and great answer! I guess this will be very helpful to other users (that sort of question has been asked many many times here).