I have been using PopOS for a while now (came installed with my S76 Lemp10), but now looking for a new distro (I want to try Linux Mint). I am looking for the easiest way to set up the new distro with most of my current applications installed.
My current plan on how to move my applications and settings:
- Get dotfiles to external repo (I am using stow)
- Use ansible-playbook to set up installation of all the apps I need
- Try the ansible setup on a docker container to ensure it works
- Then try the ansible setup on a PopOS VM to ensure things work
- Modify the ansible setup to use Linux Mint package manager (synaptic I believe)
- Then try the ansible setup on a Linux Mint VM
- Once everything works, copy the data, install new distro and run ansible script on the new OS
Is above the correct way to go about this, or is there anything better or easier available?
Edit: Thanks everyone for responses. The general consensus seems to be that that above is overkill (although doable and works) and copying home folder & dotfiles and trying out the distro fresh is easier, and install software as needed. Or, try NixOS :)
Nix os has a thing like that. Personally I use an arch distrobox. I have a backup of the distrobox image container that I can put on any computer and have all the apps and settings available.
Mint is an Ubuntu derivative like Pop, so the package manager is apt. Synaptic is a gui for apt.
If you want to learn and use ansible, go for it, but it might be a bit more than you need. If you are just wanting to install the apps you want, you can just write a quick bash script that installs all the apps you want.
The file structure should be the same in Mint as Pop, so restoring your dot files should be straight forward.
You COULD probably do it like this if you want to gain experience with ansible. Otherwise it’s total overkill. Just write down a list of must-have apps that you currently use and install them manually in the new system. It’s always a nice opportunity to start fresh and clean.
That sounds like overkill, is your system really that complex that you need to automate it’s installation? Usually when I reinstall my system I install the programs I remember and whenever I need something I install it.
My dotfiles are in a repo, but that only started when I started using i3 since the config is entirely a text file, before I just used the GUI to setup my system to look like I wanted it to.
I just want it to get to a usable state pretty quick on a new distro, and also to go back quickly to pop-os if I don’t like the new stuff. That’s why trying out ansible for this.
You might be overcomplicating stuff, I always like to point to this https://xkcd.com/1319/ if it’s something that will take you 30 min once every couple of years when you decide to switch distros, it’s not worth the time to automate IMO.
If you like trying to take something simple and make it super complex for no real reason then might I suggest you don’t?
