34
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2026
34 points (100.0% liked)
Linux
66993 readers
282 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
For my personal workstation, it's such a rare thing I always use that an excuse to start from scratch again. If it's like a business system or something, usually build a new system and migrate data and services to it gradually.
I so rarely do in-place upgrades of system drives unless it's a recovery or something.
I'm about to do just that, but a bit overwhelmed. Over the many years of using Debian (not a heavy user though, only some slow progressing self host projects), there are many utilities or programmes I installed that I wouldn't remember, is there an easy way to identify what is not "base" Debian and list them, so I'd reinstall them?
True. Starting with a fresh install can be more of a performance boost than buying a new drive. Add them together though and your computer is going to feel like future tech. I'd also just reinstall, unless its a server or a pain to rebuild.
Pretty much this. I’d copy anything I want to keep onto a temporary drive, (cloud storage, a USB drive, second SSD, etc), then use it as an excuse to refresh my install. Then just copy everything from that temporary storage after my new install is finished.