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Contributor wkdude18 on the Installation category

Tool for easy migration of wubi install to native  
Written by slavix the 29 May 08 at 23:07. Global category: Installation. In development
People who use wubi install to try the system would benefit from a tool that would make it easy to migrate the install to a native (partition) install.

Developer comments
No updates yet on this project, assuming still in development.
327
votes
inprogress
Selected solution (#1): Auto-generated solution of idea #9246
Written by slavix the 29 May 08 at 23:07.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #9246 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 63 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 11 Nov 12 at 02:20) >>

Offer to create a separate /home partition and use existing ones  
Written by frandavid100 the 22 Mar 08 at 10:55. Global category: Installation. Won't implement
A separate partition for /home has been proposed for a long time in the forums. It implies some risks, though, so based on disk size Ubiquity should estimate the amount of space that should be left for / or whether a separate partition should be made at all. Then...

-The first time an user installs Ubuntu, he is given the option to set a separate /home. This option is selected by default, with a size for each partition based on a sane guess:

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7958/firstinstallaro2.png

-Of course, he can just choose not to set a separate /home. This option will be selected by default if the results of the system test suggest that's the best thing to do.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6498/firstinstallbfs6.png

-Manual install is also possible. Selecting it greys out everything related to separate /home, since it's implied that the user doesn't want to be guided.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7976/firstinstallcvc2.png

-If the user set a separate /home, the next time he installs Ubuntu a new option appears and is selected by default, prompting to use the existing /home partition. All other options are still available, though.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9034/secondinstalliq1.png

[....]

Developer comments
I have always used a separate /home as well. Keeping /home after reinstallations is one major reason which has been mitigated by ubiquity preserving /home now (I didn't test that yet, though).

Either way ubiquity (the Live CD installer) should point this out clearly.

The other reason is that I want to use it from multiple Linux installations, but that's mostly a geek use case.

I have no idea what size / and /home should have by default,
I always use 6 GB for / and the rest for /home, but if someone wants to use huge databases, that'll break.

Thus I think we should stick to our current partitioning and rather improve the UI for keeping /home. There is always manual partitioning for people who actually care.

--

Preserving the contents of /home during installation has been implemented in the desktop CD installer (ubiquity) since Ubuntu 8.04. This is achieved by deleting the system files and directories that are about to be replaced and then continuing with a normal installation, leaving /home, /opt and others untouched. We decided against creating a separate /home partition as there is no correct answer for a /home partition, / partition size split for all users, and we felt the likelihood that whatever guess we came up with would be a major regression for a large subset of our users was quite high.

In addition to this, partitioning is a complex subject, one that is quite difficult for many non-technical users to understand. This difficulty is further complicated by a lack of safe, online partition resizing in Linux.

Please note that the functionality to preserve the contents of /home exists in Ubuntu, just not via the arguably dangerous implementation suggested here.

-- Evan on behalf of the Installer Team
5360
votes
closed
Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #5390
Written by frandavid100 the 22 Mar 08 at 10:55.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #5390 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
66
votes
closed
Solution #2: Suggest sizes for root partition
Written by boscorillium the 17 Jan 09 at 16:35.
Change installer to provide a separate root and home partitions and give the user options of typical root sizes based on profiles created (like minimal, average desktop user, maximum install, etc.). These would be just guidelines and the user could still define a custom size.
183
votes
closed
Solution #3: Allow clean reinstall without deleting /home
Written by andrewpmk the 23 Jan 09 at 08:24.
Make the Ubuntu installer preserve /home by default when installing on top of an existing Linux partition, while replacing the rest of the filesystem. This avoids the need for a separate /home partition altogether.
15
votes
closed
Solution #4: new automatic partition menu on install
Written by mitcoes the 29 Jul 09 at 14:24.
Add this option:
USE a /home partition,
=> select the (old home) partition to use
=> make a new one => choose size
=> all the free space
=> choose other size

And of course after giving -/- a partition with enough space.
about 10 Gb in my opinion in a modern HDD, and other options in small devices.

And 6 Gb - i prefer 10 Gb - for / and the rest for /home MUST BE THE DEFAULT, for KK, and, of course in EXT4.



This partition - /home - would be partitioned as NTFS or FAT32 inoder to share documents with MS WOS. As an option, of course. But better an EXT4 driver for MS WOS.

7
votes
closed
Solution #6: Introduce a separate /home partition as default.
Written by plutocrat the 8 Jun 10 at 04:17.
The installer should suggest a separate /home partition as default: instead of just / and swap, it should also add a /home partition to the structure.

The algorithm for this may be complicated: from my experience its only generally worth it if you can allocate at least 10Gb to the OS. Some suggested schemes:

10 Gb HDD - No separate /home partition
15 Gb HDD - No separate /home partition
20 Gb HDD - 10Gb each to / and /home. Swap depends on memory
30 Gb HDD - 13Gb to OS, 17 to /home
40 Gb HDD - 15Gb to OS, 25 to /home
60 Gb HDD - 20Gb to OS, 40 to /home
... and then no further increase in the size of the OS partition - it caps out at 20Gb.

The installer should try to detect a partition previously used as a /home partition, and should ask the user whether or not to re-use that partition, keeping the data, or whether to erase that partition.

As work on this progressed, the installer might even be able to make modifications to the settings files on the existing /home partition, to ensure that they're compatible with the applications being installed. eg. upgrading OpenOffice 2.x settings files to OpenOffice 3.x settings.
eg. upgrading Thunderbird 2.x settings to 3.x settings.



5
votes
closed
Solution #7: Why not give the user a choice?
Written by atomicblue the 24 Jun 10 at 21:02.
I had a much longer first draft to this message, but found I was saying exactly the same that the original submitter proposed. This should be part of the guided partitioning process. Most users I know only do the manual partitioning because that is the only way to create a separate /home partition.

The installer should try to give the user enough information to make an informed decision for their particular setup instead of hiding behind the digital curtain. They could also chose not to use it, but at least they would have the knowledge to make that decision.

Myself, on all of my computers, I use a 20GB / partition and allocate the rest of the data to /home. Granted, I only use about 1/3 of that but it is enough space to grow that I usually don't miss.
-6
votes
closed
Solution #8: Make a seperate btrfs subvolume
Written by jv13613 the 13 Oct 10 at 01:01.
If btrfs is used in ubuntu by default, then a separate subvolume (from root) could be created and used as /home. This would eliminate the problem of determining how much space to give /home and /.

See the 61 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 31 May 11 at 16:17) >>

List of installed kernels should not grow   forum
Written by probono the 1 Mar 08 at 17:31. Global category: Installation. Implemented
Ubuntu currently doesn't upgrade the kernel, it just keeps adding newer and newer kernels to the system.

Currently, the list of kernels installed on a Ubuntu system grows over time. This takes up additional disk space and adds clutter to the boot loader.

Ideally, older kernels should be removed automatically.

Maybe leave current and current-1, but not _all_ of them...

Developer comments
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/removing-old-kernels
This is done for Intrepid, with the package "system-cleaner" installed by default.
1039
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#1): Auto-generated solution of idea #2236
Written by probono the 1 Mar 08 at 17:31.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #2236 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 32 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 24 Jul 10 at 16:45) >>

Add "install latest release" to LiveCD  
Written by Madsrh the 30 Jun 08 at 11:52. Related project: Live CD. New
Why not add a "Install latest release" icon to the LiveCD desktop?

Use Case:
You have an older or out-dated Ubuntu CD and with it you can install the latest Ubuntu release. The option is only visible if the LiveCD is able to connect to the internet for downloading the files.

So don't have to burn a new CD with every release. The installation will not take longer than installing an out-dated version and updateing from there.
If a feature like this was included you would be able to boot you Gusty, Feisty (just an example) LiveCD and click the icon on the desktop "Install latest release" an enjoy the installation process on Hardy.

I hope my idea is thoroughly explained - if not, please ask!
//MadsRH

(I should perhaps mention that a USB installation tool is planed for 8.10)
124
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #10504
Written by Madsrh the 30 Jun 08 at 11:52.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #10504 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 13 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 15 Dec 08 at 21:51) >>

Installer should never overwrite MBR without permission.  
Written by curtdodds the 29 Feb 08 at 23:55. Global category: Installation. New
Twice now, while installing ubuntu, my MBR has been overwritten. A simple option to not install grub, or to
install to the root partition would be welcome.

For existing multi-boot systems this is a real time killer.
Took me three days to recover first time. Second time was
last night. Haven't recovered all the partitions yet.
159
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #1957
Written by curtdodds the 29 Feb 08 at 23:55.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #1957 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
2
votes
up equal down
Solution #2: When Grub is alread installed, install grub in the boot sector
Written by Id2ndR the 14 Feb 09 at 17:26.
Case : grub is already installed on the mbr to boot and grub directory in installed on an other partition.

What we are doing is to install Ubuntu on an other partition.

Solution : install grub in the BS (BootSector) of the new partition and create a new entry in the existing grub's menu.lst file to chainloader.

See the 13 comments or propose a solution >>