when i upgrade to 9.10 will it save my settings etc?

[bilmas]

when i upgrade to 9.10 will all my settings and software continue to work even if they happen to be built for the 9.04 architecture?

for example: i got boxee working in 9.04 64-bit and it'd be great if that continued to work

i just hope i don't have to start from scratch for everything.

[earthpigg]

in theory, yes.

historically, in-place upgrades dont quite work correctly for about 10% of users (i pulled that figure out of thin air -- its a guesstimate...).

some of the new under-the-hood features of 9.10 will only be implimented on fresh installs, and not on upgrades. a 9.10 fresh install will likely be a smoother system than a 9.04 upgraded to 9.10 system.


i personally always do fresh installs.


here's a handy piece of information:

all program settings are kept in your /home/username folder. in the file manager, select view -> hidden files and folders.

everything starting with a dot (".")? thats called a dotfile. it contains the settings for a specific program.

when you feel like it, explore the folders and files, especially for programs you use a lot.

if you back those up, do a complete fresh install, and then put those dotfiles back where you found them on your old install, then your settings will all be restored the next time you log in or (re)start a given application.

some backup/restore all their dotfiles on a fresh install, some people (like me) do it selectively.... really, i usually just restore firefox (the .mozilla folder), pidgin (the .purple folder), and my .bashrc dotfiles.... and keep all the rest around for a week so they are available if i decide i want to use them.