I made the mistake of adding, from a CD, 10.04 packages to an 8.04 system. So, as far as I know, I need to do a fresh install of 8.04 if I want any hope of keeping my settings & configurations. Only then, as far as I know, can I use an alt CD with the cdromupgrade script. Again, this is to keep my settings & configurations.

How do I back them up and restore them?

I have backed up the /home/ and /etc/ directories.

Of course, in /etc/ are the sources and sources.d files.

I also backed up my keys:
Code:
sudo apt-key exportall > /media/disk/Kubuntu2/repositories.key
I have installed debconf-utils since I have read elsewhere that using debconf-get-selections can back up some settings & configurations. However, typing debconf-get-selections --help is of no use nor does typing debconf-utils --help or debconf --help yield much useful info...

Could someone with actual hands on, useful info please offer some pertinent assistance please?