/home - format or not for 9.10?

[frankwakeman]

Can someone clarify this for me. I've been using Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint and some others since 8.10 and have always done a complete fresh install with /, swap and /home, and put back my files from CD.

I started seeing that some people don't format /home, but then I think I saw that some settings are stored there, like for Firefox - does/can that cause problems at all, with changed versions of applications? Or does the new version of Ubuntu just over-write these, or what?

Since my Linux dabbling in the last year I've lost the habit of filling my drive with films and music but would allow myself back into it if I found I didn't have to reinstall them whenever I next got a distro-hopping itch.*

Thanks in advance.


(*Not really distro-hopping now, just flipping between the Ubuntu family and Mint.)

[teddks]

You don't have to format /home, and probably shouldn't (it saves a lot of pain). The old settings shouldn't interfere with anything. In general, keeping /home around is a safe practice.

[bulldog]

And if you want a real fresh install,just choose another user-name and password.
In this case there would be a new folder created in your /home.
You can of course copy data between the folders like your mail and browser settings.