[CentOS] newbie question on installation over existing Linux

[m.roth at 5-cent.us]

Kay Schenk wrote:
> On 06/07/2015 10:11 PM, Peter wrote:
>> On 06/08/2015 12:25 PM, Kay Schenk wrote:
>>> My situation is I have 7 separate Linux  partitions and a swap area.
>>> One of the partitions is /home, so it's already in its own partition.
>>> I want to keep the partitions for CentOS exactly as I have them in
>>> terms of size, etc. In the past, even when I've done a "clean" Linux
install,
>>> the existing system partitions were cleared and repopulated, and the
>>> existing /home was not touched in any way.
>>>
>>> So, I'm not sure how to interpret what you said. Can I get the same
>>> results from a CentOS install using some combination of options?
>>
>> Yes, since you already have a partition explicitly for /home you just
>> need to specify custom partitioning before you begin the install,
>> re-select all your partitions back to the same mount point (you will see
>> them, they just need to be selected and have the mount point specified)
>> and make sure that /home (and any other partitions you explicitly don't
>> want wiped) are not selected for formatting.  The installer will take
>> care of the rest.
<snip>
> YAY! I think this is exactly what I did at one time. OK, I'll back up
> JUST in case, but I am hoping this solution plays out well. :)

Good fer you. Btw, coming to this thread late, let me note that this is
standard for everywhere I've worked: make a partition (or nfs mount) for
/home, or /data, or whatever, so that when you did an upgrade to the next
full release, you could say "install", rather than update, and "sure, wipe
my / and /boot (but not anything else).

         mark