Newsgroups:  gmane.linux.debian.user
Date:        Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:28:00 -0400

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 16:07:51 -0500, Kent West wrote:

> > " HOW TO REINSTALL DEBIAN FROM CD"
>
> Again, Debianites don't reinstall their systems (except in rare cases),
> so it's not really a well-documented procedure. The short version is to
> back up your /home directory (or leave that partition alone if it's a
> separate partition), and then just reinstall like you're doing a new
> install (making sure not to partition/format your /home partition if it
> exists, or restoring it if it's not a separate partition).
>
> If you're having some sort of problem, let us know what it is and we can
> probably help you fix it without a reinstall.

Debian was designed by the pros and for the pros. It is still true now. I.e., if fixing the problem cost 10 times than reinstall, the pros would think "Ah, that's challenging. I'm sure I can handle it"; whereas norms like me would say, "why bother, let me reinstall" — the fresh system will be up and running in less than an hour, stable and without any problem.

Unfortunately, there is no mechanism in Debian to let you reinstall easily. So you have to go through the "10 times" approach — it took me several days (>3) to fully downgrade from Debian testing to Debian stable, after a single update command… Oh, wait, I still have "17 not upgraded" packages…

T