8.2. Upgrading Using the Installer

8.2. Upgrading Using the Installer
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	Installations are Recommended
	In general, the Fedora Project recommends that you keep user data on a separate `/home` partition and perform a fresh installation. For more information on partitions and how to set them up, refer to Chapter 12, Disk Partitioning.

If you choose to upgrade your system using the installation program, any software not provided by Fedora that conflicts with Fedora software is overwritten. Before you begin an upgrade this way, make a list of your system's current packages for later reference:

rpm -qa --qf '%{NAME} %{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} %{ARCH}\n' > ~/old-pkglist.txt'

After installation, consult this list to discover which packages you may need to rebuild or retrieve from non-Fedora software repositories.

Next, make a backup of any system configuration data:

su -c 'tar czf /tmp/etc-`date +%F`.tar.gz /etc'
su -c 'mv /tmp/etc-*.tar.gz /home'

You should also make a complete backup of any important data before performing an upgrade. Important data may include the contents of your entire /home directory as well as content from services such as an Apache, FTP, or SQL server, or a source code management system. Although upgrades are not destructive, if you perform one improperly there is a small possibility of data loss.

	Storing Backups
	Note that the above examples store backup materials in a `/home` directory. If your `/home` directory is not a separate partition, you should not follow these examples verbatim! Store your backups on another device such as CD or DVD discs or an external hard disk.

For more information on completing the upgrade process later, refer to Section 17.2, “Finishing an Upgrade”.