[clue] [HelpDesk] move/copy user to another machine

[David L. Anselmi]

Yaverot wrote:
> I want to move one (or two, but less than 5) user account from a Ubuntu Linux (not yet 10.10
> version) to a Gentoo box.  The Ubuntu system is low RAM, and have very low hard drive space
> remaining.

On Gentoo, create accounts for the users you want to move.  Use those accounts to copy all the files 
in the home directories to Gentoo.  I'd use rsync.  Do you need more detail on those steps?

There are two things you need: the entry in /etc/{passwd,shadow}, the files in the home directory.

You can't copy the /etc/passwd entry between machines unless the UID is unused on Gentoo.  If it 
isn't used then copying that line and making an empty home dir would be easy.  You can copy the 
password hash between shadow files but that isn't easier than just re-entering it.

Normally when a new account is created some files will be put in $HOME.  Probably you don't care 
about overwriting them with the files from the Ubuntu system but if you have different desktops some 
of the files might conflict or be unneeded.  Likewise if your Thunderbird versions are very different.

Dave