this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Almost everything you care about should be in /home so back that up. Many people keep it on a separate partition or drive to make changing distros (or reinstalling the existing one) easier.
Most of your system config is in /etc so you may want to make a copy of that too.
But the proper process on Linux is not to re-install. It should not be necessary.
On top of this, part of the reasons to use containers is that you can create and destroy them at will while leaving your host tidy and stable. I use Distrobox quite a bit for this reason.
How do you use distrobox? I don’t get it yet.
I just try not to leave the shell lol.
Distrobox allows you to run an 'os' container essentially to install things in, then blow away when you're done or no longer have a need. Its mostly used for mara messy programs or projects that you don't want littering your main OS.