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And in general, I'm wondering if this is possible as I switch between Ubuntu derivatives? (or even Linux distro)

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The question is a bit generic, so the answer is a bit generic, too: yes, probably.

Most applications save their settings either

  • in a hidden subdirectory of your home directory named after the application, e.g. ~/.thunderbird,
  • in a directory in ~/.config/, e.g. ~/.config/evolution, or
  • in a hidden file in your home directory, again named after the application, with an append rc, e.g. ~/.vimrc

If you locate the appropriate directory or file and copy it to your new home, the application will (usually) use those restored settings.

Update: Changing the hardware doesn't matter as long as the configuration is not specific to that hardware – most configs are not, though.

A different user name might cause problems if the config uses full paths – like /home/olduser/.something – instead of paths relative to the current user's home.

Also, on a new installation, the user id might differ, so make sure the files belong to your new user.

In a nutshell, changing the hardware and/or the user id might introduce some small problems, but nothing that can't rather easily be dealt with.

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  • That's the generic answer I need. I'm having some problems starting up Firefox, so I just want to make sure that copying .mozzila is indeed a legit way to transfer settings. Now I can focus on troubleshooting other parts.
    – Heisenberg
    Nov 20, 2013 at 17:17
  • could you edit your answer to add details about cases of 1) same hardware, different account info, 2) different hardware?
    – Heisenberg
    Nov 20, 2013 at 17:36
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To add to the drc's (correct) answer, you can even switch from boot to boot if you have the root partition and the /home partition on different places. (See for example my answer here]1).

Warning: this is advanced user material. Don't do it if you are not confident. Have a backup of your data every time.

I mean, for example: you can have a / for Ubuntu on /dev/sda5, a / for Fedora on /dev/sda6, and a common /home for both on /dev/sda6. Then you can choose where to boot each time.

It's tricky but (at least used to) work. I had it when switched from Mandriva to Ubuntu ages ago. The main pitfalls/warnings are:

  • if you are using the same user name, you must be sure that UID and GID are the same for the two systems;

  • sometime configuration files for programs are not forward/backward compatible, which can create problems switching.

But it's basically a lot of fun. You can have even (more advanced matter)

  • different user names for every system with the same UID (each system has a completely different configuration but you can access your files)

  • you can even play with chroot and having the two system available together without virtual machines... (I tried just the command line part. Graphic console is probably impossible to have without some kind of real virtualization.).

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