How to reinstall ubuntu while keeping application settings?

Question

linux

There is an HTPC, XBMC, nginx, apache, mysql, samba, transmission-daemon and a few more services are running on it. All this works under xubuntu 11.04 desktop.
I want to install 12.04 (as a version with long-term support), hence 2 questions:

1. How to install a clean 12.04, so as not to waste time setting up all the services again? Maybe there is an easier way to manually copy all configs and then restore them?

2. Which *buntu distribution should I choose? Almost nothing is needed (the desktop version installs too much software I don't need). The frontend will be XBMC, occasionally you will need another shell (ideally gnome2). Before that, I was content with xfce - subjectively not very convenient, you need something light, perhaps unity 2d.

UPD: and the third question - is there a difference in my case, x32 or x64 to install the system? Now it costs x32, in principle everything suits.

Answer 1

1) Save the list of installed packages;
2) Save configs and home dirs (~/*, ~/.*, /etc/), maybe more sources (/etc/apt/sources.list); I would only transfer the configs that I really need, based on your list, you know exactly what you need to transfer;
3) Install packages from the saved list and transfer saved configs and dirs;
It usually takes 15-20 minutes...

Answer 2

/home to a separate partition. During reinstallation, / format, / home - no, only mount. At the stage of choosing a username, you can do different things: 1 - just create the same username and then all your settings will be saved up to the desktop and environment settings. The settings of those applications that you used will also remain, and they have not yet been installed in the new system. As soon as you install them, all settings will be picked up.
Method 2 - Create another user. When you boot you will have a clean system, without the snot from the old one. Then drag the folders with the settings you need from the old user. It's like starting from scratch, but with reservations :)

Answer 3

> UPD: and the third question - is there a difference in my case, x32 or x64 to install the system? Now it costs x32, in principle everything suits.
For the desktop, 32 is still better, with 64 users still have to solve issues that they are not at all interested in solving.

Answer 4

Installed from net-install, aka ubuntu-alternate - in fact, only the console is installed, then you deliver packages with dependencies that are boring to you.
I can also recommend switching to xfce, as a beautiful and lightweight desktop environment compared to kde and gnome.