Ubuntu Wiki

• Launchpad Entry: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/migration-assistance

• Created: 04/24/06 by EvanDandrea

• Contributors: EvanDandrea

• Packages affected: ubiquity, ubiquity-frontend-gtk

Summary

Design and develop import functionality for the Ubiquity LiveCD installation program and debian-installer that allows the user to transfer existing user accounts as well as the settings and files that go with each individual account.

Rationale

The reality for most potential Ubuntu users is that they've bought their computer with Windows pre-installed or have already installed another Linux distribution. These users have probably already used their existing operating system for a decent period of time and have accumulated documents, email, settings, and other files that can be imported and translated for use in Ubuntu, but the existing Ubuntu graphical installer mercilessly destroys them. If users could install Ubuntu knowing that all of their existing Office documents would be placed in their Documents folder, their email would be imported into Evolution, and their bookmarks imported into Firefox, they would have much more incentive to make the switch, be it from Windows or another Linux distribution.

Use cases

• Andrew is a long time Gentoo user, tired of having to manually configure his system, and wants a distribution that "just works". He'd like to copy over his home directory to the new system when he installs Ubuntu.
• Dave is a busy parent who has been using Windows XP for the past year, and he and his children have accumulated a large number of pictures, music, documents, and bookmarks between their four user accounts. He'd like to be able to copy over all of the user accounts while selecting what files to keep and what to throw away when installing Ubuntu.
• Joe is a CAD engineer who would like to switch his home computer to Ubuntu. While Ubuntu does not have software to read Autodesk files, he would nevertheless like to save his set. He does not have a CD burner and the files are too big for email attachments.

Scope

As the functionality will exist in both Ubiquity and debian-installer, it will affect both of those packages.

Design

+----------------------------------------+
|                                        |
| Would you like to import documents and |
| settings from your previous operating  |
| system?                                |
|                                        |
|  (o) Yes                               |
|          +---+                         |
|      [X] |   | Evan                    |
|          +---+                         |
|                                        |
|          +---+                         |
|      [X] | ? | Erica                   |
|          +---+                         |
|                                        |
|  ( ) No                                |
|                                        |
|                      [ Back ] [ Next ] |
|                                        |
+----------------------------------------+

If Ubuntu is being installed over top of another operating system, the above dialog is presented to the user. The user pictures are grabbed from the previous operating system. If a picture cannot be found, the no-picture-found picture is used.

+----------------------------------------+
|                                        |
|              +---+                     |
|              |   |  Evan               |
|              +---+                     |
|                                        |
| Select the items you would like to     |
| import for this user.                  |
|                                        |
| +------------------------------------+ |
| |                                 |/\| |
| |   [X] My Documents              |  | |
| |   [X] My Music                  |  | |
| | - [X] Settings                  |  | |
| |       [X] AOL Instant Messenger |  | |
| |       [X] IE Bookmarks          |  | |
| |       [X] Firefox Bookmarks     |  | |
| |                                 |\/| |
| +------------------------------------+ |
|         [ Select All ] [ Select None ] |
|                                        |
|                                        |
| Type in the full name, username, and   |
| password for this account below.       |
|                                        |
| Full Name: [ Evan Dandrea            ] |
| User Name: [ evand                   ] |
| Password:  [                         ] |
| Confirm:   [                         ] |
|                                        |
| [ ] Administrator Account              |
|                                        |
|                                        |
|                      [ Back ] [ Next ] |
|                                        |
+----------------------------------------+

The user is presented with the above page for each user they selected to import. Again, the user picture is used along with the user name to clarify exactly which account the user is dealing with.

The user is presented with groupings of objects that they can select for import. All objects are selected by default.

On the same screen the user will fill out the account information for the user they're importing. In the case of Windows the Full Name and User Name fields will be automatically filled. In the case of Linux the password and confirm fields are filled with a set number of asterisks.

If the user checks the Administrator Account checkbox, the account will be added to sudoers.

Implementation

The import function will search the hard drive on which it is being installed for user accounts as well as the documents and settings that go along with each account, presenting its findings in a screen for each discovered user and allowing the user of the installer to select exactly which accounts and groupings of items they would like to import, with everything selected by default.

Configurations will be translated into their appropriate Ubuntu equivelent. AOL Instant Messenger accounts, for example, will be added to a .gaim/accounts.xml file in that user's home directory.

The transferring of data will be done by means of copying the files and settings the user has selected to the new Ubuntu filesystem after the LiveCD filesystem is copied.

Data:

If Ubuntu is being installed over a Linux system, the import function will select all of the home directories as well as the matching sections of /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. However, if Ubuntu is being installed over Windows, the import tool will select each user from Documents and Settings, their My Documents folder, and what other files and settings it's preprogrammed to look for. As the development of the import function progresses, this should include:

Files:

• Documents
• Pictures
• Email messages
• Fonts
• Music

Settings:

• User accounts
• Email clients
• Instant messaging accounts
• Bookmarks
• Desktop background
• Address book

Documentation

Documentation for the import functionality in Ubiquity will be written and submitted to the Documentation Team for review.

Outstanding issues

If Windows XP does not make a user an administrator by default, we should automatically check the “Make an Administrator” box in the interface for the accounts that are.

Do we ignore the root account or do we only import it if /root has files in it? If we import it, we break the expected functionality of having to use sudo for root access.

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