[PLUG] File Transfers From /etc

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 8 Nov 2009, Larry W wrote:

> If this new machine is to replace nearly exactly the old PC, I'd archive
> everything in /etc that has a modification date newer than about April
> 2009.  I'd save apt/*, fstab (for one-off and remote mount defines),
> backup settings, fonts, sudoers, group, hosts.*, and so on.

   Well, I've been check-mated by xubuntu. I tarred the 11M /etc directory on
the old Toshiba Tecra onto a USB flash drive (1.3M file size). When I
connect the flash drive to the new Toshiba Satellite it shows the files
group as 'root'. If I mount it on my server, the file is owned by
rshepard.users, but on her new machine it's owned by pamela.root. Sigh.

   I cannot copy the file to the new machine. It won't copy to her home
directory (permission denied), and I cannot copy it to / since there is not
yet a root password. What a hassle!

   Even working in a virtual console using 'sudo' I cannot copy the file.

   Is there a way for me to create a password for root so I can su to that
account and move the file to / for untarring into /etc/?

Thanks,

Rich