Mike Hoye recently wrote Powering Up , which is in part about helping people install (desktop) Linux, and the Fediverse thread version of it reminded me of something that I don't do enough of :
A related thing I've taken to doing before potential lurching changes (like Linux distribution upgrades) is to take screenshots and window images. Because comparing a now and then image is a heck of a lot easier than restoring backups, and I can look at it repeatedly as I fix things on the new setup.
Linux distributions and the software they package have a long history of deciding to change things for your own good. They will tinker with font choices, font sizes, default DPI determinations, the size of UI elements, and so on, not quite at the drop of a hat but definitely when you do something like upgrade your distribution and bring in a bunch of significant package version changes (and new programs to replace old programs).
Some people are perfectly okay with these changes. Other people, like me, are quite attached to the specifics of how their current desktop environment looks and will notice and be unhappy about even relatively small changes ( eg , also ). However, because we're fallible humans, people like me can't always recognize exactly what changed and remember exactly what the old version looked like (these two are related); instead, sometimes all we have is the sense that something changed but we're not quite sure exactly what or exactly how.
Screenshots and window images are the fix for that unspecific feeling. Has something changed? You can call up an old screenshot to check, and to example what (and then maybe work out how to reverse it, or decide to live with the change). Screenshots aren't perfect; for example, they won't necessarily tell you what the old fonts were called or what sizes were being used. But they're a lot better than trying to rely on memory or other options.
It would probably also do me good to get into the habit of taking screenshots periodically, even outside of distribution upgrades. Looking back over time every so often is potentially useful to see more subtle, more long term changes, and perhaps ask myself either why I'm not doing something any more or why I'm still doing it.
(Currently I'm somewhat lackadasical about taking screenshots even before distribution upgrades. I have a distribution upgrade process but I haven't made screenshots part of it, and I don't have an explicit checklist for the process. Which I definitely should create . Possibly I should also try to capture font information in text form, to the extent that I can find it .)