Seeking advice on transfer to new computer

[Nick]

On Sat, 27 Dec 2014 20:48:21 +0000
roadcone <roadcone at gmx.com> wrote:

> I am pensioning off my Linux Mint 11 machine for a slightly newer 
> machine onto which I will install Mint 17. I'd like to retain my 
> download history - is it as simple as copying a single file or group
> of files from one computer to another? If so, which file(s) and where
> will it/they be found please? I have found problems copying the 
> get_iplayer.pl script into the appropriate place in Linux as I did
> not own the folder and was not sure how to overcome that problem (I 
> discovered how to take ownership but did not know whether that action 
> would have consequences to the running of get_iplayer or dependency 
> programs). I resolved that problem another way but will a similar
> issue occur here please?

Personally I have a folder in my home called bin, which I add to my
$PATH so any scripts I write or programs I download which aren't
packaged for the distro or easily package-able I put in ~/bin/ (and
manually maintain).

In the file ~/.bash_profile I have a line
	export PATH=$PATH:/home/myusername/bin
so any executable files in /home/myusername/bin can be run without the
full path being entered (eg just like ping or startx or other programs
that are properly installed).

If get_iplayer isn't current enough from the Mint repositories then
just running it from your home can be the easiest: Manually putting the
get_iplayer program into the OS's program directory (something
like /usr/local/bin, plus more) will mean reaching for the root account
and indeed setting ownership and permissions correctly. Sounds like
that is where you went wrong, and so whilst I am never going to
recommend not learning, just running simple things from your home is a
manageable work-around.

I'd like to think I wouldn't have problems setting up get_iplayer
"properly" on my system, but as Slackware doesn't just have a package
for it, and because get_iplayer can self-update, I find it most
convenient to run it from ~/bin/. The same goes for some g_ip
parallels, like the soundcloud downloading script I have, or youtube-dl.

Nick