Super Awesome Setup Script, Yummy!

The script better known simply as sassy was a long time coming. Every time I upgrade Ubuntu and then have crap fall apart to the point that I end up reinstalling I end up saying “Josh, if you had a script that would easily get a fresh install of Ubuntu up to speed for you, you’d be set”. And set I shall be. I started building a script that includes a listing of all of my installed packages and updates all of the /etc conf files to get me there. This did include some changes in how my system was set up, specifically where I kept files. I’ve since moved everything into my /home directory, including my development web sites which are now symlinked back to /var/www to match my production server. The plan is to eventually move /home on to it’s own partition so that I can reinstall the system and leave it intact. The script thus far is under 100 lines and is going to be a lifesaver on my next install (9.10 I will be performing a clean install). I won’t be posting the source code as I feel the script is just a bit too customized towards my needs. I do recommend setting something similar up yourself, it’s a very fun project and takes a minimal amount of Bash knowledge to get going. It will also help get you in the mindset of keeping backups. The only gotcha I’ve come across is that when restoring MySQL on Debian, if you restore the “mysql” database, you will end up hosing your install because the debian-sys-maint account’s password changes. It’s easily remedied, but I’d avoid doing a full import on that database if at all possible.

Josh Sherman - The Man, The Myth, The Avatar

About Josh

Husband. Father. Pug dad. Musician. Founder of Holiday API, Head of Engineering and Emoji Specialist at Mailshake, and author of the best damn Lorem Ipsum Library for PHP.


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