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Never unless something is corrupted or it's absolutely needed. Why? Because it takes me weeks to months to get the system configured in the same way again - th

Never unless something is corrupted or it's absolutely needed. Why? Because it takes me weeks to months to get the system configured in the same way again - there's hundreds of points where you tweak, so many programs requiring all kinds of packages, files and customisations when you do full stack development and have a few hobbies. I often see the advice "just do a clean install", even on the Apple forum when people have problems and it always makes me laugh - surely those people aren't professionals as "just reinstalling" is insanely expensive in terms of hours wasted on configuration, and you will often need to take care of problems half a year onwards especially with non app-store installs, kext files, packages installed via terminal, dot files but also just regular programs behaving differently.

elevaet 5y ago
This is so true. Every time I get a new (used) laptop, I think "I should do a clean install". Then I start thinking about all the configuration, packages, applications, little scripts, .bashrc, etc. and retreat to cloning my last hard drive over. I think my system is going on 13 years now. It's collected some barnacles for sure, but the price of starting fresh is too high.
ASalazarMX 5y ago
> Why? Because it takes me weeks to months to get the system configured in the same way again Windows I agree, and I avoid reinstalls whenever I can. Linux, I could do one fresh install every six months (Ubuntu release cycle) because restoring my home directory and installing the software I need is extremely easy. I can do that from zero in a couple of hours. Anyway, I settled for Ubuntu LTS, so a fresh install is probably only every few years when I change computers, or the version upgrade fails.