[eleclady]

Unsure if mentioned already, but I keep a repository of all my Linux configuration files. I have scripts that link them all out to the correct places. Then for almost any tweak I make, I script it into a massive install.sh script I maintain. Now I'm at a point where I can set up a 98% perfectly customized machine with a sequence of `./install.sh some_scripted_setting` calls. All this takes effort and care, but well worth it to me. And since it's all my scripting, I know exactly what's going on.

It's quite tough to do that for Windows (which I partially do). Ultimately I keep a list of the stuff I need to do and manually do a lot of it.

An alternative which I have dabbled with is basing your config in VMs. Keep stable backups of them. That way the host OS is not important, and just re-use the VMs if you switch hosts. QubesOS is what really opened my eyes to this. Of course this is really only useful for particular workflows probably more development oriented, and at some point you'll want to update them/start fresh.

[GhostVII]

I do the same thing, and I make sure that the install.sh file can be re-run without breaking things. Then if I want to make a permanent change, or add a new package that I will want to keep, I just updated install.sh and re-run it so I know it works and is up to date. Pretty fragile, but I would rather spend a few minutes fixing any errors whenever I run it on a updated OS then take the time to make it more robust.