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This is a little bit tough. In order to reinstall/upgrade a Linux OS, and both keep the /home folder and contents, reformat the target partition, install the new OS, and merge the /home folder and subfolders all together, I need to know the best way to do it.

I've considered that after the install, I first copy the newest /home folder onto the oldest one, then copy the oldest one back over the newer one. That ensures the config files reflect the actual state of the install. But I may be missing something here.

Some suggestions would be appreciated.

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If you want to merge two directories, keeping the newest of any overlapping files, you can use the --update option to rsync. An invocation like rsync -av --update /old_home/ /home should do it. (Note the trailing slash in /old_home/; this is significant to rsync (it means to copy the directory contents, rather than the top-level directory).)

You can keep the old home directory in various ways. If you're using LVM, it's quick and easy to spin up a new LV for the new install, and keep the old one around to mount. If not, you can use tar to make a backup somewhere else, then extract it to /old_home once you've done the reinstall.

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