Transitioning to a new platform or device can be challenging,
particularly for users who are unfamiliar with Linux distributions.
This difficulty can sometimes discourage users from continuing with
the switch. To ensure that users are feeling happy to use Linux-based systems on computers,
smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and other devices, it is crucial that
these platforms are accessible and user-friendly, even for those with
limited technical knowledge—a goal that Linux has largely achieved. The demise of Windows 10 in 2025/2026 will cause a massive influx of new Linux users moving from Windows, so that makes it critical to have a transfer program, as KDE (nor any of it’s rival suites) does not have such functionality.
However, to further ease the transition process, it is essential to
create a transfer program that prompts users to initiate a transfer of their data
at the outset. This screen should ask users which platform they are
migrating from and provide a tailored setup process for each platform.
Given the complexity involved, the development of a dedicated program
and graphical user interface (GUI) for transferring user data to Linux
should be treated as a separate project from KDE’s Settings app and backup tools.
This feature is already available in macOS, Windows (before
Windows 10 and after Windows 2000), and both of the two major mobile operating systems.
Users should have the option to transfer data from a boot partition or
drive containing their previous Windows, macOS, or other
installations. Alternatively, data transfer could be facilitated from
a remote computer via various connection methods such as WiFi,
Bluetooth, USB, Thunderbolt/USB-C, FireWire, or Ethernet. Initially,
however, it would be prudent to focus on supporting WiFi, Ethernet,
and peer-to-peer cable transfers. Soon, restoring foreign backups (such as mobile backup formats to mobile/tablet Linux)
could be supported. An agent program would likely need to be developed
for Windows and macOS transfers, minus boot partition transfers.
There is already an existing project for migrating from Windows, which
is where most users are likely to transition from: LinuxConvert on
Whop42’s GitHub. However, this project
currently supports only a limited range of artifacts and software from
Windows and has messy code made by someone going through high school. The work of the digital forensics community, particularly
with autopsy and abrignoni’s LEAPP tools (as well as heaps of research
papers), simplifies programming by providing well-documented file
paths and structures.
The transfer software should be designed to guide users through the
process with clear instructions, when possible, displaying what data
is being transferred in real-time, along with a progress bar for the
overall transfer. Additionally, an option to view a more detailed,
verbose transfer status, showing each file being transferred, should
be available.
Considering the growing importance of mobile and tablet Linux, the
following source platforms should be prioritized for
implementation in this order (though I am open to differing opinions):
- Windows
- Linux (transferring the primary folders, and most dotfiles and dotfolders, as well as reinstalling packages with apt or pacman, also possibly migrating preferences from GNOME and MATE)
- macOS
- Android (Linux tablets and mobile Linux)
- iOS/iPadOS (Ditto)
- ChromeOS
Other trivial OSs may be developed by the KDE community in the future
Came up with a few names, but K-Haul is definitely the best and outperforms all other names, but if you wanna play it extra safe with trademarks, there’s Krane, Karry, and Kruise, as well as just KTransfer.
It’s up for you to decide both the name, and if you would like to start this endeavor, which Linux as a whole has been missing, or you would prefer to pass.
