This is the other extreme: you won't be restoring these files (for the
most part, anyway); you'll be comparing them with the new ones that
get created during installation. Why? Because the new ones may have
data that the old ones didn't, or may express the old data in new
ways. Changes in protocols, addition of new tools, or implementation
of new features in existing tools may all dictate changes in the
formats of the configuration files and startup scripts that the /etc
tree contains, and you'll very likely have to edit your old data into
these files so as to preserve the new formats and take advantage of
the improvements.
