List of user installed apps

[Bruce MacArthur]

On Friday 28 August 2009 08:45:32 pm Nigel Ridley wrote:
> Willy Hamra wrote:
> > 2009/8/28 Nigel Ridley <nigel at prayingforisrael.net>:
> >> Earl Violet wrote:
> >>> --- On Fri, 8/28/09, Nigel Ridley <nigel at prayingforisrael.net> 
wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> From: Nigel Ridley <nigel at prayingforisrael.net>
> >>>> Subject: List of user installed apps
> >>>> To: "Kubuntu Help and User Discussions" <kubuntu-
users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> >>>> Date: Friday, August 28, 2009, 5:43 AM
> >>>> How do I get a list of user installed
> >>>> apps? (getting prepared 9.10).
> >>>> Blessings,
> >>>>
> >>>> Nigel
> >>> Are they in /opt?
> >>>
> >>> Earl
> >>>
> >> Just Firefox 3.0 and Adobe Reader 9. But those really were manual 
installs that I downloaded from
> >> their respective websites and manually copied them to /opt
> >>
> >> I was referring to those that I did:
> >> 'sudo apt-get install package_name'
> >>
> >> Blessings,
> >>
> >> Nigel
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > Nigel, i asked a similar question a while ago, let me quote from the
> > ancient thread:
> > 
> > Willy K. Hamra wrote:
> >> i cleaned my system from almost all the packages i don't want, 
digging
> >> through the installed packages for more unnecessary ones, which i 
guess
> >> is a good enough punishment for my lack of organization, random 
apt-get
> >> sprees, and installing loads of packages at once without bothering 
to
> >> read through them, just because some website suggested so :-P
> > 
> > Willy,
> > 
> > I don't think there is anything to worry about. Even if you don't 
use
> > aptitude, you should be able to achieve what you want. For some 
reason,
> > I only use apt-get and not aptitude ('cos I am familiar with it), 
and I
> > like to achieve exactly what you are looking for.
> > 
> > Declaratively, what you want is:
> > You want to move from version A to version B (could be, that for a 
fresh
> > re-install, A = B).
> > 
> > You want to:
> > -----------
> > 
> > - Start with a clean install of version B
> > - NOT remove any packages that are part of the default install of
> > version B (safety)
> > 
> > - Know what additional packages you installed in version A - List1
> > 
> > - Derive the "top-level" packages that you asked for and not list 
all
> > the new packages include those installed as dependencies - List2
> > 
> > - Use either List1 or List2 to quickly get Version B as close as
> > possible to the current state of Version A
> > 
> > Declaratively this becomes:
> > --------------------------
> > 
> > Amongst the packages currently installed, select those that are not 
part
> > of the default install - List 1
> > 
> > Amongst List 1, select those that are "orphans" (top-level packages) 
- List2
> > 
> > To do this, all you need are the standard tools (dpkg, grep cut etc) 
and
> > deborphan. From the man page: "deborphan finds  packages that have 
no
> > packages depending on them. The default operation is to search only
> > within the libs  and  oldlibs  sections to hunt down unused 
libraries".
> > If it's not installed you should install deborphan.
> > 
> > On the clean install (even if it is a new distro), run
> > dpkg --get-selections | cut -f1 -d '    '> default-list
> > 
> > Note that the character between single quotes after cut -d is a TAB
> > (enter it using CRTL-V, CTRL-TAB on the command line)
> > 
> > You can do this e.g. by booting the LiveCD of your current (or new)
> > distro. If you use the live-cd, copy default-list to some place on 
your
> > currently installed version and reboot into your current version.
> > 
> > In the current version run
> > dpkg --get-selections | cut -f1 -d '    '> current-list
> > 
> > Note that the character between single quotes after cut -d is a TAB
> > (enter it using CRTL-V, CTRL-TAB on the command line)
> > 
> > In the current version run
> > deborphan --no-show-section -a > current-top-level
> > 
> > cat current-list | grep -vFx -f default-list > new-packages
> > This (new-packages) is List1
> > 
> > cat new-packages| grep -Fx -f current-top-level > packages-to-
install
> > This (packages-to-install) is List2
> > 
> > If you want to just install Version B and get it as close to your
> > current state of version A as possible, I would recommend you do the
> > default install, and then install everything in List1 (can also use
> > List2 if you want).
> > 
> > If you want to peruse the list of top-level packages you have asked 
for
> > and installed, that is List2 - you MUST have asked for all these, 
since
> > they are top-level packages. Note that there MAY be other packages 
that
> > you had asked for and installed that are not in List2 but are in 
List1,
> > but do not appear in List2 because they are no longer top-level
> > "orphans" because since then you installed another package that 
depends
> > on these.
> > 
> > Hope this helps.
> > 
> > Sundar Nagarajan
> > 
> > 
> 
> Wow! That really is a complete 'Howto'.
> Just one thing that I'm not sure about -- the part about
> 
>  > Note that the character between single quotes after cut -d is a TAB
>  > (enter it using CRTL-V, CTRL-TAB on the command line)
> 
> Can you explain the 'CRTL-V, CTRL-TAB' part.
> 
> Blessings,
> 
> Nigel

I think that in most applications, the key-chord "Ctrl+V" is the 
equivalent of "Edit --> Paste"  This is not true in Konsole -- where the 
result is "^V"!  I could physically observe nothing when I similarly 
entered "Ctrl+{Tab}".