Saving Installed Packages Before Reinstalling Feisty

[Tony Arnold]

Arnold,

Arnold Pietersen wrote:
> Luigi wrote:
>> On 5/25/07, *Arnold Pietersen* <arnold.pietersen at cecs.org.za
>> <mailto:arnold.pietersen at cecs.org.za>> wrote:
>>
>>     I want to reinstall Feisty.  However, I want to save the packages
>>     which
>>     I installed to a CD so that when I reinstall Feisty, I can reinstall
>>     those packages from CD instead of having to go on the Internet;
>>     bandwidth is a problem.  Is it possible? If so, how?
>>
>>     Regards
>>
>>     Arnold
>>
>>
>>
>> dpkg --get-selections \* > old-system-selections.txt
>>
>> install the system on the new PC/hd with the CDs and then restore your
>> selections:
>>
>> dpkg --set-selections < old-system-selections
>>
>> Now you can use whatever method you like best to install selections
>> ;-) synaptic, aptitude, etc... all have a way to do this. I like dselect:
>>
>> dselect update
>> dselect install
>>
> Luis
> 
> So if I understand you correctly I can get hold of the programs I
> installed after I installed Feisty and write them to CD and then
> reinstall them.  It would be like installing windows, then you get all
> these exe files doing all sorts of things which you maybe store in a
> folder.  This folder with the exe files you write to CD.  So when you
> reinstall windows, you can reinstall the exe files again.

No, I think the method described above means you will be installing all
the packages from the repositories, i.e., over the network unless the
packages are on the original install CD/DVD.

I'm not sure how to do what you want but dumping the contents of
/var/cache/apt an restoring it to your new system may do the trick. I've
never tried it so I'm not 100% sure about this.

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester,
IT Services Division, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL.
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