Saving Installed Packages Before Reinstalling Feisty

[Paul Trevethan]

On Fri, 25 May 2007 11:11:59 +0200
Arnold Pietersen <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?
> 

I see you have received a number of suggestions to your problem -
including the easiest one a couple of times already. Let me tell you I
have done what you want to do a number of times. It is in fact how I
bring my family's machines up to date for those without broadband.

The solution is APTONCD.

Assuming you have not cleared your archive on your primary machine, you
use aptoncd to create a cd (or dvd in my case) of all the software
installed since fresh install. BTW, if you have .deb files from sources
other than repos that you have installed, just put a copy of them in
the apt cache directory before you run aptoncd against the cache; they
will get included without problem.

Once you have your cd/dvd of apps, simply do a fresh install on the
other machine (or same one in your case), add the cd/dvd to your
sources.list in the usual way and browse and install to your heart's
content. Make sure the cd/dvd is the 1st item in the sources.list file
so synaptic finds it before going to the net.

It works like a charm and one of the reasons I stay with
apt-based distros.

Cheers,
Paul.


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