[ReinstallingSamePackages] was Re: apt-get system reinstallation

[NoOp]

On 07/23/2008 10:50 PM, andy baxter wrote:
> NoOp wrote:

>>
>> Two points:
>>
>> 1. "apt-get deselect-upgrade # actually installs the packages." should
>> be: apt-get dselect-upgrade # actually installs the packages."
>> [http://linux.die.net/man/8/apt-get]
>>
>>   
> Thanks for pointing this out - it was a spelling mistake which I have 
> now corrected.
>> 2. Nothing gets "reinstalled" unless one of the packages was
>> considerably outdated or missing from the cache list. Your instructions
>> will only _install_ packages from the machine #1 dpkg-selections to
>> machine #2 _if_ those packages are not already on machine#2; see my post
>> in this thread regarding Sundar Nagarajan's instructions.
>>
>>   
> I wrote up that page for people who want to completely reinstall their 
> system from the CD/DVD, which I think is what Bart was talking about 
> originally.

And very well done overall & thanks for doing that. However I think that:
============
ReinstallingSamePackages

How to keep the same packages after a reinstallation

This page tells you how to keep the packages you have already installed
after a complete reinstallation of your system. This can also be used to
clone an installation from one machine to another.

Please note that this procedure will only reinstall the packages you
have installed through apt-get or other package management tools like
synaptic. It will not keep your home directory, other user data, or any
programs you have installed manually from outside the debian repositories.
==============

is misleading.

"Please note that this procedure will only reinstall the packages you
have installed through apt-get or other package management tools like
synaptic." is incorrect.
  The process does not _reinstall_ anything. Instead it _installs_ any
missing packages on the new/other system that you have in the created
"dpkg-selections" file whether that file is from a previous installation
and/or another system.

I'm not sure just yet what the proper wording should be, but perhaps
instead of 'ReinstallingSamePackages' et al is should be along the lines
of install/duplicate/mirror/restore... Don't know, but I'm afraid that
folks will search/google the page and think that they will actually be
'reinstalling' packages when in fact they will be 'installing' missing
packages (why are they called 'packages' anyway) on the system that were
on another install.

I very much appreciate your work/effort, and I am not trying to be a
stick-in-the-mud, but many folks (experienced and new alike) take the
https://help.ubuntu.com/community pages as gospel - whether they should
or not is another issue. If they go through the process thinking that
this will 'reinstall' anything then they are likely to come back and
complain. FWIW I think that the page is quite important, and very useful
once corrected, so I hope that you don't mind a little feedback in the
process.