Synaptic List saves as zero bytes

[Nils Kassube]

Dave M G wrote:
> I'm trying to save my current list of installed packages, so I can
> restore my system as easily as possible if I need to recover from
> backup.
>
> However, no matter what I do, the file that gets created is always
> completely empty, and is zero bytes.

Well, you didn't tell us _what_ you tried to save a file. Anyway, I'll 
rephrase what was posted some time ago on the Ubuntu-de list: You can 
use the command

sudo dpkg --get-selections > packages.list

in a terminal to save a file "packages.list" with a list of the 
installed packages. Then use the commands

sudo dpkg --set-selections < packages.list
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade

in a terminal to restore the packages from the saved list.


Nils