Install packages from output of dpkg -l ?

[capsid]

Hey guys. I was wondering if there's an easy way to install all of your favorite packages on a fresh install, without manually keeping a list.

What I'm going to try is making a script to parse the output from dpkg -l on a fully configured computer, then use that to compose a very long apt-get install command.

Is there a more elegant way to do this?

[sgosnell]

dpkg --get-selections > ~/my-packages

puts the list of installed packages into a file named my-packages in your home directory. Copy it elsewhere for safety if you feel the need, especially if your /home is not on a separate partition.


sudo dpkg --set-selections < my-packages && sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade installs all the packages listed in my-packages.

[capsid]

Nice, this is perfect. Googling the command you mentioned yielded a slightly longer article on the topic.
http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techblog/article/restore_packages_using_dselectupgrade/

Thanks a lot!

[sgosnell]

You're welcome. And if you want a more durable solution, install aptoncd from the repositories. It burns you a CD of the packages, which you can use as a local repository, instead of having to download everything.