Upgrading versions - remembering software

[TheSiberian]

Normally when I move from one Linux version to another, I prefer to do a fresh installation. This is from experience of minor incompatibilities between software & Linux versions when upgrading.

Is there a way to list any non-standard software that I have installed on the previous version? It would be good to include anything I have installed directly from websites.

[cariboo]

It would help if you told us what distribution you were using, as the method to list installed packages varies between an rpm based distro, and one based on debs

[Toz]

dpkg --get-selections
will list all installed debian DEBs.

As for the other software, it depends on how you are installing them. Personally, I keep a running log in a file of all non-standard installations/configurations that I do in case I need to redo them.