[vox-tech] saving and retrieving package state on Debian/Ubuntu (was: Resizing partition ext3)

[Henry House]

[...]
> I'm going to backup /etc, /home but how do I backup a list of all
> installed software so that if something goes wrong and I want to get
> back to what I have without remembering every package I've ever added.
> Preferably some automatic list that I could re-apt
> -An alternate use to this idea that I've been thinking about, if I
> change computers and want to bring a new machine up to the same set of
> software fast I would need some list that apt can run through.

I don't know the intricacies of ext3 resizing, sorry. But I do know how
to save your installed-package list. 

# to save:
debconf-get-selections > mystatefile

# to retrieve:
debconf-set-selections < mystatefile
dselect install

Reference:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html

You may also wish to back up /var/ (run apt-get clean first!), which
obviates the above.

-- 
Henry House
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