Hi LW,
> While that will probably work I feel it's error-prone and to much work.
>
> Maybe this is an X-Y problem.
> Why is having to answer the N-providers-for-X questions a problem ?
I explained the X of X-Y earlier and thought it was accepted as clear.
- How to reproduce the packages installed on machine A on machine B.
- Assume both are similar hardware so that's not an issue.
- Do not alter machine A. It may not even still be available.
- Preserve whether a package was explicitly installed or installed as a
dependency.
- Automatically resolve the virtual package 1-of-N choices.
In other words, bundle up some data on A, move it to B, and ‘Voilà!’.
> Ralph and Eric had the same idea, creating a list of packages
> installed as dependencies and use that for the new system.
I think installing D, the set of A's packages installed as dependencies,
may want some of E's, the explicitly installed ones. So I'm now
thinking:
a$ pacman -Qq >a.all
a$ pacman -Qqe >a.explicit
b$ pacman -S --asdeps --needed <a.all
b$ pacman -S --asexplicit --needed <a.explicit
The last command is ideally just altering the reason for installation.
What's not clear to me from the pacman(1) here is whether --needed
detecting a package is up to date cancels any --asdeps/--asexplicit.
--
Cheers, Ralph.
