<snip> > When trying to install debian, I am simply overwhelmed by the number > of packages I have to deal with...
<snip> I have a solution for that problem using a setup script as follows. I simply copy this script and a selections file into ~/deb21 after bypassing dselect during initial install. The selections file (dpkg-selections) can be generated from an existing install with dpkg --get-selections. A person could design a custom interactive interface to generate the selections file and avoid dselect's selector altogether. This script is a good example of dselect's and dpkg's power and flexibility. #! /bin/bash grep -q "/dev/hdc /cdrom" /etc/mtab if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then mount /dev/hdc /cdrom if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then exit; fi fi grep 2/4 /cdrom/.disk/info if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Wrong CD"; umount /dev/hdc; exit; fi umount /dev/hdc if [ ! -f /var/lib/dpkg/methods/multicd/shvar.multi_cd ]; then dselect access fi if [ ! -f /var/lib/dpkg/methods/multicd/available ]; then dselect update; fi dpkg --set-selections < ~/deb21/dpkg-selections if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Could not set selections"; exit; fi dselect install dselect config dselect remove