I have done more experiments and have come up with these notes for now. #BACKUP dpkg --get-selections | awk '$2 == "install"' > packagesNG_installed aptitude -F '%p' search '~i~M' > packagesNG_autoinstalled debconf-get-selections | grep -Ev '^[[:space:]]*(#|$)' > packagesNG_debconf
# RESTORE # make sure the system is quite up-to-date (sources.list must match old system) aptitude update aptitude upgrade # forget package state dpkg --clear-selections # also forget aptitude's extended states aptitude -F '%p' search '~M' > /tmp/autopacks.$$ xargs -r -- aptitude --schedule-only unmarkauto < /tmp/autopacks.$$ rm /tmp/autopacks.$$ # load the states from backup dpkg --set-selections < packagesNG_installed # load extended states xargs -r -- aptitude --schedule-only markauto < packagesNG_autoinstalled debconf-set-selections < packagesNG_debconf # better let the following run inside a screen aptitude install ************************************* ASSERTIONS packages that are installed AND are not going to be removed '~i!~aremove' PLUS packages that will be installed '~ainstall' ( '~i!~aremove | ~ainstall' ) SHOULD EQUAL packages that are installed on source '~i' autoinstall packages should match on source and destination aptitude -F '%p' search '~M' ( | wc -l ) ************************************* All of this seems to work, except of course for locally created/obsolete packages and such, which might be indicated by a difference in the package count as mentioned in the previous assertions. Additionally, from a base/fresh install of a Debian system I suppose there would not be many conflicts. On my test system (desktop system to be converted to server system via this method of saved metadata) I have a large negative score for conflict resolution. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org