> Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:02:30 -0500
> From: rac...@makeworld.com
> CC: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: How to reduce a debian system to a base system
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
>
> Mike Viau wrote:
> > Hello Debian users,
> >
> > I was looking for a way to purge or remove all the packages that were
> > installed on a Debian system _after_ the initial (bare bone) minimal
> > system installation. I have searched on Google for "How to reduce a
> > Debian system to a base system" but it seems like the topic of interest
> > was to reduce the memory consumption of the installed system, which is
> > not my consern.
> >
> > In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly installed
> > state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible?
> >
> > I have tried a few options already, which did not work :
> >
> > 1)
> >
> > I ran
> >
> > dpkg --get-selections > to file
> >
> > from a (bare bone) minimal installation of Debian Lenny or Squeeze, and
> > then ran
> >
> > dpkg --set-selections < from file
> >
> > on the non fresh system.
> >
> > *This method _only adds_ and upgrades packages, it _will not remove_
> > packages that do not exist in the list
> >
> >
> > 2)
> >
> > I executed dselect (a dpkg frontend), entered the select menu and pressed
> > "-" ( or "_" to purge) at the top where "All packages" was, but this turns
> > out to be a very distructive removal process taking the linux kernel, grub
> > bootloader, and even further package management utilities like apt.
> > This is not was I was expecting after reading:
> >
> > Note that it's not possible to remove "All Packages". If you try that,
> > your system will instead be reduced to the initial installed base packages.
> > [1]
> >
> > 3)
> >
> > Even with the powers of aptitude I am unable to revert the systems package
> > state. Perhaps I missed something with this tool?
> >
> >
> > Your help is much appreciated!
> >
> >
> > [1] - http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkgtools.en.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -M
>
> If this is for deployment, I would say: create your bare bones system.
> Clonezilla it. Then you at least have an image to restore from in under
> 5 minutes. via a CD boot or flash drive. And of course, the images will
> more then likely fit on a 4 gig flash but certainly an 8.
>
>
> --
I was hoping to find a solution for a currently running Debian system rather
then to create a bare bone baseline or image...
-M
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