On 11/29/2016 8:12 AM, Rodolfo Medina wrote:
I wonder if it's possible to provide Debian a set A of packages and say: `please install these and only these and remove all the other packages present on the disk except the ones from which some of A depends.' This would be equivalent of reinstalling everything as reported by Patrick. Do you think it would be possible? Rodolfo
That's a good way to get into trouble. ;) The list would typically be created on a computer that is set up the way you want already using.... dpkg --get-selections > package.txt You can set the install state of all non-essential packages to 'deinstall' with... dpkg --clear-selections That's the part that could be trouble if you don't have a good list of packages to feed back in. What is essential is not necessarily everything you need to be able to connect to the internet and begin re-installing things. If you have your list of packages you can set the install state with dpkg --set-selections < packages.txt Synaptic has a way of creating these lists and installing from them, don't think it cares about the install state of anything not on the list, also never tried using Synaptic to install from a list that had package install states other than 'install'. The list would be in the form of.... package package-state so for example.... package1 install package2 deinstall package3 hold etc.... Once the install states are set then you would do... apt-get dselect-upgrade to perform the installations and removals. What kind of havoc that would create for aptitude if you try to use it after doing these things, I don't know. I don't use aptitude. You could create the list of selections on your current machine and load it in a text editor and start deleting stuff, after saving an extra copy somewhere so you can set the selection back the way they were if needed. Personally I would use Synaptic to remove the stuff you don't want, then if you still want to use aptitude later, deal with it's issues after the fact. Later, Seeker