Automated reinstall of software from package list

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If I need to reinstall a Ubuntu/Debian-based Linux OS (or mirror a software selection to another machine), this is how it can be done. On the source machine:sudpkg --get-selections > ~/Package.listcp -R /etc/apt/sources.list* ~/apt-key exportall > ~/repository.keysThen just copy the files to the target machine:suapt-key add ~/repository.keyscp -R ~/sources.list* /etc/apt/apt-get updateapt-get install dselectdselect updatedpkg --set-selections < ~/Package.listapt-get dselect-upgrade -yIf some packages are not available, this will fail. This concerns in my case manually installed packages like teamviewer or snapgene / snapgene_viewer . I usually remove those packages manually from the list (there are luckily not many of them).However, the upgrade is not fully automatic, since you need to e.g. agree to various licenses (e.g. for Microsoft’s True Type fonts) and acknowledge manually other stuff (e.g. libdvd-pkg legal issues), which kind of defeats the purpose of making this automatic and painless…

The Debian Package manager (apt-cache, apt-get, install, search)

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Search for packages containing the word emacs in their name or description:apt-cache search emacsInstall package emacs21:apt-get install emacs21Remove package wine including all configuration files:apt-get remove --purge wineReinstall a package:apt-get --reinstall install wineSometimes, you need to use dpkg to reconfigure a package, e.g. here the bittorrent sync package:dpkg-reconfigure btsync

Apt on Michael’s Domain

Automated reinstall of software from package list

The Debian Package manager (apt-cache, apt-get, install, search)