Help with apt-get or dpkg

Duglas · 06-15-2012, 06:38 AM

I need to reinstall my system on a larger drive.
To find a list of installed pkges, I ran "# dpkg --get-selections > file".
The output list is huge and mostly filled with dependencys.

I am looking for a way (possibly a bash script) to reduce this list down to just the packages I have installed.

I will be installing the latest version of Ubuntu, from a netist cd.
I will not be installing Gnome, KDE or XFCE, just Openbox and its magical pipe menus.

craigevil · 06-15-2012, 11:40 PM

The output is All of the packages you have installed.

if you do not want them all I would suggest making a list of the ones you want.

Duglas · 06-17-2012, 09:15 AM

Did not really answer the question. Unless you can lend me a time machine.
The "status" file tells me which packages are installed as dependencys of other packages. These packages can safely be excluded from the "install" list.
The remaining "Install" list would be human readable, and could be edited to remove redundant packages, or packages that are still installed, but no longer used.

This is the list I am trying to extract from a running machine.

honeybadger · 06-17-2012, 02:42 PM

I think you might want to look at /var/lib/aptitude/pkgstate. I run Ubuntu so this might not be the same,
Hope this helps.