I reinstalled debian to a new hard drive. What I would like to know is if there is an easy way to transfer installed packages from the repository.

Depends on what you actually mean by "transfer installed packages from the repository"?

Do you mean how to install packages from the repo or something else ??

regards

John

Yes, I mean reinstall from the repository

You mean transfer installed packages to the new hard drive? I guess you could probably copy the packages you need from /var/cache/apt/archives and install them with dpkg, but that's probably not worth the effort unless you have little to no Internet connectivity.

FWIW, you can copy /var/cache/apt over to your new disk. This will save you from many downloads, though it won't install the packages. (It's like downloading them without installing them.)

N.B.: This doesn't work if you've already updated your system, as two of those files are indexes. In that case you can copy over /var/cache/apt/archives and then install them with, at a guess, dpkg -i *.deb ... though I've always been more selective.


WARNING: While this procedure ought to work when used wholesale, as I've described it here, I've actually only used it on a file or two at a time.

I thought I mentioned how I deleted some stuff out of /var. But I found a way using dpkg:
1. On machine 1 do:
Code:
dpkg --get-selections > packages.txt

This creates a list of installed, and removed, packages.

2. Do a base install on machine 2

3. Move packages.txt to machine 2

4. On machine 2 do:
Code:
dpkg --set-selections < packages.txt


5. On machine 2 do:
Code:
dselect install


6. Bask in the light of your newly cloned machine.

HTH

Double cool -- You found your own answer & posted it too.

One limitation in your technique: If you are running something old (like SimplyMEPIS 3.3.2) as I am, then your packages.txt will not point to the right vers. of the packages. If, you are, as indeed you are, working w/ a recent ver. of your distro, then this is not a problem.


I believe the "complete" solution, assuming that the old packages are still available somewhere, would be to process the output of dpkg -l to create a custom apt-get install script.

If I want to view my package list, this works: The "168" & the "39" are empirical -- "168" makes sure the display is wide enough to see all the name & ver. info., "39" makes nice hor. scrolling in less. YMMV. The "COLUMNS=" is only necessary if you are viewing the output; if you redirect to a file, the formatting is taken care of for you. For example: No info. is lost.


As far as my out of date install is concerned, I plan to upgrade to 6.5 in the near future. It's easier than trying to write that script.

The other approach I have heard suggested, is to never clear your apt cache; in fact, the suggestion was to actively archive it. That way you can copy them (the .debs) to the clone & install them fresh.

Thanks for that info about the different versions.
That was not a problem as they are both Debian Etch.

As I expected.

Actually, I was hoping to hear from someone who has done the dpkg -l processing thing.

Wow, cool. I didn't know that.