[SOLVED] How to extract a package from installed system?

jinvii · 03-22-2014, 09:02 PM

Hi, just out of curiosity, consider the following situation:

If you just generate a slackware package using SlackBuilds or whatsoever, let's call it xxxx.tgz. Then you install it with "installpkg xxxx.tgz", and then remove all the source files and this package.

Now, my question is, as this package is installed in our system and we also has its log in "/var/log/packages/xxxx", is there a way/tool to directly extract this package from our system on which we installed this package of course. That means we generate this xxxx.tgz using the installed binaries and information.

Thanks.

allend · 03-22-2014, 11:10 PM

You can recover the slack-desc file and the binaries that are installed, but you cannot recover the doinst.sh script that may be necessary to properly install the package.
So reverse engineering a package from the installed version will not work for all packages.

ruario · 03-23-2014, 02:03 AM

For many simple packages the following would work (adjust the package name as needed):

Code:

$ su -
# removepkg -copy example-1.0-x86_64-1
# cd /var/log/setup/tmp/preserved_packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1
# mkdir -p install
# grep '^example: ' /var/log/packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1 > install/slack-desc
# makepkg -l n -c n /tmp/example-1.0-x86_64-1.tgz

However for packages where config files are moved into place by doinst.sh, those original, pristine versions of the config files (.new versions) will likely not be found and you will therefore not have a complete package.

ruario · 03-23-2014, 02:12 AM

If you are willing to handle a little bit of manual work you could copy the config files into their relevant locations under /var/log/setup/tmp/preserved_packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1, add back the .new extension and undoing any tweaks you made, before the makepkg step.

Inspecting the contents of doinst.sh should give you an idea of which files are affected.

Didier Spaier · 03-23-2014, 03:24 AM

What's done by doinst.sh is recorded in /var/log/scripts.

ruario · 03-23-2014, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

What's done by doinst.sh is recorded in /var/log/scripts.

Indeed and that is copied back into /var/log/setup/tmp/preserved_packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1/install/doinst.sh for you by removepkg -copy (or -preserve).

jinvii · 03-23-2014, 07:06 AM

I noticed that "slack-desc" is not recovered by

Code:

# removepkg -copy example-1.0-x86_64-1

And according to allend, it is logged somewhere, where does it logged? I cannot find it manually.

Thanks!

Philip Lacroix · 03-23-2014, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinvii

I noticed that "slack-desc" is not recovered by
# removepkg -copy example-1.0-x86_64-1
And according to allend, it is logged somewhere, where does it logged? I cannot find it manually.

It is logged in:

Code:

/var/log/packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1

You can extract it with:

Code:

grep '^example: ' /var/log/packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1 > ~/path/slack.desc

Don't forget the colon right after the program name when grepping.

calrogman · 03-23-2014, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

You can recover the slack-desc file and the binaries that are installed, but you cannot recover the doinst.sh script that may be necessary to properly install the package.

Yes you can. It's in /var/log/scripts/.

allend · 03-23-2014, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Yes you can. It's in /var/log/scripts/.

Yes, as also pointed out by Didier Spaier. My bad. I had forgotten that.
As pointed out by ruario, there is still the problem of any new config files.

Philip Lacroix · 03-23-2014, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruario

Inspecting the contents of doinst.sh should give you an idea of which files are affected.

Yeah, and the relevant file in /var/log/packages/ also includes a list of the files that were added to the package during its generation, with all *.new stuff in the original location.

ruario · 03-23-2014, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip Lacroix

You can extract it with:

Code:

grep "example:" /var/log/packages/example-1.0-x86_64-1 > ~/path/slack.desc

Don't forget the colon right after the program name when grepping.

Thanks, I new I had forgotten something!

P.S. I have updated my original reply and added a better match: '^example: '

Philip Lacroix · 03-23-2014, 06:01 PM

Thanks ruario, I updated my post #8 as well. Of course in #11 it wasn't my intention to correct you: if it could be read this way, then it's my fault (i.e. my poor English).