Re: dpkg database rebuild
Derek Broughton wrote:
> Brian Kimball wrote:
> > Ritesh Raj Sarraf wrote:
> >> If I copy the whole filesystem to another hard drive and rebuild
> >> the dpkg database, will it work ? Will dpkg be able to understand
> >> all the packages installed ?
> >
> > Yes, and you don't have to rebuild anything. Forget all that
> > discussion about dpkg --get-selections and --set-selections.
> > Totally unnecessary.
>
> It _is_ totally unnecessary if he just has a single file system.
> What happens if he has separate /, /usr, and /var systems?
Totally irrelevant. We're copying files, not filesystems.
> The dpkg database is on /var. The expanded files are on / & /usr.
> Don't even think about copying just a single one.
Well duh. I usually copy each directory in / one by one, excluding
obvious ones like /proc and /dev (since I use udev).
> It's much safer to
> reinstall everything.
No. Just don't be so absentminded that you'll forget /usr or /var. :-)
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