how to copy package choices from one machine to another

[Chris Palmer <debian@zencow.com>]

ok, since I like to share what I find...

Here's how I cloned the package settings on one host to another.
The hosts are going to be listed below as "original" and "clone" 
for clarity.  :)

0. on both hosts, did "apt-get update" to update the package lists
1. Made a comprehensive package list on the "original" host:
     dpkg --get-selections "*" > package-list.out
2. scp'd the list from the "orignal" host to the "clone" host
2. On the "clone":
     cat package-list.out | dpkg --set-selections
3. Then used apt to download and configure:
     apt-get dselect-upgrade   (since the flags are set in dselect)

Now that I think about it, I probably should have made sure that
I also updated the package lists in dselect (probaby already did
but it should be a step above before step 1).

The packages are being downloaded now, and once things are installed
and configured, I'll post any problem I ran into with this setup.
Since I have no data on this new machine, yet, I'm willing to do a
little potentially risky stuff like this...  :)

-Chris

Chris Palmer wrote
> 
> Thanks again, Sebastiaan for the pointer in the right direction. :)
> 
> -Chris
> 
> Chris Palmer wrote
> > Yes, from checking out the man page, that looks like it
> > might do exactly what I want.
> > 
> > Many thanks  :)
> > 
> > -Chris
> > 
> > Sebastiaan wrote
> > > I do not know if will work, but this is the idea:
> > > On the source computer:
> > > dpkg --get-selections > source
> > > 
> > > On the destination computer (after you copied the file 'source' to it
> > > ;-)):
> > > cat source | dpgk --set-selections
> > > 
> > > The I think you should run 'apt-get -f install' to install the uninstalled
> > > packages. But you still have to configure them one by one.
> > > 
> > > Greetz,
> > > Sebastiaan
> > >