dpkg --set-selections < pkg-list-from-other host doesn't seem to work...

[Walter Tautz <wtautz@math.uwaterloo.ca>]

I am currently trying to sync up two machines, say A and B,
via the dpkg --get-selections (on A)
dpkg --set-selections (on B) method and running apt-get dselect-upgrade on B, 
alas when I look at the output of dpkg --get-selections on B it does not say
to some of the packages in particular 

lprng install 
is in the output of dpkg --get-selections on A but it still says 
lpr install
on host B after running dpkg --set-selections on B 

Would it be better to sync
up the file /var/lib/dpkg/status ? I.e. can I use rsync or something? 

Walter