Re: Squeeze dpkg --get-selections usable in any way in Wheezy?

[Neal Murphy <neal.p.murphy@alum.wpi.edu>]

On Tuesday, December 03, 2013 05:26:37 PM Lisi Reisz wrote:
> I have had another failed upgrade.  Before I tried to upgrade, I ran
> dpkg --get-selections and saved the result in a file.
> 
> I am obviously going to have to install Wheezy from scratch.  Is there
> any way I can make use of Squeeze's package list to give the owner of
> the box the same applications/packages as she had in Squeeze, mutatis
> mutandis?

This topic was recently discussed, I think within the last 2-3 weeks. ... Ah, 
11/4: "Re: Installing same packages in a Squeeze installation in a new Wheezy 
installation". Excerpt from a thread summary I posted:

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The theory is that --get-selections will list all installed pkgs in a form 
that can be used by --set-selections to (re)install them.

So, on the existing system:
  # Mount a thumb drive; change 'sdg' as needed
  mount /dev/sdg1 /mnt

  # Save the list of pkgs
  dpkg --get-selections > /mnt/current_installed_pkgs.txt

  # Umount, then unplug the drive
  umount /mnt

And on the new system, first netinstall a basic system. Then
  # Mount the thumb drive; change 'sdd' as needed
  mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt

  # Set the list of pkgs to install
  dpkg --set-selections < /mnt/current_installed_pkgs.txt

  # Unmount and remove the thumb drive
  umount /mnt

  # Start the 'upgrade'
  apt-get dselect-upgrade
When done, the new system should have the same pkgs as the old system. It 
won't be identical, but it'll be close.

This is almost straight out of dpkg's man page. If it doesn't work, perhaps a 
bug report should be opened.
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