Re: /var/backups, how to restore ?

[Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org>]

On Tue, Sep 03, 2024 at 14:08:37 +0200, Erwan David wrote:
> I backup them on other disks, but if my PC crashed, how an I use this
> to install a new PC, with same packages ?

If all you want is the list of packages, your best bet would be to ignore
*all* of those files, and create a new backup of:

    dpkg --get-selections

Just redirect that to a file, and save that file along with your other
backup files.  You don't even need to be root for this step.

To load that list of packages on a new installation, you use these
commands:

    dpkg --set-selections < your-file
    apt-get dselect-upgrade

(You must be root for those.)