Can I save all installed software before upgrading w/ clean installation?

[RLynwood]

Hi, all,

I borked my 14.10 by mistakenly using JFS but still have quite a bit of software modifications (removals, additions) that I'd like to retain. Now I want to install 15.04 over 14.10 in a clean installation, but I'd like to be able to transfer my software selection. Can I do that? How? Surely it can't be as easy as copying/saving the home folder. I realize that contains all the programs' settings, but I don't think it contains the programs themselves.

Regards,
Ray

[Teunis]

Let's start assuming you have a separate /home partition, during a new install you can keep it or in other words, you don't format it.
In doing so it's not so much the software that you would be able to 'rescue' but the configurations.

The programs themselves are normally residing on the / (root) partition and it needs to be formatted.

A problem you will get with a 14.10 to 15.04 transition is that the new Plasma5 configurations are not always compatible with the old Plasma4 configurations.
You can try but then first make a backup of these configurations so you can put them back in case you decide 15.04 is (not yet) for you.

Another consideration is 14.10 will not be supported for much longer...

[claydoh]

You are correct, your home dir will not have any of the actual software (unless you have something manually installed there), but your settings and data are stored there.

You can use Muon Package Manager to make a list of installed packages, from the File menu. It will make a list of everything, including libraries and the like, which you can then load into the package manager to be installed.

I am lazy, mostly because the default set of programs is what I use, and there is not much I install extra, sometimes. With my home folder restored, I simply install things as I use them, as my settings are already there.

[RLynwood]

Well, Teunis, I don't have Home in a separate partition. I do have my data in a separate partition, but not home. Perhaps I should do that; in fact, I think I should. I'm not especially wedded to a particular Plasma 4 theme/structure, so I'll do the best I can with Plasma 5 and modify as I choose as it grows. It's the software/programs installation I want to be able to transfer.

Claydoh, how do I load that list of installed programs into the 15.04? package manager? I guess I must export 14.10's Pkg. Mgr.'s list of installed programs/libraries to some other form, right? That doesn't look possible. The only options in File are Download packages from list and Add downloaded packages. Clicking Download packages from list yields a window asking me where to go. That doesn't make any sense. Add downloaded packages does the same. The idea sounds right, though.

[claydoh]

You should have "Save installed package list", which creates a text file with the listing of installed packages.



This file is then used for the "Download packages from list" option in another install - whether it be 14.10 or 15.04. It is most useful for those restoring things using the same release, as there will be some package naming differences as well as packages no longer available between different releases, but as this list is a text file, those bits are easily found and removed if the package manager complains.

This option is simply a pointy-clicky way of doing this:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...ngSamePackages

[RLynwood]

Thanks. I think that answers it. I'm not sure what I'll do, but this gives me the info. I need to proceed.

[xennex81]

Good that there's a way of doing this. Personally I have checked a list of installed packages and took out the interesting bits. I believe you can also scan for manually installed packages. Then I used a simple shell script to load those packages in the new installation. The only things I uninstall are Amarok and Apache2.

The linked procedure (on the Ubuntu wiki) provides a complete list of all installed packages. The downside mentioned, which is real, is that all those packages become "manually installed" including libraries you may not need.

I would definitely suggest loading the file in a texteditor and only retaining those that have meaning to you, ie. the ones you installed yourself. Dependencies will then be automatically installed.

[RLynwood]

After reading all of this, I think that in this case, I'll just start all over, making a list of programs to uninstall/install first, even though I've done this so many times before. After installing the new programs, I have to set the settings, not that big a deal in most programs. And I can move all KOrganizer's and Firefox's and other web browsers' contents manually. Overall, though, it's a pretty big job, taking much of a day, so I wondered if, like Linux Mint's software backup/reinstallation, there was a way to replicate what that utility does, making the whole process easy if not trivial.

In this case, however, since I'm going from 14.10/Plasma 4 to 15.04/Plasma 5, I think I'll just have to bite the bullet and start nearly from scratch--again.

[xennex81]

The full installed package list is not all that long. I'm not sure how many packages you have manually installed but I came down to about 30. Feeding them to "apt-get install" then provided enough to get them installed. Like you I retain my list. I also have a script written that saves all files from my harddrive (mostly /etc, /root, /home/user) based on a predefined pattern, ie. I have individual files, all files in a single directory, and all files in a directory tree, that I can use as patterns. There is also an ignore pattern. I just update this pattern list and keep it current. Then a single command creates a newly encrypted backup of all those files. In installing a new system I first feed the package list to apt-get install, then when I'm comfortable enough I copy the created archive on top of / and all trees that have changed files will then be overwritten (partially).

[RLynwood]

I'm not sure how many packages you have manually installed but I came down to about 30.

I'm not sure either, but it isn't anywhere near 30. I haven't kept a list of all the programs I install and uninstall; it's probably around 10-15, including Ksplice, Chromium, Opera, and a couple utilities from the other major DE (as K3b in Gnome/Cinnamon/Mate/Unity and Gnote, Gedit, Gcalc in KDE).

Feeding them to "apt-get install" then provided enough to get them installed.

This is what I'd have to have explicit instruction to do, and I normally install them from Muon Software Center.

Like you I retain my list.

I don't have a list. Obviously, I should, but I don't. I'll have to compile it all over again.

I also have a script written that saves all files from my harddrive (mostly /etc, /root, /home/user) based on a predefined pattern, ie. I have individual files, all files in a single directory, and all files in a directory tree, that I can use as patterns. There is also an ignore pattern. I just update this pattern list and keep it current. Then a single command creates a newly encrypted backup of all those files. In installing a new system I first feed the package list to apt-get install, then when I'm comfortable enough I copy the created archive on top of / and all trees that have changed files will then be overwritten (partially).

All of this sounds wonderful, a really great idea, but I'd have to be told how to do all of it step by step. That'd be really nice. Maybe I'll be able to get you or someone to show me how to do all this. Then I'd be all set for the future. Where should I post a request for this information if I should want to pursue this route?

[xennex81]

I'm not sure if it's easy and my script was not ready for publication. But obviously it is rather easy to use, I'm just not sure if anyone besides me would want to.

[RLynwood]

Surely your implementation is unique, likely not copyable exactly. But the idea is far from unique. I've read of a number of people who've done that sort of thing. I once met a fellow who had written a script that completely customized a new Linux installation (I've forgotten which distro.), tailored to his preferences, down to the detail of settings, so that all he had to do was run the installation, then run his script, and the whole installation, personalized customization and all, was done--quickly. But I know nothing of script writing and can't do such a thing myself.

[xennex81]

But, for instance, feeding a line-listed file to apt-get would not be harder then "cat filename | while read f; do { [ -z "$f" ] || [ "$f" != "${f#\#}" ] || apt-get install $f; } done".

The first test ([ -z ]) checks whether it is an empty line, the second checks whether it is a commented line, and if neither is the case the line is fed to apt-get in its entirely.

[RLynwood]

You're way beyond me. I have no idea of how to respond to this.

[xennex81]

That was just a way of feeding a file of lines of package names to apt-get line by line. I had surmised you needed an easier approach but this is what works for me. You can maintain your own list, add commentary and white space to suit your tastes, then execute that line of code somewhere to 'import' it into apt. I'm writing this on a phone so I can't go into any detail.

I think the 'advanced' way of doing this is to create automatic diffs of what the system used to be and what it now is and use that as your set of changes... BUUT I just maintain manual lists of stuff I have changed (outside of KDE or my home folder (such as settings for Firefox and so on)) and this list of changes I use to create a backup set, which just copies the changed files into an archive for easy extraction when the time comes (and it is also a backup).

This is just for configuration changes and scripts I have written, binaries I have installed that fall outside a regular package, and so on.

So my package list itself is saved in that 'configuration archive'. It is just my make-do way of keeping my changes and reducing the effort required to install again.