Ubuntu

question about reinstall using dpkg

Asked by Humphrey van Polanen Petel

I read that using dkpg would make a reinstall easier so I created a install list with
~$ sudo dpkg --get-selection > old-list.txt
Upon (physically) rebuilding my system I loaded 12.04 LTS and ran that command again (into new-list.txt) so I could compare what was going to be added. Now, old-list.txt had entries like
     xserver-xorg-core
whereas new-list.txt has
    xserver-xorg-core-lts-quantal
Is it allright to now run
~$ sudo dpkg --set-selections < old-list.txt
or will I be getting old modules installed over new modules?

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Manfred Hampl
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

You will get the packages at the current version in the repo if they exist

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Humphrey van Polanen Petel (hpvpp) said : 		#2

I am sorry to have to disagree with you, but that is not what happened.

What I have now is not a system with all the extras from the dpkg-list, but something I don't understand how or why it is different. Being relatively inexperienced on Linux, I fear my chances of figuring out what to do now are not good so I am just going to take the easy way out and do a reinstall. After that I plan to a diff of the two configurations and let the system update just those that I recognize as being the extras I want.

IMO what should be done now is a rethink of this dpkg selections thing, but I have neither the time nor the experience to contribute. If this thread expires then so be it.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

The packages that are not available simply will not be installable. If you run :

sudo apt-get update

On the second system then the known available package lists will be the same (unless you forget to add PPAs from the first system)

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

You could even tell apt-get to download the deb files for every package you have installed and transfer those (assuming that PPAs are enabled etc if you added some)

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#5

There is a specific difference between a 12.04.2 Ubuntu system that has been upgraded from a 12.04.0 installation and a 12.04.2 Ubuntu system that has been created by a new installation from 12.04.2 media.

The upgraded system will have a 3.2 series kernel and the 12.04 X.org stack.
The new-installed system will have a 3.5 series kernel and the 12.10 X.org stack.

For details see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

Apparently you are seeing this difference. I do not think that the dpkg set-selection would cause that older packages are installed over the newer ones, because there are higher release numbers with all the newer ones.

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Humphrey van Polanen Petel (hpvpp) said : 		#6

What I did was
    (I forgot to note where I found the instructions)
on the old system (being LTS 12.04)
    sudo dpkg --get-selections > old-list.txt
on the new system (being LTS 12.04.02)
    sudo add-apt-repository ...
    sudo dpkg --get-selections > tmp-list.txt
    sudo dpkg --clear-selections
    sudo dpkg --set-selections < old-list.txt
    sudo apt-get autoremove
    sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade
    sudo dpkg --get-selections > new-list.txt
    diff -y --suppress-common-lines tmp-list.txt new-list.txt > dpkg-diff.txt
The diff is below.

Anyway, the result was such that I felt out of my depth and because I was running out of time I simply did a reinstall.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             > compiz-fusion-plugins-extra install
             > compiz-fusion-plugins-main install
             > compiz-plugins install
             > compiz-plugins-extra install
             > compiz-plugins-main install
             > compizconfig-settings-manager install
             > gambas2-gb-form install
             > gambas2-gb-gtk install
             > gambas2-gb-gtk-ext install
             > gambas2-gb-gui install
             > gambas2-gb-qt install
             > gambas2-gb-settings install
             > gambas2-runtime install
             > gedit-plugins install
             > gir1.2-gucharmap-2.90 install
             > grub-customizer install
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad install <
             > gtk2-engines-pixbuf install
             > hwinfo install
             > indicator-multiload install
             > indicator-sensors install
             > indicator-weather install
libdrm-nouveau2 install | libdrm-nouveau2 deinstall
libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-quantal install | libgl1-mesa-dri install
libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-quantal install | libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-quantal deinstall
libglapi-mesa-lts-quantal install | libgl1-mesa-glx install
             > libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-quantal deinstall
             > libglade2-0 install
             > libglapi-mesa install
             > libglapi-mesa-lts-quantal deinstall
             > libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a install
             > libhal1 install
             > libhd16 install
             > libidl-common install
             > libidl0 install
libllvm3.1 install | libllvm3.0 install
             > libllvm3.1 deinstall
libopenspc0 install | libopenspc0 deinstall
             > liborbit2 install
             > libqt3-mt install
             > libreadline6-dev install
libstlport4.6ldbl install | libstlport4.6ldbl deinstall
             > libtinfo-dev install
             > libutouch-evemu1 install
             > libutouch-frame1 install
             > libutouch-geis1 install
             > libutouch-grail1 install
libxatracker1-lts-quantal install | libxatracker1 install
             > libxatracker1-lts-quantal deinstall
libxrandr-ltsq2 install | libxrandr-ltsq2 deinstall
linux-generic-lts-quantal install | linux-generic install
linux-headers-3.2.0-45 install | linux-headers-3.2.0-23 install
linux-headers-3.2.0-45-generic install | linux-headers-3.2.0-23-generic install
linux-headers-3.5.0-23 install | linux-headers-3.2.0-38 install
linux-headers-3.5.0-23-generic install | linux-headers-3.2.0-38-generic install
linux-headers-3.5.0-32 install | linux-headers-3.2.0-39 install
linux-headers-3.5.0-32-generic install | linux-headers-3.2.0-39-generic install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-40 install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-40-generic install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-41 install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-41-generic install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-43 install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-43-generic install
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-45 deinstall
             > linux-headers-3.2.0-45-generic deinstall
linux-headers-generic-lts-quantal install | linux-image-3.2.0-23-generic install
linux-image-3.5.0-23-generic install | linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic install
linux-image-3.5.0-32-generic install | linux-image-3.2.0-39-generic install
linux-image-generic-lts-quantal install | linux-image-3.2.0-40-generic install
             > linux-image-3.2.0-41-generic install
             > linux-image-3.2.0-43-generic install
             > linux-image-3.2.0-45-generic install
             > linux-image-3.5.0-23-generic deinstall
             > linux-image-3.5.0-32-generic deinstall
             > linux-image-generic install
             > myunity install
nvidia-current-updates install | nvidia-current install
nvidia-settings-updates install | nvidia-current-updates deinstall
             > nvidia-settings install
             > nvidia-settings-updates deinstall
             > python-central install
             > python-compizconfig install
             > python-glade2 install
             > python-pywapi install
             > python-support install
x11-xserver-utils-lts-quantal install | x11-xserver-utils-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-common-lts-quantal install | xserver-common-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-xorg-core-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg install
xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-core install
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-core-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-xorg-input-mouse-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-all install
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-evdev install
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-mouse install
xserver-xorg-input-wacom-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-synaptics install
xserver-xorg-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse install
xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-input-wacom install
xserver-xorg-video-ati-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-xorg-video-cirrus-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-all install
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-ati install
xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-cirrus install
xserver-xorg-video-mach64-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-fbdev install
xserver-xorg-video-mga-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-geode install
xserver-xorg-video-modesetting-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-intel install
xserver-xorg-video-neomagic-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-intel-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-mach64 install
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-mga install
xserver-xorg-video-r128-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-neomagic install
xserver-xorg-video-radeon-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-nouveau install
xserver-xorg-video-s3-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-openchrome install
xserver-xorg-video-savage-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-openchrome-lts-quantal deinstall
xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-qxl install
xserver-xorg-video-sis-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-r128 install
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-radeon install
xserver-xorg-video-tdfx-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-s3 install
xserver-xorg-video-trident-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-savage install
xserver-xorg-video-vesa-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion install
xserver-xorg-video-vmware-lts-quantal install | xserver-xorg-video-sis install
             > xserver-xorg-video-sisusb install
             > xserver-xorg-video-tdfx install
             > xserver-xorg-video-trident install
             > xserver-xorg-video-vesa install
             > xserver-xorg-video-vmware install
             > xserver-xorg-video-vmware-lts-quantal deinstall

Revision history for this message
Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#7

All the linux-* and xserver-* entries are explained by the LTS-enablement-stack difference.
Where all the other differences were stemming from, I do not know for sure, the easiest explanation would be that the installation of some additional packages on the older system (maybe hwinfo) has pulled them in as dependencies. Maybe the log of the dselect-upgrade would have given hints as to what packages were installed and deinstalled, and why.

If because of the re-installation there is nothing to be done any more with that question, please mark it as solved.

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Humphrey van Polanen Petel (hpvpp) said : 		#8

Thanks Manfred Hampl, that solved my question.