How to obtain list of installed packages

[Petter Adsen]

On Fri, 20 May 2016 11:53:15 +0800
Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello.
> 
> Thank you for the advice.
> 
> However, whilst it is a while ( a few weeks or so), since I last saw
> the error message about the problems with the partitioning, and, I do
> not know how to get the error message again, to be able to write it
> down, word for word, to explicitly and accurately reproduce the exact
> message, from memory, it is something along the lines of "Your hard
> drive partitioning is stuffed - the partition sizes and (/or) the
> start and end points of the partitions do not match the partition
> table", and, from memory, it involved the equivalent (as it no longer
> exists, with the GPT, rather than a FAT, or so I understand) of an
> extended partition, where, if this was an older FAT system, and I had
> created an extended partition in which to set up the partitions to
> install the various operating systems other than the pre-installed
> Windows, the whole of the extended partition would need to be deleted
> and created again, so that the start and end points of the extended
> partition, and each of the logical partitions within it, could be
> (reasonably) ensured to be correctly placed.

Bret, many of the readers on this list do not speak English as their
first language. I could not make sense of the above myself, do you
think you could split your sentences up a bit and use a period now and
then? It would massively improve readability.

BTW, the newer system is called GPT as you say, the older is MBR. FAT
is a family of file systems. GPT does not have logical and extended
partitions.

> The error that I got, is something that I had not previously
> encountered; either the error itself, or, the type of error, which, to
> me, with my (relative) lack of knowledge in this area, is the
> equivalent of the error message stating that a File Allocation Table
> is wrong/stuffed/needing replacement.

If a FAT is borked, that would indicate a problem with a file system,
not partitions. Do you have any FAT file systems on the disk?

> Thus, I was intending to, or, investigating/considering repartitioning
> the whole of the HDD, as much as possible (including eliminating the
> infidel MS Windows 8, which I could never use without great anguish,
> and, for which, I have forgotten the passwords), and, creating a new
> system of partitions, with a single installed operating system (which,
> at this stage, would be reinstalled UnbuntuMATE 15.10, as I have seen
> on the list, many reports of problems with Ubuntu 16.04), which I
> know, has drivers for all of the hardware of the computer, and, which
> is the only operating system (other than MS Windows 8, and possibly
> later versions) that I know to have all of the drivers for the
> hardware and thence, be (relatively) fully functional on the computer.

Ubuntu 15.10 is going EOL in a couple of months, at some point you
might want to consider testing a 16.04 LiveCD to see if it works
properly. If it does, you probably want to upgrade before support for
15.10 ends so you will continue to get security fixes.

You are correct that there have been problems with 16.04, although it
works fine on my machines. It depends on what software you rely on, and
bugs are being fixed every day. By the time 15.10 goes EOL xenial will
probably have improved a lot.

> Since posting my original query, in this thread, it has occurred to
> me, that, when I have the available time, the simplest way to achieve
> what I want, regarding the list of packages, is to work through the
> Applications menu, and write down every application name for each
> category of applications, and then, to ensure that each of those
> applications listed, is installed in the new build.

No, the simplest way is, as I previously posted, to use apt-clone. It
needs to be installed first. apt-clone will take a snapshot of all
installed packages, any repositories you may have added, and all keys
for apt. This snapshot can later be restored onto the same or another
computer. If you use the --with-dpkg-repack option it will also make
copies of any packages you have installed locally and put them in the
archive as well.

'apt-clone clone --with-dpkg-repack packages' will create a compressed
tarball called 'packages.tar.gz'. On the machine you want to restore it
you run 'apt-clone restore packages.tar.gz'.

> >From the responses that I have seen posted on the list, so far, I
> >am  
> not aware of a simpler or more efficient method of obtaining a list of
> the packages that I need to install, in addition to the base system
> packages, in order to replicate, as much as possible, the
> functionality of the existing system.

Try the above. Also remember to copy any configuration files you would
like to save from your home directory (and /etc). Configuring everything
from scratch can easily take a lot more time than re-installing
packages.

Petter

-- 
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