How to reduce a debian system to a base system
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From: Mike Viau on 19 Mar 2010 16:00 Hello Debian users, I was looking for a way to purge or remove all the packages that were installed on a Debian system after the initial (bare bone) minimal system installation. I have searched on Google for "How to reduce a Debian system to a base system" but it seems like the topic of interest was to reduce the memory consumption of the installed system, which is not my consern. In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly installed state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible? I have tried a few options already, which did not work : 1) I ran dpkg --get-selections > to file from a (bare bone) minimal installation of Debian Lenny or Squeeze, and then ran dpkg --set-selections < from file on the non fresh system. *This method only adds and upgrades packages, it will not remove packages that do not exist in the list 2) I executed dselect (a dpkg frontend), entered the select menu and pressed "-" ( or "_" to purge) at the top where "All packages" was, but this turns out to be a very distructive removal process taking the linux kernel, grub bootloader, and even further package management utilities like apt. This is not was I was expecting after reading: Note that it's not possible to remove "All Packages". If you try that, your system will instead be reduced to the initial installed base packages. [1] 3) Even with the powers of aptitude I am unable to revert the systems package state. Perhaps I missed something with this tool? Your help is much appreciated! [1] - http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkgtools.en.html -M _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9712959
From: Chris on 19 Mar 2010 16:10 Mike Viau wrote: > Hello Debian users, > > I was looking for a way to purge or remove all the packages that were > installed on a Debian system _after_ the initial (bare bone) minimal > system installation. I have searched on Google for "How to reduce a > Debian system to a base system" but it seems like the topic of interest > was to reduce the memory consumption of the installed system, which is > not my consern. > > In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly installed > state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible? > > I have tried a few options already, which did not work : > > 1) > > I ran > > dpkg --get-selections > to file > > from a (bare bone) minimal installation of Debian Lenny or Squeeze, and then ran > > dpkg --set-selections < from file > > on the non fresh system. > > *This method _only adds_ and upgrades packages, it _will not remove_ packages that do not exist in the list > > > 2) > > I executed dselect (a dpkg frontend), entered the select menu and pressed "-" ( or "_" to purge) at the top where "All packages" was, but this turns out to be a very distructive removal process taking the linux kernel, grub bootloader, and even further package management utilities like apt. > This is not was I was expecting after reading: > > Note that it's not possible to remove "All Packages". If you try that, your system will instead be reduced to the initial installed base packages. [1] > > 3) > > Even with the powers of aptitude I am unable to revert the systems package state. Perhaps I missed something with this tool? > > > Your help is much appreciated! > > > [1] - http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkgtools.en.html > > > > > -M If this is for deployment, I would say: create your bare bones system. Clonezilla it. Then you at least have an image to restore from in under 5 minutes. via a CD boot or flash drive. And of course, the images will more then likely fit on a 4 gig flash but certainly an 8. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4BA3D856.6010007(a)makeworld.com
From: Mike Viau on 19 Mar 2010 16:30 > Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:02:30 -0500 > From: racerx(a)makeworld.com > CC: debian-user(a)lists.debian.org > Subject: Re: How to reduce a debian system to a base system > To: debian-user(a)lists.debian.org > > Mike Viau wrote: > > Hello Debian users, > > > > I was looking for a way to purge or remove all the packages that were > > installed on a Debian system _after_ the initial (bare bone) minimal > > system installation. I have searched on Google for "How to reduce a > > Debian system to a base system" but it seems like the topic of interest > > was to reduce the memory consumption of the installed system, which is > > not my consern. > > > > In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly installed > > state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible? > > > > I have tried a few options already, which did not work : > > > > 1) > > > > I ran > > > > dpkg --get-selections > to file > > > > from a (bare bone) minimal installation of Debian Lenny or Squeeze, and then ran > > > > dpkg --set-selections < from file > > > > on the non fresh system. > > > > *This method _only adds_ and upgrades packages, it _will not remove_ packages that do not exist in the list > > > > > > 2) > > > > I executed dselect (a dpkg frontend), entered the select menu and pressed "-" ( or "_" to purge) at the top where "All packages" was, but this turns out to be a very distructive removal process taking the linux kernel, grub bootloader, and even further package management utilities like apt. > > This is not was I was expecting after reading: > > > > Note that it's not possible to remove "All Packages". If you try that, your system will instead be reduced to the initial installed base packages. [1] > > > > 3) > > > > Even with the powers of aptitude I am unable to revert the systems package state. Perhaps I missed something with this tool? > > > > > > Your help is much appreciated! > > > > > > [1] - http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkgtools.en.html > > > > > > > > > > -M > > If this is for deployment, I would say: create your bare bones system. > Clonezilla it. Then you at least have an image to restore from in under > 5 minutes. via a CD boot or flash drive. And of course, the images will > more then likely fit on a 4 gig flash but certainly an 8. > > > -- I was hoping to find a solution for a currently running Debian system rather then to create a bare bone baseline or image... -M _________________________________________________________________ Live connected with Messenger on your phone http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9712958
From: Odd on 19 Mar 2010 16:40 Mike Viau wrote: > In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly > installed state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible? -snip- > I was hoping to find a solution for a currently running Debian system > rather then to create a bare bone baseline or image... Wouldn't the easiest way be to backup all important data and reinstall? That _should_ give the same end result. But if that isn't a viable option for you, please explain why. Is this perhaps a remote server that you can't get your hands on, I can see how that would be a problem. -- Odd -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4BA3DF2C.1040406(a)runbox.no
From: Mike Viau on 19 Mar 2010 17:10 > Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:31:40 +0100 > From: iodine(a)runbox.no > To: debian-user(a)lists.debian.org > Subject: Re: How to reduce a debian system to a base system > > Mike Viau wrote: > > In essence I would like to revert my system back to a freshly > > installed state, without reinstalling. Ultimatly is this possible? > -snip- > > I was hoping to find a solution for a currently running Debian system > > rather then to create a bare bone baseline or image... > > Wouldn't the easiest way be to backup all important data and > reinstall? That _should_ give the same end result. But if that > isn't a viable option for you, please explain why. Is this perhaps > a remote server that you can't get your hands on, I can see how > that would be a problem. > > -- > Odd > > I do have physical access to the box, but it does not have an optical drive to make re-installation painless. I temporarily borrowed a USB drive that is not with me anymore. The hardware is very recent and last time I tried to used the net install disk the e1000e driver I was unable to detect my network card and the Debian setup insisted that I was to use Ethernet over Firewire. -M _________________________________________________________________ Live connected with Messenger on your phone http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9712958
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