How can I duplicate my existing software packages on a new system?

Solution 1:

this is one common way to duplicate a package set. On the old machine:

sudo dpkg --get-selections "*" > packages

Copy the file packages to the new machine (a pen drive is a good option. Then run this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg --set-selections < packages
sudo apt-get -u dselect-upgrade

This doesn't get you only the packages you installed. It also gets their dependencies, etc.

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