How to backup programs without using apt cache?

Question

Is there any way to backup installed software, install a fresh Ubuntu system, and restore the software on the newly installed system, without an Internet connection? I already cleared my apt cache.

Answer 1

Backup

1. Ctrl + Alt + T(Opens Terminal)

2. Get root access (i) Type "sudo su" then press Enter (ii)Give Your Password

3. Install Require Packages (i)apt-get install fakeroot(ii)apt-get install dpkg-repack

4. cd to Your Backup directory For example ,Say U have a Thumbdrive and created a folder backup "cd /media/usb/backup"

5. Run the Following in terminal

   fakeroot -u dpkg-repack dpkg --get-selections | grep install | cut -f1

.Restore

Steps to reinstall packages

1.Ctrl + Alt +T(Opens Terminal)

2.cd to the "backup" directory

Eg: "cd /media/usb/backup"

3.Run the Following in terminal

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Source :Facebook doc

Edit

If it lead to broken dependencies open the terminal and type

sudo apt-get install -f 

Answer 2

You can use dpkg : sudo dpkg --get-selections > backup

and then you copy backup, and then you reinstall and use

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

( not from me, found on http://syslog.tv/2010/07/02/using-dpkg-selections-to-backup-and-install-packages/ )

However, you need to have the same sources.list ( especially if you used ppa ), so I recommend to make a copy of /etc/apt/. If you plan to upgrade the Ubuntu version, not all versions would be identical, so maybe that's not exactly what you want

Answer 3

This one-liner will tar up all the (official) files of your installed packages:

dpkg -l | grep ^ii | awk '{print $2}' | while read pkgname; do dpkg -L $pkgname; done | while read fname; do test -f "$fname" && echo $fname; done | tar zcf /path/to/backup.tar.gz -T-

Answer 4

Install and use 'aptoncd'

This will take whatever you have in /var/cache/apt/archives and create a media (CD-DVD) to use to install software via apt. You can the upgrade and install the same set of softwares in several machines with no need to re-download those packages again.