Comment 3 for bug 1552768

I see.

Wouldn't it be a feature for the Software Center then? Since it is I believe what non-technologically-savvy users use to install and remove software (instead of Synaptic or apt-get).

Déjà Dup, as a duplicity backend, backs up and restores files, not information that is not stored in files, such as which packages have been installed and when. If it were to back up that information, then when restoring at date d to a previous date d-delta, it would be expected to roll back the system to that date d-delta, uninstalling any packages installed in the meantime. That is clearly out of the scope of a simple file backup software, requires root privileges, and affects all users on the system, not just the current user.

What you're asking for implies to make Déjà Dup a backend of apt-get in addition to duplicity, so that it can manipulate packages. It's too much for a simple tool. But there might be advanced backup software that can backup and restore the system's state (installed packages) in addition to files. Actually, I would be surprised if such software didn't exist. But it is certainly aimed at administrators, not non-tech users.

On the other hand if the Software Center (say) exports or maintains a file containing the list of installed packages, Déjà-Dup can certainly backup that file, which could even perhaps be included by default.

> There should be an initial selection of some folders (home, opt, etc...)
$HOME is included by default and $DOWNLOAD, $TRASH are excluded by default. This backs up the user's data and settings.