Offer to install current packages

[David Prieto]

Binary package hint: usb-creator

I just read here that it's actually pretty easy to create a custom list of packages to install:

http://www.guia-ubuntu.org/index.php?title=Recuperar_lista_de_paquetes_instalados

This is the procedure: first you make a list of currently installed packages by running:

$ dpkg --get-selections | grep -v deinstall > ubuntu-files

Then, on the target machine, you just run this:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
$ sudo dpkg --set-selections < ubuntu-files
$ sudo dselect install

It would be VERY handy to be able to do this automatically when you create a live usb. Just add a checkbox somewhere with the text "replicate currently installed packages on the destination machine" and modify Ubiquity to detect the presence of a "ubuntu-files" file, and if detected, ask you: "this custom disc suggests installing the following packages. Proceed?"

As a user, this would save me a lot of work when I do a clean install and I have to track down all the packages I had installed.