Backup Tool vs. dpkg --get-selections

[digi123us]

I noticed that the list of installed software that the Backup Tool produces is different that what dkpg --get-selections produces. Does anyone know which is more accurate and which I should prefer when reinstalling all packages? Currently, on my installation of Mint 13, the Backup Tool lists 995 packages and the dpkg command lists 3374. That's quite a difference.

[jaderiver]

Am not familiar w/ using the dkpg method, but when I use Backup Tool per Clem's tutorial
(see http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2),
a certain number of files will be shown as saved. However, during Restore, even though that number is listed as the baseline, the number of files actually being processed and restored far exceeds what was "saved." Everything basically fine after restoration, so not sure what the larger number means; perhaps all the hidden files, such as .cache were not accounted for at first.

Just a thought.

[digi123us]

I suspect that the one from dpkg is listing everything, including dependencies. For example, the file created by the Backup Tool shows vim, but dpkg --get-selections shows vim, vim-common, vim-runtime, and vim-tiny. That's my theory now anyway.