It is possible to save the programs installers before...

[wdc]

hello,

you know that in windows you can download a file named setup.exe and save it to install your software every now and then. i was wondering if that can be donde in linux.

i like to format my partitions every couple of months or so and since cassandra is giving me some headhaches i thought maybe i should reinstall it but i have downloaded a lot of software and don't want to download it again. i know there are some .deb files that can help me, and some tar.gz too, there is no other way?

the software i have downloaded is:

xmms, google earth, vlc, gwget, amsn, skype, xine, gnome baker.

thanks.

w.

[OU812]

If this were a slack-based distro, I could tell you were the extra packages are stored. But if there is a particular folder that they are downloaded to, then just find it and back it up. Then you can install the packages by hand. You might even be able to do it by right-clicking on the package in the file manager. Sorry, still new to debian so I can't give you more than that.

john

[gcc]

you have many options here. The one that most closely matches what you are directly asking is to simply go to terminal and type:

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get install -d <package name>

to download just the package, or, another option, you can just do as scorp123 suggested for another problem earlier today:

System #1:

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dpkg --get-selections > packagelist.txt

System #2:

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dpkg --set-selections < packagelist.txt
apt-get dselect-upgrade

which would stop you from having to store the .deb's anywhere, but does require that your programs actually be in the repos. I would suggest that wherever you are storing your packagelist.txt, you also store a backup of your sources.list- all of this, of course, in addition to your normal backups.

another option, if portability to non-debian systems is an issue, is to keep backups of the source code. you can get that either by direct download from the program's page or by typing

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get source <package name>

but this will be a huge pain, as you'll wind up enduring dependency hell.
hope this helps your problem.

[Husse]

Downloaded packages are found in
/var/cache/apt/archives
You can copy them from there (needs root privileges)
Why do you want to format your drive every two months or so?
Totally unnecessary!
Especially in Linux, your system does not get bloated....
Maybe after your first attempt you'd like it a bit better organized
Not even in Windows is this necessary.....but more understandable

[scorp123]

i like to format my partitions every couple of months or so

oh dear .... This is not Windows! There is absolutely no need for this. Even if there are problems you can usually fix them without falling back to those scary habits Windows forces people into ...

[gcc]

Downloaded packages are found in
/var/cache/apt/archives
You can copy them from there (needs root privileges)

oops. yeah. duh. sorry.

[scorp123]

Another thing I came across in another posting is "AptOnCD" ... apparently you can put all the stuff you downloaded onto CD and then use the CD as "Installation Source" on another PC .... or on the same PC in case of a re-installation.

I didn't try it out yet ... but I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone is interested in something like this.

[gcc]

interesting. might have to give that a spin, no pun intended. Might be even better with PXE.

[wdc]

well, thanks to everyone, actually i don't format i just test every new live cd distro that i like and since mint 3.0 seems to have broke itself i think maybe i should reinstall it.

regards.

w.