VL 6.0 Light packages I installed

[dln9]

I installed VL 6.0 Light. 

After I installed it, I chose to add some other packages via gslapt. 

Now I'm thinking, "If I should ever have to reinstall VL, I very conveniently have the iso image file on a CD.  But, how will I know which additional packages I installed, so I can reinstall them and get my system back to that ideal state I created?" 

Any ideas on a strategy and tools to accomplish this in VL? 

Thanks. 

[nightflier]

For this purpose I use "CloneZilla" to make an image of my hard drive (or root partition). This clone image can be put on a different partition, an external hard drive, USB drive or on another computer via the network.

[GrannyGeek]

Making an image file of your VL partition is the easiest way to preserve your system as it is now. When you restore the image, things will be exactly like they were when you created the image.

When you install a package with Gslapt or slapt-get, a copy of the tlz package file is put in /home/ftp/pub/veclinux/packages. You could copy that directory to removable media and could then reinstall the packages without needing to download them again.
--GrannyGeek

[dln9]

Granny, I have a followup question based on your kind response. 

Are the tlz packages in the directory you referenced *only* packages I manually downloaded via gslapt?  Or, will that directory also include packages that were installed during the original installation from the iso image file? 

[toothandnail]

Are the tlz packages in the directory you referenced *only* packages I manually downloaded via gslapt?  Or, will that directory also include packages that were installed during the original installation from the iso image file? 

Those are only packages downloaded when using slapt-get or the graphical Gslapt package manager. Packages installed when you install the system are not copied to the hard drive (unlike some versions of Ubuntu, if I remember correctly).

Something I often do is change the path to the slapt-get package cache. You can do that by editing (with root access) /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc. I put the cache onto a removable drive, which means that it can be shared by more than one VL machine, and also gives me a bit of protection against problems on the local hard drive. Only problem with doing this is remembering to plug the removable drive in beofre starting Gslapt or slapt-get.

Paul.