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#1 2013-02-24 21:00:48

Beg
Member
Registered: 2013-02-24
Posts: 18

Installer programs?

So, I am getting a new computer on a couple of days and I've had my fun experiencing Arch, and I love it.

The system runs on 70mb ram and boots so fast.

Now that I'm done with the short intro. I am going to install arch on the new computer aswell, and what I'm wonder is if there is any program that tracks or something in similar fashion what I install and what configs I make? I tried making shell scripts but I am wondering if there's a simpler solution that maybe tracks or gives suggestions.

Thanks

Last edited by Beg (2013-02-24 21:01:41)

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#2 2013-02-24 21:11:47

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,441
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Re: Installer programs?

Can you clarify the question?  What do you want "tracked"?  Pacman manages all installed packages.  If you want to install all the same packages on the new computer, there are threads discussing this; they describe how use something like `pacman -Qe > listfile` to generate a list of packages to install on the new system and how to use pacman on the new system to install everything in that list.

For your own configs, you can make a dot-file repo on github or a similar site.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2013-02-24 21:22:17

Beg
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Registered: 2013-02-24
Posts: 18

Re: Installer programs?

Nah you understood me perfectly thanks alot! smile'

What I ment with tracks, is if there was something like a IDE, but I will do what you said thanks! smile

Last edited by Beg (2013-02-24 21:23:45)

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#4 2013-02-24 21:57:16

WorMzy
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From: Scotland
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 11,783
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Re: Installer programs?

An IDE? That makes even less sense. An IDE is just a text editor with a file manager and shell taped onto it.

I second the git recommendation for your dotfiles, but I'd still like to understand what you're looking for here. Perhaps you could give us a use case scenario to explain what it is you're hoping to accomplish?


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#5 2013-02-24 22:45:34

Beg
Member
Registered: 2013-02-24
Posts: 18

Re: Installer programs?

So, I'd like a program to either show a list of available options I could add to my "installing script" so I can have a easy time removing and adding stuff to the installer script in the future. Also the program should be able to track each of the progression steps in the script so that I don't just end up with a text file I need to eyedebug with each time I try to make a change. And the program should have some way of managing different kinds of values when configurating files. Some files follow the ini-standard, some use key=value some use key value. While it's easy to append or insert text like this.

But I now do understand I can do this with symlinks.

Last edited by Beg (2013-02-24 22:46:23)

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#6 2013-02-24 23:09:26

WorMzy
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From: Scotland
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 11,783
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Re: Installer programs?

Installer scripts aren't really useful on Arch, as packages can change name, be dropped from the repos, or be merged/split with/from other packages between installations.

However, you can use "pacman -Qq" to give you a list of currently installed packages in a readable one-package-per-line format that can be fed back in to a "pacman -S" command (assuming all the packages you have installed are available in the repos).

No matter how robust you make your scripts, you will need to maintain them. Arch is a hands-on distro that is constantly changing due to it's rolling release model.

Honestly, it sounds like you're trying to create some sort of puppet clone, but you won't have much success on Arch using that sort of software.


Sakura:-
Mobo: MSI MAG X570S TORPEDO MAX // Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X @4.9GHz // GFX: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT // RAM: 32GB (4x 8GB) Corsair DDR4 (@ 3000MHz) // Storage: 1x 3TB HDD, 6x 1TB SSD, 2x 120GB SSD, 1x 275GB M2 SSD

Making lemonade from lemons since 2015.

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#7 2013-02-24 23:44:36

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Installer programs?

If you are looking for configuration files you have modified from the defaults (those which will result in a *.pacnew file), you can use "pacman -Qii <package>".  In the output it lists any configuration files it tracks that you have changed.  Though configuration files you create will obviously not be tracked, so things in your $HOME for instance, will not show up.

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#8 2013-02-25 00:48:51

ANOKNUSA
Member
Registered: 2010-10-22
Posts: 2,141

Re: Installer programs?

In my opinion such a project would be doomed to failure, for reasons mentioned by others (which is almost certainly why such a program doesn't currently exist).  Don't install Arch on more machines than you can maintain manually, and try to keep all installations as similar as possible.  I mean, what you're asking for is a program to wrap around a program that runs a bunch of other programs that are constantly changing.  The best you could get is something that can debug your own code, code which itself merely runs someone else's code.  Why not just use the already existing code that's known to work?

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