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I'm currently running Ubuntu 10.something and I have some special packages installed for server tasks.

I want to upgrade to Ubuntu 12 and I'm afraid that I'll lose these packages.

So what will happen if I chose the upgrade option when I put in the installation DVD? Will I lose the packages or not?

Lucio
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Baha Eddine Gritly
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  • From my experience: the upgrade system of Ubuntu 13.04 (from 12.10) asked to me to choice between save the packages installed or not, I have chosen Save the Packages. But after the upgrade procedure there was an error and all my installed packages just gone.. – Lucio Jun 27 '13 at 22:08
  • possible duplicated: http://askubuntu.com/q/92926/62483 – Lucio Jun 27 '13 at 22:11

1 Answers1

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In theory, the upgrade should smoothly take over your package selection -- with possible exception of packages from outside of the main distribution tree (like custom launchpad repositories). However, to be on the safe side, back up your package selection:

dpkg --get-selections > packages.txt

Later, you can restore these selections by issuing (as root)

cat packages.txt | dpkg --set-selections && apt-get dselect-upgrade

In any case, remember to back up your system before upgrading, including /etc. And make sure your backups work!

January
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