The file you want is /var/lib/dpkg/status (or failing that status-old which is the previous version).
It's a text file divided into sections by blank lines. Each section should start with a 'Package:' line naming the package and then shold contain a 'Status:' line like 'Status: install ok installed' (or 'Status: purge ok not-installed', etc). Manual editing could take ages, so I'd use a scripting language to generate a series of installation commands. e.g. perl -ne 'if(/^Package: (.+)$/){$p=$1};if(/^Status: (.+) installed$/){print qq{apt-get install },$p,qq{\n};}' < /var/lib/dpkg/status Of course, you could just take it as an opportunity to only install packages you want. 2009/12/1 <u7l1...@mail.lrz-muenchen.de> > Hello, > > it turned out that the segfaults that where happening with certain > filesystem commands on my NSLU2 were most likely caused by a faulty USB > flash stick after all. More and more errors started happening, so I > finally couldn't deny that possibility any longer. > > Some parts of the filesystem on that stick are still readable, but my slug > won't boot from it any more. I bought a new one and am just finishing a > fresh Debian install. Is there a way to find out what which software > packages were installed on the old stick, by reading certain files? If so, > which files must I look for, and how can I extract that info from them? > > Regards, Richard > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-arm-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > listmas...@lists.debian.org > > -- Derek.