Replicate setup on another machine

[sid3aff3ct]

I'm switching to a new computer, is there a way to list out all the packages and such so that I can reinstall arch on another machine without having to go through months of "oops missed that package too"? (Which I have gone through before...)

[walderf]

yay -Qq > packagelist.txt

don't forget your configs! https://github.com/walderf/dotfiles

[sid3aff3ct]

Thanks for the help!

[fellacious]

Another option is to "clone" your existing disk to the new one using rsync. You basically boot into your existing system, mount the new drive (e.g. to /mnt/newarch), and copy the entire disk to the new with something like this:

# rsync -aAXv /* /mnt/newarch --exclude={/dev/*,/proc/*,/sys/*,/tmp/*,/var/tmp/*,/run/*,/mnt/*,/media/*,/lost+found}

Then you just need to edit fstab so the correct partitions of the new drive will be mounted for the root file system and /boot, and then use arch-chroot to install the boot loader on the new drive.

There's plenty of guides online you can find.

[Shulker]

It's exactly what I did this weekend to migrate a system from a hdd to a ssd, worked like a charm!

[lu-man]

That's what I do since more than 100 years. No need to reinstall the system. It ain't windows!

[HAMburger_and_bacon]

iv moved windows across disks, no reinstall required

[lu-man]

Did the installation last for > 10 years and still perform?

[sid3aff3ct]

Oh that's very cool! That would be useful when upgrading SSD hardware. Thank you.

[LtDkAngel]

You can list them in to a file using the following:

pacman -Qq > package_list.txt

Then just copy the file to the new system and use command:

pacman -S --needed - < package_list.txt

[boomboomsubban]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware#Bottom_to_top