Transfer software from one linux machine to another

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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1

I'm planning on installing Fedora 21 with Gnome 3 on my mother's PC which is barely usable (the hardware isn't that old but her windows install always becomes unusable after some time somehow).
I have a laptop running fully updated Fedora with some basic software like VLC, Chrome, some audio decoders...

Can I transfer those updates and programs to my mother's fresh installation with an external hard drive or something?

She has a really slow internet connection so it would be a pain to redownload all updates and programs. I was hoping I could avoid downloading so many things I already have on my laptop.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks

Holbot

2

Linux programs are compiled against the kernel so not really no

1 Like
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@rollymaster
Ok then,
Thanks for the response!

4

You actually can but, it is likely to be more trouble than it's worth. You can check out this link (scroll down to "Custom YUM Repository"). I got there from here which was someone asking a very similar question.

Lastly, after the initial pain in the ass download, you can have YUM only download delta updates by going to /etc/yum.conf and adding/editing a line to say:

deltarpm=1

That will definitely improve things, provided she has a decently large hard drive (packages must be cached for the delta updates to work). Downside is, you likely have to go through the whole process once.

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5

I dont have any cached yum packages on my laptop. I guess i'll have to redownload everything anyway.

6

I know you can do this, but I'll have to ask some colleagues and get back later. In the mean time:

If you have multiple Linux machines, for future downloads and updates, you could use Squid as a caching proxy.

Link: http://theurbanpenguin.com/wp/?p=3111
Link: http://theurbanpenguin.com/wp/?p=74

Just remember, with updates you always want the latest. So you would have to manage Squid with some additional rules to cope with that. As a good book on Squid, I'd recommend:

Squid Proxy Server 3.1 Beginner's Guide, by Kulbir Saini, Packt Publishing.
Link: www.PacktPub.com

You could also set up a Local Repository, but it's a massive download. Your ISP will hate you forever! lol

Link: http://theurbanpenguin.com/wp/?p=1645

As you are using Fedora there will/may be some differences in syntax between different version of Linux, but I'm sure you know that already.

7

My learned colleague suggests you look at these.

Link: https://hackstips.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/repackage-software-from-installed-packages-in-linux/

Link: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/140778/how-to-build-an-rpm-package-from-the-installed-files

8

@Geoff
Thank you very much!
This is exactly what I was looking for.

9

Geoff has it. A local repo is your best bet or install software CD but I don't think fedora does that anymore. Debian does and you can download something silly like 9 DVDs worth of packages for offline install.

What you might also consider is taking her computer and setting it up on a faster connection. Setting up delta RPMs as mentioned and putting it back in. Its unlikely she will need to install new software and delta RPMs will reduce the bandwidth required for updates

10

This may help you out in the future too:

Link: https://www.osdisc.com/products/linux/fedora

1 Like
11

That's the one. I did wonder if they still did repos on DVDs but didn't have time to check.

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@Geoff
Nice to know about this.