Listing and specifying packages in debootstrap

debootstrap

Is there a way to list the packages that debootstrap is going to download? Also, is there a way to tell debootstrap to download a user-specified list of packages?

Best Answer

For the first, you use --print-debs, which shows you a list of packages that are going to be downloaded for a specific target. The second, you can use --include/--exclude switches for this task:

   --include=alpha,beta
          Comma separated list of packages which will be added to download
          and extract lists.

   --exclude=alpha,beta
          Comma separated list of packages  which  will  be  removed  from
          download  and extract lists.  WARNING: you can and probably will
          exclude essential packages, be careful using this option.

Notice that this is akin to "install base plus packages" or "install base minus packages". The base packages are always installed.

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