Copying system/ports configuration?

[Andrew Gould]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 2:00 AM, Mel <fbsd.questions at rachie.is-a-geek.net>wrote:

> On Tuesday 16 December 2008 16:16:27 Andrew Gould wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Dr. Jennifer Nussbaum
> >
> > <bg271828 at yahoo.com>wrote:
> > > I have a FreeBSD 7.0 system that im using in production. I want to
> create
> > > a FreeBSD virtual machine, to use as a testbed for this production box.
> > >
> > > The last time i did this it took a lot of time to get the VM set
> > > up--installing all the right ports, getting the database configuration
> > > right, etc.
> > >
> > > Are there any shortcuts for this, e.g. a way i can automatically
> install
> > > the same ports on the new "machine"? I didnt see anything in the
> handbook
> > > or FAQ about this, but id think that people need to do this all the
> time.
> > > Any other advice for mirroring the system?
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > Jen
> >
> > Someone once posted a shell script that obtained a list of installed
> ports
> > from the package database system and fed the results to pkg_create, which
> > would create binary packages.  Unfortunately, I can't locate the script.
>
> cd /var/db/pkg
> mkdir /var/tmp/packages
> for DIR in *; do
>        if test -d ${DIR} -a -f ${DIR}/+CONTENTS; do
>                pkg_create -vb ${DIR} /var/tmp/packages/${DIR}.tbz
>        fi
> done
>
> This will create a package for all installed software in /var/tmp/packages.
> Adjust accordingly.
>
> Once ssh is in place on target:
> scp -rp /var/tmp/packages target.machine:/var/tmp
>
> On target:
> cd /var/tmp/packages
> for FILE in *; do pkg_add ${FILE}; done
>
> Then all that's left is /usr/local/etc/ and possibly some
> dirs /usr/local/share.
> --
> Mel
>
> Problem with today's modular software: they start with the modules
>    and never get to the software part.
>

Thanks, Mel.

Andrew