Not sure it this is already well known, but there are many benefits to Cydia's use of Debian APT. One is that you can install packages from the command line.

I decided to upgrade my jailbroken 2.0 3G iPhone to 2.0.2 today using QuickPwn, excited that I wouldn't have to restore and reload all my media, settings, etc as with Pwnage. Unfortunately, the firmware upgrade process still deletes all non-AppStore apps and I'd rather not spend time selecting and installing all my apps/themes in Cydia after the upgrade. Instead, I just captured all installed packages from the command line (through an SSH session) using:

Code:

dpkg- l | awk '{print $2}' > installed_packages.txt

This makes a text file list of all APT's packages, which I copied to my laptop using SFTP. After the upgrade, I used Cydia to install SSH and made sure that all of the Cydia sources that I'd used previously were installed.

installed_packages.txt contains a header of unnecessary information, so these need to be deleted prior to copying the file back to the iPhone. Once done and copied, I just ran the following from the directory that contains the modified installed_packages.txt.

Code:

apt-get install `cat installed_packages.txt`

APT installed everything I had before in one sweep (it took 10 minutes or so), and all installed packages now appear in Cydia's listing under the "Manage" tab.

Just thought that others might appreciate saving some time in the upgrade process. I'm sure someone else could write an app to do this automatically, or even better, a restore feature built into Cydia.

Thanks a lot, lh99.

I had been wondering how to do this. I've been looking for info about custom payloads for Pwnage, but I like this better 'cause it also works with QuickPwn.

Thank you again

Could u give us a tutorial for dummies.......and more info on what has to be deleted from the txt file and where do u place the text file back, etc

PS - NICE this makes life so much better

The script can be enhanced

Backup list of installed packages before firmware upgrade

Code:

dpkg -l | grep ^ii | awk '{print $2}' > installed_packages.txt

Retrieve and create a list of differences in the installed packages after firmware upgrade

Code:

dpkg -l | grep ^ii | awk '{print $2}' > installed_packages_afterupgrade.txt 
diff installed_packages_afterupgrade.txt installed_packages.txt | grep ^\> | awk '{print $2}' > difference_installed_packages.txt

Install the differences in iPhone

Code:

apt-get install `cat difference_installed_packages.txt`

will e great if anyone make a gui application to do that

I was able to get the .txt no problem but evertime I ran apt-get install after it would give me a error saying the .txt couldn't be found but it was in the same directory I was issuing the command

there is a gui for Mac called iBaReS
I just used it, and it is very very fast to make backups that include Installer and Cydia and AppStore apps

http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48881

This is SO COOL

I just restored my Cydia packages like nothing.
definately very smooth process

@Rello: Did you use this script and apt-get to reload the apps or did you use iBares from the link jon_slider included?? Because I tried it and got the .txt file ok but apt-get install would not see my .txt as I will in the same directory as it.

Hi all

I tried this and it failed. In which path do i have to execute this command?

thank you
teefix