This is a simple Python script to reinstall Debian, package by package. Reinstalling package-by-package is a rudimentary (but acceptible) way of repairing and/or reinstalling an existing Debian system.
This has been tested on Jessie. This script may work on newer/older version of Debian, as well as other Debian-based systems as well. (Ubuntu and Mint are included!)
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Debian (or Debian-based) system. (Ubuntu, Mint, and friends are included!)
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This is a Python script, so a suitable Python interpreter is required in order to run it. Note that you can use Python 2 or Python 3. (It was originally written in Python 3, but this script uses Python 2 friendly syntax.)
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Bash (or similar) shell. You will need to create a environment variable that the Python script will use to install the package.
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apt-get/dpkg for installing packages. (This should be already installed if you're using a Debian or Debian-based system.)
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Internet connection. (If you don't have one, you might be able to get away with storing your package archives in
/var/cache/apt/archives. -
Free space for a full system reinstall.
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Download the script: reinstall_debian.py (You will need to click the "Raw" button to actually download it!)
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Start your system in "recovery" (or "rescue") mode. This should be an option when booting your system. If not, you should terminate as many non-essential programs on your system as possible before starting the reinstall. (Yes, this includes your desktop! You should be in the raw console, e.g. CTRL-ALT-F1, for the duration of this reinstall.)
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Fetch your package list and set your environment variable:
export PKGLIST=$(dpkg --get-selections | grep -v deinstall | cut -f1) -
Run the script (as root):
python reinstall_debian.pyIf you have Python 3, you can alternatively run:
python3 reinstall_debian.py -
Wait. If there are any errors, make sure to correct them.
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Once you're done, reboot your system immediately. Hopefully your system will be back to normal!
This script basically chunks out the package reinstallation, and attempts to mitigate some issues related to it.
One error that may occur during reinstallation is this:
Couldn't configure [...], probably a dependency cycle.
The solution was to remove the package from the list of packages to reinstall, and continue until problematic packages are removed.
This script will likely end up reinstalling GRUB (grub-pc on Jessie).
When this occurs, it should succeed - unless you did something weird.
If you are installing GRUB2 to a partition, see this wiki page for details on what to do before and after running this script.