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How can I get a list of files that I modified/added in /etc and other paths outside of the home folder?

cn flag

Over the years, I've been making tweaks to my Ubuntu system, such as adding files to /etc, to customize it. I now want to do a fresh re-installation of Ubuntu, and I want to capture all of these changes I've made and re-create them (by hand if necessary) in the new system. Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping track so I can't remember what most of them are.

Is there a way to search through the rootfs and list all files that were created or edited manually by me?

P.S. this question is similar to get list of modified configs but covers every change, not just ones that would be captured by dpkg.

muru avatar
us flag
Unless you set some sort of tracking in place beforehand, nope
user10489 avatar
in flag
It is possible with `dpkg -V` and similar options, and several other dpkg tools, to generate a list of edited config files and installed files and by process of elimination, files that were added. But this is a tedious and error prone process. There's nothing to just generate a list.
user10489 avatar
in flag
As muru said, it is much easier to set up tracking (like git) in place beforehand.
waltinator avatar
it flag
You could mount your original installation `.iso` (or download a new copy of it), and `diff` the directories (`man diff`) to get a list of everything that's changed, created, or deleted on your system. What you've changed is a subset of this list.
user10489 avatar
in flag
The original ISO has packed deb files on it rather than the installed files, and does not include any subsequent updates. A diff is going to be almost all false positives and false negatives with very little in common with the final installation, I can't really see how that is very helpful. `dpkg -V` would give much better information than anything from the original ISO.
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