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Things to do if you need to re-build a Debian based machine, assuming the older one can still be logged into.

# As root, on the old machine, get there how you will...
apt install debsums
mount <BackupsLocation> /mnt
# Get a list of changed files in /etc
find /etc -type f | grep -vFf <(debsums -e | grep OK$ | sed 's/[[:space:]]*OK$//') > /mnt/FileList.txt
# Copy those files over
rsync -avz --files-from=/mnt/FileList.txt /mnt/

On the new machine, install the OS, avoid updates during install, then;

sudo apt install etckeeper git tig
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo shutdown -r now

And then, after the reboot, install your favorite applications, mount the backup from the first block of code and merge with the local install.


P.S. If you can't do these thing, a generic install is;

sudo apt install -y chromium borgbackup libreoffice keepassxc flameshot gnupg nmap openssh-client vlc neovim transmission btop htop wget curl ncdu rsync tmux nextcloud-desktop mc