How to get back to a clean install?

[sav25]

Hi all

I've been pondering this question for a while, so figured I'd ask. Warning: it might be a stupid question.

If you look at something like Windows (just for this example), you can easily see what applications are installed, and very easily uninstall them.

With Raspbian, after I install this n' that package (let's say smbus, git, wiringPi etc etc), I can't help but feel a little 'out of control' - not knowing what my SD card install has on it, and/or how to easily view/remove things I've added for various projects. This concern first started when a TS/RX based switch caused conflict with a TFT screen.

So I guess my questions are:

- Is there a way of seeing what's installed, that doesn't come 'stock' with the OS?
- Can these be easily removed to return to a nice clean install, rather than writing a fresh image again? (I recall a command you can run with the package name...?)
- Should I stop worrying about it and just leave packages on there?! (although in my switch example, not ideal)

Thanks,

Average Man

[gkreidl]

Install synaptic. It's a GUI for apt-get and you can search for names or text in descriptions. It also gives a lot of information about installed packages, dependencies and so on.

[sprinkmeier]

I install etckeeper to keep track of not just what is installed/uninstalled, but any configuration changes.
I add the two files (attached) to better keep track of packages and to make a backup copy of the repo.

[sav25]

Thanks for the sugestions guys. I used ‘sudo apt-get install synaptic‘ and it seems to do exactly what I wanted.

Cheers