Build a script that can scan and recognise known software and features on existing machines.

[centur]

It would be great if we can "reverse" our existing dev boxes into such scripts. It would tremendously speed up adoption of setup scripts. Every developer usually has his own setup already and task to writing your own script from scratch can be quite significant.
It looks reasonable to start with some revered script - searching over files and installed apps on existing machine and then generate corresponding choco statements for recognized packages or offer alternatives for known but not yet "chocolated" ones. Running this script allows developer to start from his set up and trim the things that are unnecessary.

[ferventcoder]

It looks reasonable to start with some revered script - searching over files and installed apps on existing machine and then generate corresponding choco statements for recognized packages or offer alternatives for known but not yet "chocolated" ones.

Hi @centur - I'm from Chocolatey Software and we agree with this assessment of being able to sync what you already have as installed packages and then go from there. This functionality exists in one form already (choco sync) but it only in commercial editions (the business edition specifically). Some of it will come down to Chocolatey Pro as well with the ability to look for existing packages on source repositories that you have configured. That should come out at some point.

[ferventcoder]

I'd like to see if we can make your request specific to something that we can do here in the dev box setup scripts and available for open source, so let's explore that instead here.

How about if we could create a script here that could look at Chocolatey packages you already have installed and generate a boxstarter script?

[centur]

@ferventcoder I understand that there is an interest to drive users to software subscription model which I can accept if an app is extensively using \ depending on API that is hosted\maintained (and can't justify in many other cases), but this idea to reverse your existing box into a partial script - this is an entry barrier to get into using Chocolatey or any other modern packaging system.

Script that looks into existing choco packages implies that I'm already using Chocolatey.

• If I am - I don't really need to reverse my Choco repo into a script ( or can do myself relatively easily with basic programming)
• If I don't use choco and want to start - this is a showstopper for me to jump on it. So I unlikely to start (too much time effort reversing all those things manually to reinstall my box from time to time, I'm not a frequent re-installer), neither will pay $96/year for service.

Having this available in free edition or as an external script ( which what I thought this repo is - not directly affiliated with chocolatey) sounds logical for me.

[bcurran3]

How about if we could create a script here that could look at Chocolatey packages you already have installed and generate a boxstarter script?

Point me to an example boxstarter script and I can easily strip down https://chocolatey.org/packages/choco-package-list-backup for this.

[ferventcoder]

I understand that there is an interest to drive users to software subscription model

@centur Apologies if you misunderstood what I wrote above. I mentioned that this is an existing feature of our commercial editions and then said let's find something we can do for open source. Let me be clear - we are not interested in driving you to commercial editions - that is a decision you'd need to make on your own because the features hold enough value for you to pay for them. You will find huge value in our open source edition and hundreds of thousands of folks and organizations already do.

this idea to reverse your existing box into a partial script - this is an entry barrier to get into using Chocolatey or any other modern packaging system.

I'm not sure I follow - do you mean a barrier for you or for more folks?

Having this available in free edition or as an external script (which what I thought this repo is - not directly affiliated with chocolatey) sounds logical for me.

Doing what you originally asked for is extremely difficult for a computer (somewhat easy for a person with an hour or two of time), and also brings a valuable time savings - if it saves 2+ hours of your time, its paid for itself. That's why it is only offered in commercial editions, and not considered a trickle down feature. This repository is not here to replace commercial features either as that could be harmful for the future of Chocolatey. I trust you understand (read: you are getting something completely free that costs many thousands of dollars in real money to ensure for those free services).

So I unlikely to start (too much time effort reversing all those things manually to reinstall my box from time to time, I'm not a frequent re-installer)

While it will take you a little time to do a bit more research, you net ahead versus going out and downloading and installing everything yourself. And then choco upgrade all for staying up to date.

In the end though, it is your choice and we'll leave that with you. If Chocolatey/Boxstarter is not for you, that's fine - you don't have to use them, and we won't force you to do so.

[ferventcoder]

That said, here's a starter for getting everything (packages and software in Programs and Features) on your box into one list you can then start to put that into a boxstarter script:

choco list -lo --include-programs