Useful Ubuntu packages

This page lists some useful Ubuntu packages to install so that upgrades go relatively smoothly.

[edit] ubuntu-* packages

These packages pull in the dependencies required to make a standard Ubuntu install work.

ubuntu-minimal: this depends on the real basics. init scripts, console tools, networking, that kind of thing. Essentially every Ubuntu install should have ubuntu-minimal installed. Every time you upgrade, check that ubuntu-minimal is *not* being removed.
ubuntu-standard: this depends on many useful but not totally absolutely necessary packages. It's a good idea to have it installed just to grab the packages that most tutorials and helpers will assume you have installed.

You can install these packages by running: "aptitude install ubuntu-minimal ubuntu-standard" as root.