Debian - how to "clone" packages to other server

This is perhaps my first blog entry related to Linux :-). Anyway I have just came across problem of moving one installed Debian (Lenny) to the other server. While rsync is a perfect solution for copying all the personal files I would like to avoid using it to copy all the Debian binaries. There is another, more reliable, way. On the source Debian just run:

host1:~# dpkg --get-selections > /tmp/dpkg.txt
host1:~# head /tmp/dpkg.txt
a2ps                                            install
acpi                                            install
acpi-support                                    install
acpi-support-base                               install
acpid                                           install
adduser                                         install
adobe-flashplugin                               install
adobereader-enu                                 install
akregator                                       install
alien                                           install

Transfer this (dpkg.txt) file to the target system (already installed as a minimal) and run:

host2:~# dpkg --set-selections < /tmp/dpkg.txt
host2:~# apt-get -u dselect-upgrade

And Voila ! - apt-get will download and install all the requested package.