Slackware
- Thread starter VP9KS
- Start date
Rob,
Thanks for moving this thread here. I should have put it here to begin with.
Sorry about that, mate.
I am currently in the process of reload/setup of Slackware after a drive crash a short time ago. Fortunately, I have drive caddies with other installations which I can use during the long process of recovery. I will try to document my progress, for the entertainment / info of the group. I have had a drive set up on Slackware for a while, but never really did much study of it. That ends now. Slackware 101 is just beginning. I have the 5 Cd set of 14.0, and a DVD that I burned, of 14.1. I think that I will use the DVD, not just because I'm lazy, but that is a major factor. I found some of my installation notes, and put them together in a document (and yes it is on another computer Stan, good point!), but it is just enough to get it up and running. Then I need to upgrade the packages, for instance Firefox is 24.0 vice 53.0.2. HMMM, I guess there IS some upgrading to be done. This is a spare time project, so it may take a while to complete, but that is half the fun. eh?
ciao for now,
Paul
Thanks for moving this thread here. I should have put it here to begin with.
Sorry about that, mate.I am currently in the process of reload/setup of Slackware after a drive crash a short time ago. Fortunately, I have drive caddies with other installations which I can use during the long process of recovery. I will try to document my progress, for the entertainment / info of the group. I have had a drive set up on Slackware for a while, but never really did much study of it. That ends now. Slackware 101 is just beginning. I have the 5 Cd set of 14.0, and a DVD that I burned, of 14.1. I think that I will use the DVD, not just because I'm lazy
, but that is a major factor. I found some of my installation notes, and put them together in a document (and yes it is on another computer Stan, good point!), but it is just enough to get it up and running. Then I need to upgrade the packages, for instance Firefox is 24.0 vice 53.0.2. HMMM, I guess there IS some upgrading to be done. This is a spare time project, so it may take a while to complete, but that is half the fun. eh?ciao for now,
Paul
Okay, I figured it out, and I am all updated. This time, I added the information to my Slackware Notes file, so that I will not have to search so long for the information again. I will be updating more regularly also. It was a learning experience.
. This time, I added the information to my Slackware Notes file, so that I will not have to search so long for the information again. I will be updating more regularly also. It was a learning experience.So, the big secret to updating Slackware is that it has a package manager, of sorts. It does not automatically notify you of updates out of the box, like say Mint Cinnamon, but you can set slackware up to notify you of updates, by email, as they become available. I prefer to check myself periodically. The secret to updating the system is a series of commands issued from the command line, or in a terminal window. You must be logged in as ROOT.
First you must select a mirror to get the updates from. Open the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. This is a url list of all the mirror sites. Each line is remarked out (like the old dos days, remember?) with a # at the beginning. Find the mirror that you want, for the version that you are running, remove the #, and save the file. Oh, yeah, only select 1. This will tell the package manager where to get the updates. If you should forget to do this, you will get an error instructing you to do it.
I used HTTP://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware/slackware-14.1/ because I installed 14.1
These three commands are issued from the command line, or in a terminal window (as root).
slackpkg update. This updates the package information on your computer to match the info on the mirror. If there are no updates, you will get the prompt "No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now. Do you really want to download all other files (Y/N)?" To which you should answer N, and it will stop. If this happens, you do not need to issue the rest of the commands in this list.
slackpkg install-new. You will be prompted to decide which of these new packages you wish to install, and it takes some time to complete, so don't get in a hurry. If there are no new programs to install, it will tell you. Then just continue on to the next command.
slackpkg upgrade-all. This is the actual upgrading of the packages, and it will also take some time. If you have just done a new install, like I just did, you may want to go get a cold beverage of your choice while this runs. (or 2, or 3, ...)
That is it in a nutshell.
P.S. 2/3/18 I edited this posting to remove the clean-system command. I will explain in a later posting.
Happy trails,
Paul//
First you must select a mirror to get the updates from. Open the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. This is a url list of all the mirror sites. Each line is remarked out (like the old dos days, remember
?) with a # at the beginning. Find the mirror that you want, for the version that you are running, remove the #, and save the file. Oh, yeah, only select 1. This will tell the package manager where to get the updates. If you should forget to do this, you will get an error instructing you to do it.I used HTTP://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware/slackware-14.1/ because I installed 14.1
These three commands are issued from the command line, or in a terminal window (as root).
slackpkg update. This updates the package information on your computer to match the info on the mirror. If there are no updates, you will get the prompt "No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now. Do you really want to download all other files (Y/N)?" To which you should answer N, and it will stop. If this happens, you do not need to issue the rest of the commands in this list.
slackpkg install-new. You will be prompted to decide which of these new packages you wish to install, and it takes some time to complete, so don't get in a hurry
. If there are no new programs to install, it will tell you. Then just continue on to the next command.slackpkg upgrade-all. This is the actual upgrading of the packages, and it will also take some time. If you have just done a new install, like I just did, you may want to go get a cold beverage of your choice while this runs.
(or 2, or 3, ...)That is it in a nutshell.
P.S. 2/3/18 I edited this posting to remove the clean-system command. I will explain in a later posting.
Happy trails,
Paul
//
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HMMM, Good question. I don't have an answer, yet, but if I find one, I will post it here for all to enjoy.
Or, if anyone else knows of one, feel free to add to this thread.
Paul
To answer your question, there is "pkgtool" which is a menu driven program for installing / removing slackpacks, that is files with either the .tgz, or the newer .tzx file extension. I just used it to install VLC media player, and it worked like a champ the first time.
. The pkgtool command is issued from a terminal window, or the command line, and it opens the menu. You must be logged in as Root to run this command. The Slackbook 2.0 pdf file describes it on page 217.Paul
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Well, last night I was very busy, doing the monster mash here in the lab. I wanted to accomplish 3 things on my slackware box (AKA the lab).
1. Find and install VLC player.
2. Find and install Fldigi.
3. Manually upgrade the Firefox on it from 45.9.0 to the latest, which is 53.0.3.
I found VLC player 2.2 in .tgx format. It installed and ran perfectly. So far so good.
I could not find firefox or fldigi in .tgz or .tgx format, so I looked for them in .RPM format. I found firefox 53.0.2, and Fldigi 4.0.4 on one of the Redhat mirror sites. After downloading them, I used rpm2tgz to convert them.
I tried fldigi first. It appeared to install, but I saw no information scrolling down the terminal window, as I am accustomed. I looked through all my menus, and all I found was the part of it, called flarc, which will not run without fldigi running. ( I know this because I run fldigi in mint cinnamon) Curses, foiled again.
I decided to attempt a manual update of firefox. I got the error that it could not find it to update. When I tried to open it as usual, it would no longer open. Not a good sign. In desperation, I attempted to install the update. It would not install. I tried slackpkg clean-system, and it asked me if I wished to delete VLC player. I declined, and it closed.
So I guess that I have Borked firefox beyond repair.Nothing like a good beating, eh Wiz?
Tonight I will wipe the drive, and start again. Well, it has been very educational, and I did bat .333 for the night, so perhaps I should be happy with that. Anyway, let me get to it, and I will see ya later.
Happy trails,
Paul
1. Find and install VLC player.
2. Find and install Fldigi.
3. Manually upgrade the Firefox on it from 45.9.0 to the latest, which is 53.0.3.
I found VLC player 2.2 in .tgx format. It installed and ran perfectly. So far so good.
I could not find firefox or fldigi in .tgz or .tgx format, so I looked for them in .RPM format. I found firefox 53.0.2, and Fldigi 4.0.4 on one of the Redhat mirror sites. After downloading them, I used rpm2tgz to convert them.
I tried fldigi first. It appeared to install, but I saw no information scrolling down the terminal window, as I am accustomed. I looked through all my menus, and all I found was the part of it, called flarc, which will not run without fldigi running. ( I know this because I run fldigi in mint cinnamon) Curses, foiled again.
I decided to attempt a manual update of firefox. I got the error that it could not find it to update. When I tried to open it as usual, it would no longer open.
Not a good sign. In desperation, I attempted to install the update. It would not install. I tried slackpkg clean-system, and it asked me if I wished to delete VLC player. I declined, and it closed.So I guess that I have Borked firefox beyond repair.
Nothing like a good beating, eh Wiz?Tonight I will wipe the drive, and start again. Well, it has been very educational, and I did bat .333 for the night, so perhaps I should be happy with that. Anyway, let me get to it, and I will see ya later.
Happy trails,
Paul
Well, last evening I tried to do a clean install of 14.1, and got a whole hockey-sock full of disk errors and other garbage problems. I decided to try doing a check of the drive as it formatted. Sadly, I ran out of time, and had to stop it when I retired for the night. I get up at 04:30 on work days, and today was one of those, so I retire at 9pm. I started it from scratch at 4:33 pm today, when I got home. I hope that it will complete tonight, but only time will tell. Then I can do the new install, with VLC player added, and update everything. More later.....
Paul
. I decided to try doing a check of the drive as it formatted. Sadly, I ran out of time, and had to stop it when I retired for the night. I get up at 04:30 on work days, and today was one of those, so I retire at 9pm. I started it from scratch at 4:33 pm today, when I got home. I hope that it will complete tonight, but only time will tell. Then I can do the new install, with VLC player added, and update everything. More later.....Paul
rawdatalab
New Member
Slackware user here. May I ask why you're using 14.1 and not the latest 14.2 release? Also, sbopkg can make things like installing vlc much easier.
Well, I am using it to learn the nuts and bolts of the system, and I don't need the absolute latest release for that. The box that I am using for this project has 3 different types of drive caddy receivers in it, which is why I call it "the lab". Currently it is formatting the drive that I have been using for 14.1, and checking it for bad blocks. It is an old 20GB Western Digital drive, so it may take all week, who knows! Anyway, I cut my teeth on the dos command line, and it seems like old times doing it here.
So, how long have you been using slack?
Paul
Currently it is formatting the drive that I have been using for 14.1, and checking it for bad blocks. It is an old 20GB Western Digital drive, so it may take all week, who knows! Anyway, I cut my teeth on the dos command line, and it seems like old times doing it here.So, how long have you been using slack?
Paul
Oh, by the way, welcome to the community!
Not familiar with sbopkg. What can you tell me about it?rawdatalab
New Member
Approximately forever, it feels like. Came over to slack after having issues with Red Hat 6(!), and never looked back. What started as a "fun" side project turned into (currently) two router firewalls, a media server, and the laptop I'm on right now. I, too, was raised on CLI (DOS 6.22, anyone?) and love playing with old hardware, so linux in general (and slack in particular) was a perfect fit.
If your hardware is that old (not that there's anything wrong with that), slackpkg and sbopkg are definitely going to be your friends. Once you get the hang of them, you'll be queuing up builds before bedtime and waking up to shiny new packages before you know it.
If your hardware is that old (not that there's anything wrong with that), slackpkg and sbopkg are definitely going to be your friends. Once you get the hang of them, you'll be queuing up builds before bedtime and waking up to shiny new packages before you know it.
rawdatalab
New Member
Thanks for the welcome! Found your post in a google search, and noticed that it was really fresh, so I thought I'd chime in.
As for sbopkg: it's a package manager that creates slackware packages. After it syncs with the SlackBuilds.Org database (sbopkg -r), simply search for the package(s) that you need. It can download the source for the install and the slackbuild instructions, create the package, and even install it for you if you wish. It also has a queue, so you can get several packages at a time. The queue can be sorted as you wish so that dependencies are satisfied.
In short, it's pretty nifty. Packages are created in the /tmp directory for later collection and archiving if you wish. ProTip: /tmp/SBo fills pretty quickly with build detritus, so you may want to clean it out every now and again.
As for sbopkg: it's a package manager that creates slackware packages. After it syncs with the SlackBuilds.Org database (sbopkg -r), simply search for the package(s) that you need. It can download the source for the install and the slackbuild instructions, create the package, and even install it for you if you wish. It also has a queue, so you can get several packages at a time. The queue can be sorted as you wish so that dependencies are satisfied.
In short, it's pretty nifty. Packages are created in the /tmp directory for later collection and archiving if you wish. ProTip: /tmp/SBo fills pretty quickly with build detritus, so you may want to clean it out every now and again.
