Slackware Package Management

This thread is to help people who use Slackware Linux, and need a hand with Packages.

I'm going to give links and help out a bit, so if you use Slackware and wondered whre you could get package managers that you can use for it, this is for you!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://emerde.freaknet.org/

If you're used to Gentoo Linux or BSD, this is probably what you're looking for. It's Emerge for Slackware. It also can support other distros, instructions are on the web site.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://swaret.sourceforge.net/

Swaret is pretty well known and it's something I use on my boxes here. It works good and allows you to update, install, and generally have a package manager on Slackware Linux.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://software.jaos.org/#slapt-get

If you're used to Debian Linux, this is probably what you're looking for. It's similar to Apt-Get, and works good on Slackware.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://slackpkg.sourceforge.net/

Slackpkg is another package manager for Slackware that is easy to install and use.

From their page -

Slackpkg is a tool for installing or upgrading packages through network. You can make a minimal installation of Slackware Linux and after that install additional stuff from a Slackware mirror.

You don't need to setup NFS, or make dozens of CDs for all your computers. Just type "slackpkg" and all packages in the Official Slackware Linux will be in your hands.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://sourceforge.net/projects/stratdate/

From the Page -

Stratdate is a third party update tool for Slackware that is based off of phrag's slackmon script. It is written to both maintain a Slackware -current mirror and to safely upgrade to it. This software will work with all internet connections that can perf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Source for extra Slackware Packages -

http://linuxpackages.net/




Official Slackware Linux Home Page -

http://www.slackware.com/




Official ZIPSlack Page -

http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/




Online Slackware Book -

http://www.slackbook.org/




Mirrors -

http://www.abnormalpenguin.com/slackware-mirrors.php



GNOME -


Freerock Gnome -

http://gsb.freerock.org/



GWARE -

http://www.gware.org/


dropline GNOME -

http://www.droplinegnome.net/




AudioSlack -

http://audioslack.com/



Slackware Linux Basics -

http://www.slackbasics.org/



Slack Addict v2.0 -

http://www.slackaddict.com/news.php




The Slack World -

http://slackworld.berlios.de/




Slackware Handbook -

http://www.slackersbible.org/




The Slack Wiki -

http://slackwiki.org/Main_Page

I just want to point something out - SWareT isn't a package manager in the Debian sense of the word. You can't use it to install apps such as nmap, K3b, hping2 or whatnot. Rather, it manages the core packages (eg. KDE), and it allows you to update them and install them.

An example of its usage is how I do - install Slackware without KDE but with X, use Links to go to SWareT's homepage, and download it. After installing it, I then use it to download the latest version of KDE - it works wonders, and saves a lot of hassle later on! ;)

That's just an example - my point is that you can't use SWareT to download packages like desktop apps, as you can with apt-get. I'm not sure about the other package managers - they may be different, but I have never tried them..

I, quite naturally, use http://linuxpackages.net/ for all my package needs as well. For anyone new to Slackware out there, download the package you want from there (for your version of Slackware), and then install it using 'installpkg packagename.tgz'. Do NOT try doing what I did and untar the archive! :D

Cheers,

-jk

I linked to Linux Packages already.

And you could hve still installed that package after untarring it. .deb packages are nothing but AR archives. Slackware TGZ are just tarballs with one little difference.

And for Swaret.... So what you're saying is that installing packages, updating them, removing them.... That isn't package management? Hmmm... Regaurdless of what packages you can install, it doesn't make it any less. Debian can install stuff differently... OK, Debian isn't Slackware.


Found it:

Using only tar, making sure to run the doinst.sh script, if one was included in the package. In case you ever untar another tgz again.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system

And here you'll see, technically, Swaret is a Package manager ;)

Wanted to add this:

http://www.slack-kickstart.org/


Looks sort of neat. Might be useful for someone.

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by gore
I linked to Linux Packages already.

---

I know you did - I was merely pointing out that it was a good site to get Slack packages from.

Quote:

---

And for Swaret.... So what you're saying is that installing packages, updating them, removing them.... That isn't package management? Hmmm... Regaurdless of what packages you can install, it doesn't make it any less. Debian can install stuff differently... OK, Debian isn't Slackware.

---

Gore, that isn't what I said - please don't twist my words. Read it again: "SWareT isn't a package manager in the Debian sense of the word."

What I meant is quite clear - you wouldn't use SWareT to download nmap, or K3b, or GnomeBaker, or JuK, or whatever else you fancy. However, you WOULD use apt-get for this on Debian. My point is that SWareT != apt-get.

Quote:

---

Using only tar, making sure to run the doinst.sh script, if one was included in the package. In case you ever untar another tgz again.

---

I wouldn't have found out about the installpkg command if the doinst.sh script had worked. ;)

Lol, well, we all learn differently. Not many people here know this, but I got good at OS installs not because I read up on it.... But because I majorly SCREWED a FreeBSD install once. It was the first or second time I tried installing it, and the box already had Windows 98SE, and Mandrake Linux on it.

I was going for a Tri-Boot box.... Good idea for someone who'd only had a computer for 2 years huh? Heh.

Needless to say I didn't read any docs, and completly messed up the MBR, and Windows would no longer boot.

To make matters more funny for everyone else. I HAD JUST DELETED ALL BACK UPS. Why? Because I thought to myself " I'll finish the install, then back up everything again so I have some new ones"..... Yea... Lol.

I lost everything. And not only that I couldn't boot into anything. Oh and did I mention FreeBSD didn't install right so I couldn't boot that either? Lol.

I sat there for two days and finally I figured out the way. I couldn't get the Windows CDs to boot, they were restore disks, meaning no way to really make them useful without making a fat partition. So I ended up finally using a Linux CD, and a Windows 98SE boot disk.

I had to learn how to partition with fdisk that night ;) And now, I think back on that laughing at myself. Like damn how stupid could I be. I now have good back ups. I make CDs of Data with the things I need on them, I have like 10 ZIP disks, and I have my FTP services running so if that ever happens again I'll be up and running with minimal effort.

And I know you didn't say it exactly like that. Or at least now I do. I went to bed around 8 AM, got up at 11 AM and couldn't even barely read what you said. Debian has their Apt-Get system, however one thing I want to point out before someone says I'm the bad guy here:

Debian has A LOT of software on the CDs. So in theory, it does work the same as Swaret, because swaret --install something works as does apt-get install.

The thin I am not sure about, is, Debian has the ability as you said, but would it be able to if ... Man how to word this... Ummm, ahh, OK, say Debian turned into Slackware. Instead of 7 CDs and the 15,000,000 Packages it has, what if it only had two CDs worth like Slackware? And that's new versions.

Slackware 3.6 - 9.1 were all 1 CD installs.

And, heh, don't take this wrong, I'm only pointing it out:

swaret --install nmap

That just worked for me on 10.2 =)

Anyway, I'm going to finish something up here, feel free to keep replying. The more discussion in here, the more useful this becomes. I've been thinking about doing a Slackware help thread for two years now. Not sure why I didn't before, maybe I wasn't sure what to put, so I'll just start stuff and make people reply, and then when someone starts using Slackware they can see this, and go well hey, they talked about all kinds of stuff in there and look at the links.

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by gore
The thin I am not sure about, is, Debian has the ability as you said, but would it be able to if ... Man how to word this... Ummm, ahh, OK, say Debian turned into Slackware. Instead of 7 CDs and the 15,000,000 Packages it has, what if it only had two CDs worth like Slackware? And that's new versions.

---

I'm not sure I follow you.. I was talking about package managers (SWareT and apt-get) and the differences between them - the packages installed after a default install is an entirely different matter ;)

Quote:

---

swaret --install nmap

That just worked for me on 10.2 =)

---

nmap was only an example - and I'm glad it worked. But, I'm also sure that Debian's apt-get has far more packages in its repositories than any of the Slackware package managers have.. ;)

What I meant was, Debian is different. The CDs are full of stuff, or you can use the NetInstall and download them all. As in, would Slackware have the same ability as Debian, if there were more packages avilable?

And technically you could add a repository to Slackware's tools allowing you to install packages that aren't usually there. SUSE does this too, you can add FTP and HTTP servers to YAST2 and then use it to download and install more packages than on the CDs and DVDs.

I should probably get my Debian box going again, though I don't really have the space right now.

OK, just an update:

I now have Emerge working on Slackware 10.2 on my laptop. However I use the 2.4 Kernel so I had to play with it a little bit. for people not using 2.6, you'll have to do this to use it:

Use the links I provided to get to the web site and install the .sh

Then after you've finished up, do this:

emerge -n '>=sys-apps/portage-2.0.51'

cd /etc

rm make.profile

ln -s ../usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/no-ntpl/2.4 make.profile

After this is done finally, it works fine.

swaret tends to break a lot of stuff :-/