[TUTORIAL] How to install new apps and tools with slackpkg

[ph0ram]

Welcome all,
Today I want to introduce to you all a somewhat new package manager that is simpler to use than the standard slackware package manager, pkgtool. If you have been tired of having to go on various quest for packaged tools or applications on the Internet that you then have to to decompress and run 'make' & 'make install', well this tool will cut your job of finding tools and applications for your BT2 or BT3 system in half by just simply using the command, 'slackpkg search fileaname' which I will go over with you today as well. I'm also going to show you how versatile and powerful this tool is as well. Without further or due, let's get started by first installing this very handy tool.

First, go to hxxp://sourceforge.net/projects/slackpkg/ and download the latest release of slackpkg. Once you have downloaded slackpkg, open a shell prompt and 'cd' to the directory where you saved the slackpkg file. At the time that I am writing this tutorial I am using the latest release of slackpkg which has the filename, 'slackpkg-2.61-noarch-2.tgz,' on the hosted sourceforge website. Now that you have this file, at your shell prompt type in the command, 'installpkg slackpkg-2.61-noarch-2.tgz' and that is it for installing slackpkg! Isn't that amazing ! No need for make nor make install. Now we just need to configure the file in /etc/slackpkg/ called 'mirrors' and slackpkg will automatically connect, search, update, and upgrade from the mirror(s) you specify in the 'mirrors' file in '/etc/slackpkg/' which can only be http or ftp mirrors at the time I am writing this tutorial. Ok so now we have our new package manager installed which DOES NOT overwrite, nor modify our standard slackware package manager, pkgtool. Let's test out this bad boy and see what it can do.

Here are the list of commands that will come in handy which came directly from the developer's site:

search

You can search in official Slackware packages for any *FILE* in the Slackware distribution. Do you need a strange library? Use search to find it.

* # slackpkg search filename

All packages that contain the "filename" file will be shown with status showing whether the packages are installed or not, and if not, you can download and install them with other slackpkg commands.
install

The instalation of a package is very easy. You only need to type:

* # slackpkg install package

and the package will be downloaded and installed. Instead of "package", you can use a pattern to download and install all packages that match the pattern. Before download and install, slackpkg will show a list of the packages to you and ask if you really want to install those packages.
As an example:

* # slackpkg install n/dhcp

will download and install dhcp and dhcpcd. You can't install an already installed package; for this, you need to upgrade the package.
upgrade

Upgrade works in the same way as install. The only difference is that upgrade can re-install already installed packages and/or upgrade installed packages with a new version of them.

Upgrade can't install new packages; you need to install the package first and then do an upgrade (or you can install the upgraded package to start with and save time).
reinstall

In case you mistakenly corrupt something, the reinstall option is provided.
remove

With remove, you can remove certain installed packages. As an example:

* # slackpkg remove kde

will remove all packages with "kde" in their name.
blacklist

With this command, you can "blacklist" certain packages. Packages blacklisted can't be installed, upgraded, or removed using the slackpkg utility. If you want to remove some package from the blacklist, you will need to edit /etc/slackpkg/blacklist.
download

Tells slackpkg to download the packages, but not to install them. They will be in /var/cache/packages, and you can install/upgrade/reinstall them later (or burn them to CD).
info

Print information about the package(s): compressed and uncompressed size, description, etc...
clean-system

Remove all the packages that don't belong to a standard Slackware installation (packages that are not in the official package set). With this option, you can clean up your system, removing third-party packages as well as those packages that were removed from the official Slackware package set.
If you have some third party packages that you would like to keep, you can temporarily add them to the list of blacklisted packages before you run the "clean-system" command.
upgrade-all

Keep your packages synced with the slackware tree. This is the "good" way to upgrade the whole system. Remember use install-new before run upgrade-all.
install-new

Install packages that were added to Slackware distribution. Run this if you are upgrading your system to another Slackware version or if you are using Slackware -current.

And as always, if you need further assistance you can check out the man page of this tool using the command, 'man slackpkg' like the author suggested .

With this tool you can update your BT2 o BT3 system. Especially with the BT3 current state of the package manager that obviously is having some technical issues right now, 'slapt-get' -_-. You cannot update your BT3 with this tool due to a technical issue that is beyond the scope of this tutorial. But , luckily we finally have a tool that works! And, what's even better, works 100%! lol I hope that you have gained something from this tutorial and that you all will check out this wonderful package manager.

ph0ram

[elninio]

With this tool you can update your BT2 o BT3 system.

You cannot update your BT3 with this tool due to a technical issue that is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

It removed my kernel when I did a full update.