keeping slackware uptodate/ package management

[portia]

Hi,
I'm new to slackware 12.2 and am slightly confused with its package management.

As far as I know there are 2 sources of packages.
1. The repository from the official slackware website
2. Alien bob's slackbuilds


I've got a few questions. Is it ok to mix packages from both sources?
How to best keep everything up to date. Is sbo_pkg enough for package management?
Sbo_pkg draws on sources from the official slack website, am I right? So what about keeping
slackbuilds up to date?



thanks for your replies

[Freston]

You'll find a lot of your questions about package management answered in chapter 18 of the Slackbook.

Apart from the official Slackware site and Aliens slackbuild scripts (excellent resource although not officially official), there are Slacky.eu and LinuxPackages.net to get your Slackware packages.

As you see, Slackware does not come with an officially supported repo. It is possible though to install slapt-get and possibly gslapt so to have that kind of apt-get functionality in Slackware, because the repo's do exist just outside the official distro.

I've got a few questions. Is it ok to mix packages from both sources?

Yeah, very probably.

How to best keep everything up to date. Is sbo_pkg enough for package management?
Sbo_pkg draws on sources from the official slack website, am I right? So what about keeping
slackbuilds up to date?

Never heard of sbo_pkg?? I believe your word, but I dunno. There is upgradepkg that people use, but I find it most convenient to follow the mailing lists and adjust the system manually.

[portia]

Thanks for your reply. I'm alright updating the system manually. I was actually more concerned with the question whether it's not discouraged to mix the soureces (btw. thanks for the websites with slack packages), but I guess it's different from fedora/debian where certain repositories should not go together.

It's slightly off-topic, but one more question: how can I use any of the above mentioned sources of packages with slamd64?

thank you

[dijetlo]

Slamd64 has 32bit libraries so the packages from any of the archives mentioned should compile and run without a problem.
The operative word is should.
Slackpkg can be configured to automatically download and install packages from a repository, it makes keeping your "current" current a no brainer.

[portia]

Thanks, what if I wanted to stay 64bit only, how could I install packages?

[dijetlo]

Installing only slamd and slackware packages ported to 64 bit, but your not going to have as many options.

[portia]

I do apologise for silly questions but when you say 'slackware packages ported to 64 bit' do you mean that I can get 64bit versions from somewhere or I need to port them? If it's me, how can I port to 64bit a .tgz package that I download from the slackware website?

thanks for your patience.

[dijetlo]

Some apps are ported for you, there is a 64 bit version of firefox for example
Some apps are not, like firefoxes flash player plug in. Slamd has a complete collection of 32bit libraries so it will run 32 bit apps (probably) do you want to spend the time porting packages over to 64 bit? It't not impossible to do it, it would just consume a lot of time and the kind folks at slamd went to a lot of trouble to give you another path.
The slackware packages on the slamd mirror seem to be the current 32 bit distro, right next to them are the slamd packages which are natively 64 bit. Try them both, you can always back the unwanted packages out with slackpkg.

[portia]

Ok, I see - thanks for your reply

[maleq]

Portia:

a point of reminder re Slack 122:

the beauty of Slack lies on its choice of software thanks to Patrick V.
i noticed that slack 12.2 does not "auto accomodate" at some .tgz software, not because of any bug but because some software/apps are distro dependent ---say, having dependencies on libraries only gnome offers but are not bundled under slack 12.2 anymore: the result is, installpkg, pkgtool or even kde package manager can indeed install with return -0 but later you wonder why the app does not run when activated.

the crux is this: outside your dvd, packages have no guaranty to run on your slack 12.2 until you manually resolve missing or misplaced dependencies.

may this help.

maleq