why run slapt-get update before slapt-get install?

[technossomy]

Slapt-get --available or slapt-get --installed will not work unless slapt-get --update has run first. Why is this?

Thanks in advance

tech

[Dapper Dan]

I don't know why that would be. Both work for me without having to first run slapt-get --update.

[neehnahw]

Do you have to run it everytime you do so? In my experience, I only had to run it once after a fresh install.

[technossomy]

neehnahw, my unfamiliarity with Slackware demands that I reinstall it every 2 days, so your observation may well be correct. Regardless, I have just updated Qt with it, but the error message tells me that I should have run qmake to install it. On a more general note, where are these packages installed and how does one use them from the terminal?

Thank in advance

tech

[alexpmcmurphy]

what i think is going on is that --update updates a file that has a list of all the packages and versions on the servers. if you dont run update it cant tell that newer version of a package are on the server to download so it wont update that file. from what i understand it checks your system (whats installed) against its list (whats on the server) to find newer packages to download. but thats just how i understand it. i could be entirely wrong its happend before. as for where they are stored you should be able to find that out by going throught the config file.

[technossomy]

Sorry for asking, but what is the config file and do I use just locate to find it? I suppose this works for the root only?

[multios]

The file is slapt-getrc and is located in the /etc/slapt-get directory.
There, you can edit what directory you want files saved in, what version you want to use (10.2, current, etc), what to not upgrade, etc.
HTH