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

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

Thanks in advance

tech

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

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

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

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.

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?

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 :)