slackpkg

Slackpkg is an automated tool to manage local packages and to install new package over a network. slackpkg is found within the 'ap' (Application) series of Slackware and will be installed by default.

Before slackpkg can be used it needs to have a current list of packages and their versions and that can be downloaded automatically by the tool itself once a mirror site is selected.

To select a mirror, just uncomment a single URL in the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors.

Then run:

darkstar~# slackpkg update gpg

The next step would be to update the package list with:

darkstar~# slackpkg update

If there hasn't been a change to the list, you will be prompted with:

No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now.
Do you really want to download all other files (y/N)?

Otherwise slackpkg will download and install the current package information and will use that list.

You have selected a mirror for Slackware -current in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors,
but Slackware version 15.0+ appears to be installed.
Slackware -current is the development (i.e. unstable) tree.
Is this really what you want?

slackpage will take into consideration any pattern from /etc/slackpkg/blacklist. For example the following patterns will make slackpkg disregard any package that was installed from SBo and from alienBob's repository:

[0-9]+_SBo
[0-9]+alien

Read this entire page before using slackpkg, especially the part about Full System Upgrades, if you are or plan to run Slackware -current.

Slackpkg uses patterns to search install and remove packages. The pattern will be searched on the list of packages and any package that matches the pattern is shown.

Searching a package will show you information about the package full name, version and installed status.

darkstar~# slackpkg search mc

Looking for mc in package list. Please wait... DONE

The list below shows all packages with name matching "mc".

[ installed ] - mcelog-1.0pre3-i486-1
[uninstalled] - pcmciautils-017-i486-1
[ installed ] - mc-4.8.1.3-i486-1
[ installed ] - libmcrypt-2.5.8-i486-1

To search a specific file and later install or remove the package that contains this file:

darkstar~# slackpkg file-search sshd

Looking for sshd in package list. Please wait... DONE

The list below shows the packages that contains "sshd" file.

[ installed ] - openssh-6.0p1-i486-2

To get information about a package slackpkg Info packagename will print the package's information to the screen.

To install a package use slackpkg install pattern. If a package was found a dialog window will present any packages that matches to the pattern and the user can un/check which packages to install.
To install everything in a branch you can type: slackpkg install branch for example slackpkg install kde will install everything under kde (but nothing from kdei).

To remove a package use slackpkg remove pattern. If a package was found a dialog window will present any packages that matches to the pattern and the user can un/check which packages to remove.

If an update is available for a certain package, it can be updated with slackpkg upgrade packagename.

This command can be used if a package became broken and needs to be re-installed.

This can be used to add a certain package to the blacklist. Blacklisted packages are being disregarded by slackpkg.

If you need to re-install the entire system or install a new PC that will have similar installed packages, a user can generate a template to be installed later.

This command is used to have all the packages in a template be installed on this PC.

Running slackpkg with this argument generates a list of packages that were introduces to the Slackware recently, for example new dependencies to a package. It is advisable to run this command before updating the system if you synchronize to slackware-current.

Running slackpkg with this argument will generate a list of all packages that can be upgraded with a new version. The user can un/check which packages to upgrade from a dialog list.

Running slackpkg with this argument will generate a list of all packages that are obsolete and can be safely removed from the system. Note that non-official packages will be listed here unless blacklisted.

During installation a new configuration file might be installed and overwrite your configurations. To prevent that the file will receive a “.new” prefix and after installation slackpkg will inform the user about the existence of these files. Running slackpkg with this argument will search for the existence of these files and will ask the user for instructions.

Running slackpkg with this argument will produce a clean printout if there are any available updates.

After the initial configuration, the easiest way to keep your system up to date is to enter these commands:

Cause slackpkg to update its knowledge of the configured Slackware release:

slackpkg update

Check the Change Log for the configured release:

slackpkg show-changelog

Generally, unless you know what you're doing you should install new packages since some of the existing packages may now depend on them.

slackpkg install-new

Upgrade to the latest packages:

slackpkg upgrade-all

Clean up:

slackpkg clean-system

To perform a full system upgrade, please follow these steps (as root user):

slackpkg update
slackpkg install-new
slackpkg upgrade-all
slackpkg clean-system

It is always recommended to read the latest ChangeLogs and UPGRADING.TXT (found on the HTTP/FTP mirrors for each version) before doing any major system upgrades.
There's a separate article dedicated to doing a full system upgrade which you should definitely read first.

• SlackPKG home page: https://slackpkg.org/