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Noobie Slackware Questions

I've recently put Slackware on my 500mhz machine just to see what all the hype was about.

First off, I'm not too familiar with the BSD style system initilization files but it seems pretty straight forward. As I understand it, anything in /etc/rc.d with execute permissions is automagically started at boot. After the install I ran a portscan to see what services where listening. Much to my dismay things like finger and talk were running. I didn't find any rc.finger or rc.talk in /etc/rc.d but I did manage to find them in /etc/inetd.conf. I was able to comment out those lines and restart rc.inetd which worked. Now I still have some services running that I'm not too sure about. In the /etc/inetd.conf their is a section that says this:

Code:

#Ident service is used for net authentication

#Since we start identd as nobody, it can't write a .pid file in /var/run, so tell it

#to use /dev/null.  This is of little importance unless you run identd as a 

#standalone daemon anyway.

auth      stream    tcp    wait  nobody  /usr/sbin/in.identd  in.identd -P/dev/null

So I'm not quiet sure if I need this service running at all.

Also while running a port scan I find this service:

Code:

587/tcp open submission

I'm unable to find where this service is started from and again I'm not sure if I need it running at all.

Secondly, I was wondering about package management. In redhat I would do:

Code:

rpm -qa | grep <packagename>

and Gentoo its:

Code:

qpkg -I | grep <packagename>

I've read about the pkgtool command but that seems a little robust just to query what packages I have installed. I have noticed the /var/log/packages directory. Is this the easiest way to query installed packages?

Now I'm not very sure about the installpkg command either. This command only works on slackpacks correct?

I'm also missing a few key command for X such as xset. On slackware.com I read this:

Quote:

The second way to configure X is to use XF86Setup, a graphical configuration program that comes as part of the xset.tgz package. You'll also need to install the xvg16.tgz package.

xset.tgz and xvg16.tgz do not exist on either of my Slackware 9.1 cds. Is this documentation outdated? I tryied using swaret for this like so:

Code:

swaret --search xset

but I get nothing.

I know that their are a lot of questions in here but I figured instead of reading over tons of docs at slackware.com(which I've found to be outdated) I'd come right to the source where all you slackers live.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. This will most likely not be my last Slackware question thread...so many questions

Quote:

So I'm not quiet sure if I need this service running at all.

If you're not sure what identd is then u don't need it.

Quote:

Also while running a port scan I find this service:

code:
587/tcp open submission

I'm unable to find where this service is started from and again I'm not sure if I need it running at all.

do a "netstat -tulanp" and see what process is running on that port.

Quote:

econdly, I was wondering about package management. In redhat I would do:

code:
rpm -qa | grep <packagename>

and Gentoo its:

code:
qpkg -I | grep <packagename>

You just need to do "ls /var/log/packages" to view all installed packages.

Quote:

Now I'm not very sure about the installpkg command either. This command only works on slackpacks correct?

Yea it only works with Slackpacks, here's a good place to get them: http://www.linuxpackages.net

Quote:

I'm also missing a few key command for X such as xset. On slackware.com I read this:

quote:
The second way to configure X is to use XF86Setup, a graphical configuration program that comes as part of the xset.tgz package. You'll also need to install the xvg16.tgz package.

yea its probably outdated, just use xf86config/xf86cfg
X is simple to configure anyway

Okay thanks for your response. The reason I asked about xset was because my mouse speed is very slow. I am used to just doing something like:

xset m 4 5

yet their does not seem to be an xset for slackware. How do you change your mouse speed?

Quote:

yet their does not seem to be an xset for slackware. How do you change your mouse speed?

xset is part of Slacks XFree-base package, if it's
not present you must have manually deleted it :)

XF86Setup doesn't seem to be part of XFree anymore.
However, there's xf86cfg if it HAS to be graphical.

Cheers,
Tink