I am experimenting with creating a slackware package that will aid with customising and theming.

One aim of my packages are that they will only add to a default slackware install and never remove anything from a stock install.

An example,

/etc/skel/.bashrc
/etc/skel/.Xmodmap
/etc/skel/.fluxbox/[CUSTOM FLUX CONFIG FILES]
/etc/skel/.config/Thunar/uca.xml
...and so on...

These will be rolled up into a package with makepkg - but how does slackware know how to install - and more importantly, to remove when removepkg is called.

I have read
http://www.slackwiki.org/Doinst.sh
and
http://connie.slackware.com/~mozes/d...esentation.pdf


but I am still not clear what to author in ./install/doinst.sh

Any suggestions slack-forum?

*) if you install a package containing a file that already exists from another package, then that file is overridden by the new one.

*) if you remove a package containing a file that is also present in another package, then that file is not removed and removepkg prints out a message instead ("file xy is also in another package" or something like that).

*) the policy for config files is: install config files as *.conf.new, for example /etc/foo.conf.new. Then test in your doinst.sh if /etc/foo.conf exists. if it's not, move /etc/foo.conf.new to /etc/foo.conf, else leave everything as it is for the user to sort out changes in /etc/foo.conf.new

So the ./install/doinst.sh is not a requirement of a package only recommended to stop conf files from being overwritten automatically - allowing admin to choose between old and new if a conf' file is present on system and in the package.

A doinst.sh file can be used many ways. Not all packages require one, but some packages do require one because a package is sometimes more than just a bunch of files.