If I use the current mirror, am I rolling
 

I wanted to know the difference between current and 13.1, but I found this thread that explains it. However, if I choose the current mirror in my /etc/slackpkg/mirrors, am I on a rolling release version of Slackware?

Or is there no such thing as rolling release in slackware?

I come from Arch, and I actually love the rolling release concept of Arch a lot. The installation for Slack was pretty simple, given that I was used to the CLI installation and I found to be actually very similar to Arch's installation procedure.

I installed the full KDE version of Slack (first ever KDE usage among all distros I have tried until now) in VirtualBox and it seems to be running well. I just need to figure out more about Slackware and find ways to install things on it.

id say its rolling. you never have to actually reinstall/huge update your system. its definitely the closes you can get to a rolling release in slackware. but any packages you install yourself you will have to update manually. (i.e. not included in slackpkg)

I run Arch on occasion and admire it a lot. Yes. Once you're running -current you will be following the changes as they occur in the -current changelog (a rolling release if you will). As with Arch it is prudent to read the changelog and also posts on here to see if there are any gotchas as new updates are added. From my experience slackware-current is remarkably stable, but, on occasion as with Arch things may go awry.
Enjoy! Welcome to the official Slackware forum. :)

Thank you both.

I see that KDE is still at 4.4.3, whereas the latest upstream release is 4.6.2 in Arch. So its not bleeding edge as Arch, but bleeding enough. Also my first order of business is to get rid of the bloat completely. I just went with a default install of kde which installed fluxbox twm and a couple other wms. I need to get rid of all the packages I don't use since I like my systems to be lean. I also noticed that almost all the xorg video drivers were installed including voodoo savage etc etc inspite of me having only the ATI GPU. I do not understand --- why throw the whole kitchen sink in a new install?


I have always wanted to try out Slackware, but was either too busy or too lazy. I finally put it in a virtual machine and installed Slackware64. Will keep playing around with it and ask more questions on here.

You can use AlienBOB's KDE packages which is already in 4.6.2 for some time
Take your time visiting his blog http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/

It's just the way Slackware does things. It's intended to be treated as a complete system rather than a collection of bits that you pick and choose from (not that you can't pick and choose should you want to, but it's not really the recommended approach)..

One advantage of this approach is that if you clone/migrate your slackware system to another piece of hardware that has a different set of hardware, then everything will be sitting there waiting for you, no need to install a completely different set of packages. The downside is that it takes a little more space on disk, but these days disks are that big it's unlikely to be a problem.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm being a little hypocritical here by recommending one thing and doing another: I personally don't install the KDE set, but I do install everything else.

Slackware-current has KDE 4.5.5.

Eric

yeah, I installed 13.1 which had 4.4.3.

Stumbling my way through it, I installed slackpkg enabled the current mirror and then did a slackpkg upgrade-all, which was a very long process (I went to bed once it reached the k's). I should have checked the changelog, but I don't know how. Still going through the trials and tribulations.

I just installed Slack 10 mins prior to posting here for the first time.

if you're upgrading to another version (in this case -current), you should check UPGRADE.TXT and CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT.

if you want to install other stuff on it, I suggest to have a look to slackbuilds.org and the tool that automates building from their repository, sbopkg.

Slackware doesn't do dependency tracking/management for you, so unlike Gentoo/Debian/RedHat/etc it's not quite as simple to pick an choose individual apps. Slackware gives you one complete, cohesive, all-inclusive configuration. Any variation from that default is an exercise for the individual system administrator.

You can think of it this way, Slackware assumes that every user is unique, and individual users are the best qualified to decide what they do and don't need. Slackware provides the sensible, common base from which everyone can carve out the system that suits them best.

This approach also lends itself to a simplicity of design, which is how Slackware, with just a small team of core developers, can keep up with projects like Debian, Gentoo, and RedHat, who each have several dozen core developers.

Upgrading from 13.1 should work okay I've done that a few times.

# slackpkg update

# slackpkg install-new

# slackpkg upgrade-all

I would also run # slackpkg clean-system

People used to say to me (as a No0b) to check Changes en Hints and Upgrade.txt.. I didn't know where to look for or what to expect.

I herewith provide you 2 links, which are actually quite up to date as it seems, for the update/upgrade from 13.1 to 13.37. As 13.37 is now in Release-Candidate level (not as un-stable or dangerous as -current might be during the normal development-state: Its almost as good as gold)

ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slack..._AND_HINTS.TXT

ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slack...nt/UPGRADE.TXT

Agreed. 13.37 RC4+ is very stable and will soon be released as slackware-stable. It is rock-steady for me. :)

Alright. Another package manager was thrown at me in this thread -- sbopkg.

This is, i think, the 4th package manager I heard about after slackpkg, swaret, installpkg/updatepkg...(pkgtools).

are these universal? Meaning, can I choose one and use it across the board or does sbopkg only work with SlackBuild.org and slackpkg work with only the core repository packages??

slackware64-current would be equivalent to the testing repo in Arch ??

you got it: please, read at least the man pages for them, I think all your questions regarding those are answered there.

Fair enough. This thread is solved in any case. I will start new threads if I have any more questions after reading a bit more about Slack in general.

The pkgtools (installpkg, upgradepkg, removepkg, etc.) make up the official package management suite. slackpkg is a front end that is supported and included in the base install (adding on niceties like network installation). It is hard to think of an Arch equivalent but in the Debian world I guess dselect/dpkg = pkgtools and apt-get = slackpkg.

swaret is an alternative (to slackpg) front end, with no official support in Slackware (it isn't included). I'm not sure that it is all that popular these days (in fact I am not even certain if it is actively maintained). Personally, I'd give it a miss.

Sbopkg is an unofficial (and hence unsupported) front end to Slackbuilds, similar to how Yaourt (and other similar utils) provides seamless access to the AUR. It is very popular and I would certainly recommend it myself! ;)

sbopkg is the tool to use if you like stuff from the slackbuilds.org repository. Not official, but my guess is it only uses the slackbuilds.org repository and builds/installs the packages with the stock/standard pkgtools that come with slackware:

slackpkg/installpkg/updatepkg/pkgtools is the stuff that comes with slackware.

swaret is new to me to, but the dependancy-checking might interfere with the non-dependancy checking formerly mentioned. I can't really tell.

*edit* to late*

sbopkg uses slackbuilds.org by default, but it can also be pointed at a local directory or a git repository if you'd rather follow a particular branch or a private mirror.