Installation of software on Slackware - is there any other way exept slackbuilds?
 

Hello everyone ;)

As mentioned in topic - is there any other way exept slackbuilds? I'm not asking about command for it - installpkg - i know that one. My question is related to software being installed without compiling from source and than install it. Is there a site with software for Slackware with packages that can be installed right a way?


I love Slackware, but in fact there is one thing that pisses me of - installation of software. I give an example:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...thning-920341/

i downloaded sources, scripts and im compiling it right now. I've got rather fast machine (X4 955, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 7 HDD and GTX260) but on my machine it's compiling more than an 30 minutes, maybe even longer. I'm tired of thins kind of making packages in order to install something - also, dependancy hell can piss me more.

Is there any other way? I use rather a lot of sofware and if i would have to format disk, install Slackware from DVD and install all of the software (office software, multimedia software - audio,video, codecks, software for decoding/editing/recording and so on) it would take me an ages - that's the main reason why i'm sticking with Slackware build on my previous machine only for work (also AMD but with X4 620 and DDR3 instead of X4 955 and DDR2).

I sometimes use Ubuntu, and thing with application software center, or even with installation trough terminal with dependancies being installed right away is something fantastic. Slackware is rather poor with it, we have to remember about them and always compile it with slackbuilds from source, and it takes much time, sometimes very much time. Sometimes we even have errors because we don't have dependancies - even when in fact we have - and our work is a waste of great amount of time (in this case i couldn't install Thunderbird 9 from scripts given above)

Thank you very much.

Easy solution: if you don't like Slackware, don't use it. Why should Slackware change to suit you, when you have so many alternatives? Most (all?) Slackers are happy with the way it is.

@firekage The project leads and the community have developed this configuration arrangement over the 15+ years of Slackware history. The long term users of the distro are comfortable with how it is and are happy with the results. However, it is likely that the system will change over time. Indeed- Slackbuilds didn't exist 4-5 years ago and the sbopkg build tool is even newer. But I would not expect change to be quick or to be something that you will like.

Slackware is not for everyone. If you find this a frustration then there are likely better distributions for your needs.

"Dependency hell" is something that novice Slackers worry about. A full install of Slackware always works out of the box with all dependencies met. Dependency issues in Slackware are well documented if you care to take the time to read about it.
Dependency resolving package managers are highly overrated in my opinion, that is, they are a fine thing when they work. I much prefer the Slackware way; I resolve my dependencies and have complete control over what happens with my system. The lack of dependency resolution in Slackware is a strength not a deficit. Perhaps Slackware is not for you.

1. SlackBuild is only a script which makes pkgtool(Slackware's package manager) complaint package. Any SlackBuild can use whatever it wants as source: source which should be compiled into binaries, or ready-made binaries(.rpm, .deb or other). You always can change your SlackBuild to use binaries(see how it made in LibreOffice SlackBuild - a bunch of rpm-s are unpacket to fake root, tossed a little, and packed into t?z-package). But it is rather no recommended, because of trust of binary sources.
2. Whenever You built any package from sources, using this or that SlackBuild, You can(or in Your case You must) to copy ready t?z-package to some persistent storage(flash, CD, Internet), so when Your system goes down, You will be able to recover Your package within counted seconds.

As the link Petri Kaukasoina posted said, there are pre-built package for Slackware available.

I look first at Alien Bob's repositories,

http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/

http://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/pe...d_slackbuilds/

http://alien.slackbook.org/ktown/

http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...kware:multilib


Salix packages work with Slackware. I usually use their Opera package and have had no problems. Their Flash package also works very well.

http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/Home


I'm currently using the VectorLinux Xfce 4.8 package and it has been running perfectly and all the problems I've had with the previous builds of 4.8 have disappeared. I have not tried any of their other packages.

http://vectorlinux.com/


On rare occasion, when I can't find what I want anywhere else I use Slacky - The Italian Slackware Community,

http://www.slacky.eu/


And there is the packages built by Mr. Workman,

http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/

http://connie.slackware.com/~rworkman/xfce-4.8/


It is that kind of "aren't we special" attitude as we see in two of the earlier replies that drive new Linux users away from Slackware and to other distributions if not back to mickeysoft windows. Not everyone has the time or interest in learning to build packages from scripts (as simple as it may be to some people).

Quite simple...i'm using it because i like it, because it gives me more knowledge about linux than other systems. Also, because it is not so much dependant on installing something from terminal trough www (or rather internet) like "sudo firefox-install' etc, because something like this won't be a thing that would bring people to better understanding of linux and so on. It's something like windows - click, install.

The OP was directly criticizing the bedrock structure of Slackware, so I responded. Dependency resolution is not something that will ever be in Slackware (with good reason).
The links above that you mentioned to rworkman and Alien Bob are helpful to new users. I am glad that you have been able to mix and match and drop in packages from Slackware derivative operating systems. However, that is not something that I would recommend.

No, they aren't. I'm using it for a long time and that doesen't change the fact that it can be tiring. There wouldn't be any problems if the dependancies would be added to scripts.

Well, i can say about this in comparision to cars. Do you prefer cars with driving wheel support (i don't know if this is the right word for it) or without? With this is just easier to drive on a parking lot and so on. I don't thing that going forward, looking in the future and good features from other distros is wrong.


BTW - have you tried Arch Linux? Across the net i saw many times software, or rather packages for it, but many sites that have linux stuff don't see that there is also Slackware. That's why i look for something like different approach to installing software.

And if you like everything about Slackware except the package management system, then the most obvious "alternative" to try is Salix.

Thunderbird 9 is not part of any released version of Ubuntu. If you were using Ubuntu, you would have had to get it from an unofficial repository and then adjust your pin settings. Even when managed right, this comes at a cost of decreased system stability (especially during upgrades) because a) the dependency graphs don't know about the unofficial package and b) there's a risk of the unofficial and official repositories being out of sync.

It's less difficult to upgrade a Slackware package than to upgrade part of any other distribution. This is actually one of the main reasons I use Slackware.

The resulting OS would not be Slackware.

Thank you, i will look into this.

Tahk you very much. Alien scripts i know well, other like italian too but i don't know the language and it's hard to look for me into this site. Other, that You posted will be checked ;)


BTW - You have right, that kind of answer, or rather attitude toward people that would like to try something with different appropach, would like to try and look for something more, and towards people that would like to learn something new could drive them away...I won't return to using windows, i don't even consider it but it's quite true that not everyone has the time to build packages, write scripts or compiling trough many hours. In fact, if my Slackware went down right away and i would have to install it frome "zero" than maybe after a week, or more, i would have system that has everything that i use - i couldn't spend a week in order to compile from scripts because of work, and on weekeend there wouldn't be much time for it cause process of doing packages is rather slow - i have fast machine. I would like to learn writing scripts, compiling from source but i would need a helping hand for it. In fact, when there isn't what i look on Alien site or Slackbuilds.org, than i don't have needed software - on Ubu, etc, i would have it right away with use of few commands.

I would try to look into this but i heard that Salix is distribution that is not supported any longer.