installing select packages from package groups
 

Is it possible to install select packages from package groups, such as kde? I want to install certain packages within say kdenetworking (pidgin) or kdegraphics (kpdf), etc, without having the entire collection installed. I have not been able to find a true answer to this question. I appreciate your help.

Yes, you can! You just need to make sure you also install whatever dependancies the package needs, this usually will include some KDE libraries. Hope this helps.

yes that does help tuxsurfer. thank you for your response. now i'm just curious as to how i would accomplish this. i realize i could install from source, but i was hoping slackware might provide some sort of method for installing a package from within the group (ex: installpkg kdegraphics\kpdf) or something to that effect. thanks.

Many Slackware packages include several applications.

For instance kdenetwork includes kdict, kdnssd, kget, knewsticker, kopet etc.

My advice would be to edit the SlackBuild available e.g. in the /source/kde directory of the DVD and the mirrors, first looking at the source files available in /source/kde/src directory to see what you will need to change in the configure options and/or in the source tree.

Then you could make yourself a new package, if needed 'removepkg' the stock package then 'installpkg' yours.

I do not see what this could be useful to, though, but if you are really missing space in your hard disk ;)

personally, i just feel that all the packages provided in the default kde installs bring too much clutter. i do not need 3 different options for instant message applications, web browsers, etc. for now i just removed the links from the menu of the apps i do not make use of.

I didn't even have to do that as I use fluxbox. I only include in ~/.fluxbox/menu what I need -- and barely use it, as I prefer to launch applications with a keyboard shortcut anyway :cool:

I do not know a whole lot about Slack but I think its a pretty advanced distro and a lot of programs are compiled from source (if I am wrong, please correct me). It may be easier to use a distro with a package manager. I use Debian which has a very large repository of software and a couple of different package managers. On command line I can simply do "apt-get packagename" and dependancies will automatically be resolved. Don't get me wrong, Slackware is an excellent distro, especially if you are willing to put in the time and effort to learn how to compile programs from source. Maybe one of the many Slack gurus here can give you better information. Sorry I couldn't be any more help.

It would appear that you are confusing Slackware with Gentoo.
Slackware uses packages to install software easy and fast, and uses a package management suite for that (the pkgtools). No need for debian at all here. No need to compile a lot from source either, and if you find a program that does not come as a package, you will often find the SlackBuild script at http://slackbuilds.org .

Eric

Yup, wasn't sure, never played with Slack. Thanks for the correction.

TuxSurfer... i appreciate your posts. I am more than comfortable with Slackware, I was just looking for a way to "clean up" my install by getting rid of packages i do not need. Compiling software from source, and/or using package managers (pkgtool,pacman,apt-get,yum,etc.) are not new things to me. I'm just a little surprised there isn't a way to install select packages that belong to a package group. I know that with Arch I can say I do not wish to install the group and it will let me run through the package and select the desired packages i do wish to install. oh well, all is not lost. thanks again.

You can do that with Slackware 122 too. During the installation process, at a point of time you are presented with all the packages series (e.g. KDE is a package series) and you choose which ones you want to install.

On next screen you can choose, among several installation modes, 'menu'. If you choose this mode you will be presented a different screen for each package series in which you can select or deselect each package individually.

So at second thought I do not see what is your point here :scratch:

Didier Spaier, to be perfectly honest i forgot about that option during install. seeing as the system was already installed though, this doesnt do any good. i could obviously re-install, but i've already moved on. thanks for everyones help. your knowledge and tips are always welcome with me.