Making Slackware 13.1 packages
 

Hello

http://altctrlbackspace.blogspot.com...om-source.html

I have followed this guide and have made some packages on a system running Slack 12.2 - Everything is fine.

But it's not working on Slack 13.1

I get no error messages. But when i try to install the finished package with pkgtool it takes about 2 seconds to finish and nothing is installed.

I know that the method from the guide works, at least on 12.2 - Why does this not work on 13.1 ?

Correction:

It seems to work for some packages.

I have made a Python 2.7.2 package, nothing wrong with it, works fine.

But it doesn't seem to work with Apache httpd 2.2.19 both on Slack 12.2 and 13.1

Why ?

Update:

Following this guide also result in a uninstallable httpd package

http://slackwiki.org/Building_A_Package

Again, no error messages during the build process or install

Without more information it is going to be pretty difficult for anyone to help you troubleshoot. "It doesn't work" is not a very complete error report. What are the contents of these packages you are creating? Slackware packages are compressed tar files, so looking at the contents is easy enough to do. How are you verifying nothing is being installed? Also, some software requires special handling. Simple online instructions for creating a package may not work in all cases.

Is there some reason you aren't using the httpd-2.2.19 package that is already part of Slackware 13.1? If you want to customize the build in some way you could download the source directory for httpd from your favorite Slackware mirror, change the configuration options, and rebuild.

Mike is right, you really shouldn't replace stock slackware packages unless you've got a good reason. If you do, just modify the slackbuilds from the slackware official mirrors.

Additionally, the steps mentioned in that tutorial will not work for all packages. You should always read the installation instructions of a particular package.

The Apache httpd package supplied with 13.1 is 2.2.15

I can't post the content of the package here because it exceeds the limit of 30000 chars.

But it seems to be okay.

2.2.19 can be found in 13.1 patches directory:
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/f...ches/packages/

That is what initially shipped with Slackware 13.1 when it was released. It has since been upgraded to 2.2.19. Look in the patches/ directory of your favorite Slackware mirror for either the binary package or the source.

If you aren't already, you may want to subscribe to the slackware-security mailing list so that you are made aware of these security updates, including the download URL to update itself. If you're still running Apache httpd 2.2.15 on a Slackware 13.1 machine, you missed out on four security notifications and updates.

Ahh! okay. Thanks a lot

But i really still want to learn how to make packages for slackware.

You might want to have a look at the slackbuilds writing tutorial. That's a recommended way of creating slackware packages.
http://www.slackwiki.org/Writing_A_SlackBuild_Script

Have fun.

edit: also have a look at the structure of other slackbuilds on www.slackbuilds.org. It'll give you a better idea of slackbuilds.

In the cases of Apache and Python, the sources for building the packages are available on any Slackware mirror. You just download the slackware(64)-$VERSION/source/whatever directory. In that directory, you'll find a file whose extension is .SlackBuild. Run that .SlackBuild, and the package will be built. If you want to change things, then just edit the SlackBuild file.

Great. I will do that.

Thanks

Looking at the link you supplied it recommends changing to the build directory pkg and running makepkg pkgname which worked in Slackware-12.2 but will not work in Slackware-13.1 giving you "ERROR: Can't make output package in current directory.". I'm not sure why you are not seeing this error reported from makepkg.

You now have to build a package outside of the directory you are building a package in - which make sense. So makepkg ../pkgname will work but not makepkg pkgname whilst in the pkg directory in which you have built the package.

Credit for wanting to build then install packages rather than the simple configure,make,make install source building as package management makes your system far more maintainable and robust.

As others have suggested I highly recommend looking at Slackbuild scripts, after all Slackware itself was built this way, and figuring out how they work. The source directory on the Slackware repos have Slackbuild scripts showing how the components of the distro were built - very educational.

Thanks.

Thats excactly why i want to know how to make packages.