Slackware post install and security notices

slacknoff · 04-14-2015, 01:14 AM

I currently have Salix on my old P4 box ... I tried Slackware 14.1 and had video issues with X. Primarily the mouse point was blocked and tracked across screen...and since at the time I needed to have the box reconfigured immediately, I installed Salix so I could have Slackware " under the hood" .

Anyway, my question is , after installing Slackware 14.1 will I need to install each appropriate security advisory individually from the Nov 2013 release date?

I installed replaced Chromium 38.x with 41.x in Salix with installpkg successfully after Gmail reported it no longer supported that version of "Chrome". But I found only version 38.x in Synaptic and Sourcery had version 31.x ....so, that got me thinking about a little Slackware philosophy--K.I.S.S.-- I located Chromium 41.x and painlessly installed it.

I've mainly used Crunchbang on my laptop until it died. Then I got an old Dell Latitude D620 and #!'ed it until Crunchbang died. Then I found Antix linux which is also Debian based.....But Debian is releasing a new stable version soon with Systemd I think. ....So I probably will be redoing the laptop soon and install Slackware 14.1 on it t osee how it does.

I'd like to get away from Debian and Deb derivatives.

Thanks for enduring my first post here.

tronayne · 04-14-2015, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slacknoff

Anyway,my question is , after installing Slackware 14.1 will I need to install each appropriate security advisory individually from the Nov 2013 release date?

No.

Go to http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/, scan down the list for the 32- or 64-bit release you're using, click that, click patches, click packages; e.g.,
http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/...ches/packages/ for 14.1 64-bit.

Do not use the "current" directory.

All the patches are the stable versions (some have been updated more than once).

You can download those by whatever means you like; e.g., wget ftp://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/s...hes/packages/* (don't get 64-bit for a 32-bit platform, though), and then

Code:

upgradepkg *.t?z

Ought to do it.

Hope this helps some.

bassmadrigal · 04-14-2015, 09:10 AM

If I understand your question, there is no need to update any patches incrementally. Each package listed in patches/ is the latest version and replaces any previous versions of that program, but you will need to install all those patches to have the most up-to-date 14.1 system.

I prefer tronayne's way due to my current setup, however, you can also look at slackpkg to update all your packages with the latest patches (it's great if you don't replace official packages). It is an official Slackware package and is installed with a full Slackware install. Just make sure you uncomment a server for your slackware version in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors

http://www.slackpkg.org/documentation.html

Also, if you want to make sure you're running the latest version of Chrome, you can use forum member rurio's script to download the latest chrome version from Google and package it into a Slackware package (he is a developer at Opera and has scripts to get him the latest versions of browsers for comparisons).

https://gist.github.com/ruario/9672759

slacknoff · 04-14-2015, 01:54 PM

Thanks,guys. I feel I need to review the slack docs a little more ... I downloaded the BOOK of Slack docs to my e-reader... makes it nice and handy.

So, I will nuke my Salix box and re-install the real deal this week. Thanks for the help. I'm finally ready for Slackware.

I think I will like the level of control and the cleaness of the install.

I'll let you know how things go.

hitest · 04-14-2015, 08:30 PM

Further to bassmadrigal's excellent instructions. The slackpkg utility is the easiest way to patch a full installation of Slackware 14.1. After you have uncommented one mirror in the 14.1 section of /etc/slackpkg/mirrors, save then exit. Run these commands in order.

Code:

# slackpkg update gpg

Code:

# slackpkg update

Code:

# slackpkg install-new

Code:

# slackpkg upgrade-all

That will apply all security patches.

jyotib · 08-09-2016, 05:05 AM

I am a little bit confused. The Slackware beginner's guide http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beginners_guide suggested the following for patches or updates. If three commands take care of that then why should i follow this??

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyotib

Watching for Updated Packages

The Slackware Essentials book has a chapter about keeping up to date. It would be good if you read it now if you have not done so already.

One way to look out for updated packages (patches) is to subscribe yourself to the Slackware Security mailing list and act when you read about new patches.

Another way is to setup a script to check for updates once a day and make the script email you when updates are available.
For this to work you need to have sendmail configured (although it usually runs out of the box) and know how to create a cron job. And of course, have a script that does the work.
An example of such a script is rsync_slackware_patches.sh which watches the Slackware ChangeLog.txt for updates. You download the script, edit it to use your favorite mirror server and make it executable so that it can be used in a cron job:

# wget http://www.slackware.com/~alien/tool...are_patches.sh -O /usr/local/bin/rsync_slackware_patches.sh
# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rsync_slackware_patches.sh

The script uses a couple of defaults which you may want to change to suit your environment - such as the location where the script will download the patches to.
Simply run the script once, and see what it reports:

# /usr/local/bin/rsync_slackware_patches.sh
[rsync_slackware_patches.sh:] Syncing patches for slackware version '13.37'.
[rsync_slackware_patches.sh:] Target directory /home/ftp/pub/Linux/Slackware/slackware-13.37/patches does not exist!
[rsync_slackware_patches.sh:] Please create it first, and then re-run this script.

bassmadrigal · 08-09-2016, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyotib

I am a little bit confused. The Slackware beginner's guide http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beginners_guide suggested the following for patches or updates. If three commands take care of that then why should i follow this??

Slackpkg is discussed in the section above it. But maybe it wouldn't hurt for it to be more prominent and cover the exact commands. If no one else gets around to it, I may try and update it later today.