Recently I installed slack 8.1 from RH9 so that I could challenge myself and learn some more about linux. Anyway, the reason I chose 8.1 was that I couldn't install 9.1. When I got to the boot prompt it asked to pick a kernel, so I pressed enter for bare.i and when it eventually got to the question on what country/language keyboard I had, my keyboard didn't work. Found out that I needed to install the usb.i kernel found on slack 8.1. So I installed it and everything worked fine. But now I want to upgrade to 9.1. I heard about swaret, but I don't know how to use it. Can't find any step by step instructions on how to go about installing swaret. Also, since I have the 9.1 iso cd''s, is there a way to upgrade without changing my kernel? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.- I downloaded swaret-1.6.1-noarch-2.tar.gz and used gunzip and tar to uncompile the file, now what. That's where I'm stuck. What do I do next, or is there some documentation that can help? The sware site only helps when you have swaret up and running. Thanks!

you don't unpack the .tgz file. Just do installpkg /path/to/file.

Then rename /etc/swaret.conf.new to /etc/swaret.conf
do "swaret --update"
"swaret --upgrade"

Thanks! Did what you said and it looks like it's working. Couldn't they have just said that on there site? Anyway, let you know how it went!

Looks like everything worked great! But I have a question. When I type "swaret --upgrade", are the packages it upgraded automatically installed or do I have to install them idividually? Thanks!

When you type "swaret --upgrade" it should show you what packages are to be upgraded then ask you if you want to upgrade each one. After you go throught the list of packages it should automatically start downloading the packages, then install them and check for dependencies.

I'm pretty sure you'll have to do swaret --update to make --upgrade useful. The --update will get the latest file lists, so that swaret will know what can be upgraded. So: first swaret --update, then swaret --upgrade. If you put a -a after the --upgrade, then it will be done automatically.

i think u have to change the VERSION=8.1 to VERSION=9.1 or CURRENT is you want to upgrade to either these. The version thingy is at the swaret.conf

Hi, I also have a SWARET question. I am trying to update my Slack 9.0 to current. Do I only have to change the version number in the .conf file or are there other changes I also need to make??

Thanks.

The default version is 9.1. If you want to upgrade to current you have to change swaret.conf.

KMcD said:

Hi, I also have a SWARET question. I am trying to update my Slack 9.0 to current. Do I only have to change the version number in the .conf file or are there other changes I also need to make??

It is prudent to check the EXCLUDE section of the swaret.conf file. I think the default setting is to exclude the kernel and lilo in the upgrade. This is sensible. You can upgrade these items manually after you have your new system up and running.

Thanks alan, my first attempt at using SWARET to update the kde version hasn't worked out well. I think I set the dependencies check to the wrong value and prevent swaret from making sure I had all the correct packages.

Hi

Just as a matter of interest swaret can be found on the (second cd ) also some other interesting apps if needed.

Cheers

Safil, Regarding your original problem (the keyboard freezing during the installation), if you're ever in that situation again, try disabling "Legacy USB Support" in your bios. That solved the same problem I had when I was installing Slackware 9.1 on my laptop.

If you don't want to edit swaret.conf, just type
swaret --set VERSION=current

This is what happens:
root@autolycus:/tmp# swaret --set VERSION=current
swaret 1.6.1-3

Variable 'VERSION' set to 'current'.
root@autolycus:/tmp#