What features/changes would you like to see in future Slackware?
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I tried out tracepkg yesterday. It can build a database of package dependencies for you, without doing anything else -similar to what the old slackdeptrack does(written in perl). But tracepkg is written in pure bash so it easier(for me) to hack. I doubt that I'd use it to manage packages, but it certainly provides nice information -especially when it lists needed libraries which are mising from your system.
I tried out tracepkg yesterday. It can build a database of package dependencies for you, without doing anything else -similar to what the old slackdeptrack does(written in perl). But tracepkg is written in pure bash so it easier(for me) to hack. I doubt that I'd use it to manage packages, but it certainly provides nice information -especially when it lists needed libraries which are mising from your system.
That sounds useful to me as well. The reason I thought it would go against the Slackware philosophies is because of the description in the link given above:
Quote:
tracepkg is an auxiliary tool for slackware administrators:
tracepkg automates the installation/remotion/upgrade of slackware
tgz's, removing automatically a package with all its unshared
dependencies and building a database for all installed and missing
dependencies needed by a tgz.
I think Slackers should go to this tracepkg link first instead. As you mentioned, tracepkg just lists the dependencies, which is useful. It does not automatically remove and install dependencies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by http://www.slacky.eu/~absinthe
tracepkg is a bash script collection made to help Slackware administrators with the management of tgzs. It scans tgzs stored in the /var/log/packages directory and finds all their binary dependencies using ldd. tracepkg searches dependencies into the other installed tgzs. If a dependency is found, the related tgz is stored inside the /var/log/dependencies directory, instead, if the dependency is not found, the missing file is stored inside the /var/log/missing directory. Of course tracepkg doesn't substitute the administrator, as in the slackware philosophy (or in a sort of).tracepkg is NOT another tool for dependency resolution, it's just a tool that helps the administrator.
It will remove unshared dependencies if used to actually manage packages. This is mentioned in the man-page.
I have long used slackdeptrack -I like the summarized information about packages depedndencies. It is especially useful for cutting down the size of your installation. Of course information on binary dependencies and suggested programs is not generated.
In looking through the code, I found a couple of ideas which are going to be useful for src2pkg. src2pkg already has routines which do much the same as the data-base functions of tracepkg, except it just reports the dependencies of the package being built.
Most Slackers get over-sensitive whenever the word 'dependency' comes up -some people even say that SLackware packages 'have no dependencies' -which is, of course, rubbish. It's also incorrect to say that Slackware has no 'dependency hell'. Any given package can have unmet dependencies -it's just that slackware has no tools which try to resolve those dependencies. The 'hell' is what results from trying to programatically resolve them. It is still a bit of hell to identify and track them down on your own.
The dependency information produced by slackdeptrack, tracepkg and src2pkg is all produced 'after the fact'. It doesn't help you to identify or resolve those dependencies the first time you build a package. But it provides time-saving information for the next time you build that package. And, the cross-referenced information is often surprising and helpful in other ways -especially if you use a partial or highly customized installation.
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