Hello back!

I haven't mention swaret because I think it is a kind of discontinued project (I am not completely sure but this is what I understood). Slackpkg and Slapt-get are the ones I've tried.

Which one do you use? Are they basically the same? Can I use both of them or it doesn't make any sense?

And... How can I make this two tools remove packages after installing them?

I don't know if slackpkg leaves packages somewhere but slapt-get leaves packages in /var/slapt-get... but the packages aren't all together. They are inside subdirectories. Can I remove this .tgz files safely? Isn't it there a way to remove this packages automatically after packages were installed?

Thank you!

I use slapt-get, mainly because I like it's inspiration, apt-get. It's dependency tracking works very well if the packages are made correctly, and since I build all my own packages and host them on my server; I know they are. It makes pushing out updates to my various machines a lot easier.

Uninstalling a package in slapt-get is done with --remove; to delete downloaded packages with slapt-get you would use the --clean or --autoclean options.

I use slackpkg because its in /extra on the dvd

Me too... but I miss swaret :'( (It's a joke)

Depends on what your doing.

Since I only install official Slackware binaries and updates, I use slackpkg. Everything else is from www.slackbuilds.org, or my own Slackbuild hacks.

To remove packages, removepkg should be enough

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Same here, that means Pat must like it.

Me too, but I miss paludis Joke too :P

Exactly the same here.

I like the fact that you can manage Slackware any way you like. Thanks Pat

Slackpkg. I've never tried Slapt-get.

Neither. For updates, I keep a local mirror of .../patches/packages. For additional software, I either pull a slackbuild script from slackbuilds.org, Eric or Robby, or I write one myself.

I like this but... How do you keep a local mirror of .../patches/packages?
How is that done?

Thanks,
Glore2002.-

In my very humble opinion and experience after using Slackware for a while, I think people who use Slackware should know exactly what the distribution is about and it's NOT one of its goals to provide a comprehensive package management system for unofficial software not found in the CDs.

Using third party tools with Slackware can lead to broken installations and other problems while upgrading the base system as I once found out (updating core libraries like glibc through a slapt-get upgrade let to problems). Also maintaining and updating third-party software and libraries to keep in sync with the main distribution can become very time-consuming.

The best thing is, use Slackware if you're happy with what's there in the official software set. If not, the place to look for is another distribution.

Best is to use the tools provided with the distribution. Slackware is a CD-based distribution and trying to make it emulate a genuinely "rolling" distributions like Debian or Gentoo is a bad idea and can lead to wrong expectations. Slackpkg is less dangerous than slapt-get but it's still not as "safe" as using the official CD set and following the recommended methods to install/update software.

Glore, I use rsync but in your first post you were asking about removing package files after they've been installed and that's not compatible with keeping a mirror.

If you're interested in rsync, try doing a search on the forum. I can vaguely remember someone posting a script to do the necessary a while back in a thread about keeping slackware updated.

You do know slackpkg is on the official cd set

Yes, but is that method of installing/upgrading officially supported now?

I knew it was there somewhere. I'm not sure whether it's an unsupported "extra" or an essential system component. When I used, slackpkg was a script that pull packages off any mirror FTP servers and installed them right?

Sorry, I've not used Slackware since 10.1, so I'm no longer sure.

Not really sure how to answer that question

Using slackpkg is the same as wget foo.tgz upgradepkg foo.tgz. Extra packages are still supported and receive updates, they are "extra/alternate packages that might be handy."

So if it's supported to download a package off an official Slackware mirror, then use install/remove/upgradepkg, then I guess the answer would be yes

I have used slapt-get in the past only for installing security updates from
an official mirror (which I considered a safe use of slapt-get).

Recently though, slapt-get didn't catch the security update to the "links" browser
(links-2.1pre33-i486-1 updated to links-2.1-i486-1_slack12.1)

If slapt-get doesn't see this as an update, what updates could it miss in the future?

So I switched to slackpkg for easy installation of security updates.