hello,

I am running crux linux 3.2 in virtualbox.I build the kernel and setup everything. Video, audio and ethernet working fine. I downloaded the ports tree of crux like so:

ports -u

Updating file list from crux.nu:orts/crux-3.2/core/
Updating collection core
Finished successfully
Updating file list from crux.nu:orts/crux-3.2/opt/
Updating collection opt
Finished successfully
Updating file list from crux.nu:orts/crux-3.2/xorg/
Updating collection xorg
Finished successfully

Why are those weird smilies there?

Anyway the next step, I tried to install a desktop/window manager using prt-get. I tried to install any of these:

xfce4
fluxbox
kde4
kde
gnome
enlightenment
windowmaker
lxde

But I get this error

-- Packages not found

prt-get does works because I've used it to install the alsa-utils and it's dependencies.

I did manage to get a least one desktop manager to install called blackbox.

Anyway, am I correct on this -- that the above desktop managers are not available in crux linux?

I doubt I will get any replies to this question as most people don't use dsitros where you have to build a kernel. I just though I ask if there are other crux users.

Thanks

XFCE seems to be provided by the baguette repository, Fluxbox is in the contrib repo, KDE should be available in the kde4 repository, Gnome is not really available for CRUX, only some common libraries and artwork, Enlightenment can be found in the enlightenment repo, Windowmaker seems to be not available, the same seems to be true for LXDE/LXQt.
The CRUX ports browser definitely helps with finding the correct repos: https://crux.nu/portdb/

Thanks TobiSGD for your input. I though I wasn't going to get a reply as crux is not a popular distro, in fact, it's not in distrowatch's 100 list.

I enabled the contrib repo in the /etc/prt-get.conf file. So I was able to install fluxbox.

However, the other repos to install the heavier desktop managers aren't available in the /etc/prt-get.conf file. So, I am basically stuck to using fluxbox, openbox and blackbox.

On a hunch, I added the baguette repo from the url you provided to the prt-get file. Ran ports -u to update the list and then I ran the code below.

It didn't work.

So, I can only install packages only from these repos:


So, I'm stuck to using a barebones desktop managaer called fluxbox which is not an attractive desktop manager, but it's better than nothing.

Can't figure out why the crux maintainers refuse to include the ports for the heavier desktop managers...

Anyway, thanks again Tobi

I tried it, it is a nice distro, but no multilib support ruled it out for me.I don't have a CRUX installation, so I can't try to install packages. Anyways, the CRUX developers want to keep their distribution close to the BSD paradigm of providing a small base system and let other packages to external contributors, this is why you won't find desktop environments in the official ports repositories.

Actually, there is multilib support in /etc/prt-get.conf. I made it bold.

I have mine disabled as I am using a 64bit crux installation.

I understand, but they could at least gave us the option to enable the port(s) if we want to use other desktop managers.

Anyway, crux is in a VM. My main linux distro is pclinuxos.

PS: What I like about crux, it is blazing fast, even in a virtual machine.

Thanks TobiSGD

Hi I would like to point out that CRUX does have multilib support since version 3.0

And seeing /etc/prt-get.conf

Even the CRUX website states it is multilib

There are also docker images of CRUX and you can easily throw it in a VM to try it out.

CRUX does have other collections in the port database (though some are not listed there like mate and kf5).

you need to get the *.rsync *.httpup or *.git (the last one requires git to be installed.) file and place it in /etc/ports/ then add a corresponding

to /etc/prt-get.conf

Once you have done this you can then do a

mate https://github.com/KrugerHeavyIndustries/crux-mate (might be out of date)
mate https://github.com/mhoush/crux-mate/ (this is one of the devs that works on mate and is more newer)
kf5 https://github.com/tsaop/crux-kf5 3rd party KDE5

And of course the ones known are on https://crux.nu/portdb/

You will want to read there respective guides on how to set them desktop environments up.

1 members found this post helpful.

Maintainer of the baguette repository here!

You need to also add the repository file from the CRUX portdb to /etc/ports/baguette.httpup before running ports -u. Then, you should have a directory named /usr/ports/baguette, and prt-get should work properly.

Unfortunately, baguette is woefully out of date at this point (I have not updated any ports in about 3 months, due to a lack of free time of late). Hopefully I will get around to updating the ports there this week. Also note that while all of the core Xfce4 packages are available in baguette, there's only a handful of the Xfce goodies. I stopped packaging the goodies due to a lack of interest, but if there are any missing that you'd like to have, I'm willing to package them. Let me know by opening an issue on the baguette/crux-ports GitHub repository to tell me which of the Xfce goodies you want/need.

The CRUX community is very small at the moment, and the developer base is even smaller. We develop the system and the ports repositories in our spare time. Many fully-fledged desktop environments are composed of a LOT of packages. We also have a tendency to only package the things WE actually use. Why spend a week packaging, say, KDE if we aren't going to use it? Not to say contributions would not be welcome from people who have the time and the willingness to package something like KDE

Note that there is a repository that has Enlightenment and one that has MATE. I believe someone had been working on getting KDE 4 to build, but I'm unsure of the status at this time.

Don't be rude about my favourite distro!

Every distro has a philosophy and the Crux philosophy can be summed up in one word: simplicity. That is why the
official repositories have a limited but sufficient set of software. If you really need big repos, use Gentoo, Debian or
Ubuntu.

But Crux has lots of unofficial repositories too, and you can find them and their contents listed on the crux.nu website.
There is a repo for each of the popular desktops as well as some collections of miscellaneous software. Just add the ones
you want to your /etc/prt-get.conf file and make files for them in /etc/ports.

Crux isn't meant to be that easy to use. It's more of a get your hands dirty distribution, and learn how-to-do-things distributions similar to Slackware.

Crux has packages for Xfce last I looked and might still have FluxBox and OpenBox window managers available. Yes, it's not meant to be a heavyweight distribution. Crux is more for the power-user and customizationist to get a simple, yet stable, and powerful base to build from.

I've used it, and it's a nice, well-balanced distribution, but it's not a hand-holder by any means.