[SOLVED] How to install a .tar.gz pkg?

Hi,

After a full installation of slackware, i need to install some of my favorites like geany, vlc, etc. All of these are not available in sbokpg or have dependency issues. So i decided to install using zipped packages.

Now the zip files with .txz or .tgz are installed without any issue i'm having issues installing those with .tar.gz extension. Some i managed to install using rpm packages.

Even though following faithfully the "solutions" to install .tar.gz, I could not install a single .tar.gz package. Could anyone help with the process of installing a .tar.gz?

Go to www.slackbuilds.org and search for the programs that you want. I'll admit that it's a little clunky, but it works.

Originally Posted by Hendronicus Go to www.slackbuilds.org and search for the programs that you want. I'll admit that it's a little clunky, but it works.

This would be good advice but if you read what the OP said, he has already found sbopkg, which means he is familiar with SlackBuilds.org already. He actually stated he was having a problem using SlackBuilds. That is the problem.

Originally Posted by puru After a full installation of slackware, i need to install some of my favorites like geany, vlc, etc. All of these are not available in sbokpg or have dependency issues. So i decided to install using zipped packages.

These packages are available via sbopkg/SlackBuilds.org. You did not use zipped packages. A gzip compressed file is not zipped, it is gzipped. This is not the same thing.

Originally Posted by puru Now the zip files with .txz or .tgz are installed without any issue i'm having issues installing those with .tar.gz extension. Some i managed to install using rpm packages.

Once again files with extensions tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, .tgz, .tbz, .txz are NOT zip files! Furthermore installing an rpm package directly on Slackware can be a very fast way towards completely trashing your system. Do not do it. rpm is provided to help with converting packages, not for direct installation.

Originally Posted by puru Even though following faithfully the "solutions" to install .tar.gz, I could not install a single .tar.gz package. Could anyone help with the process of installing a .tar.gz?

A .tar.gz file tells you nothing much other than it is a gzip compressed tar. However the odds are that what you are finding are source packages (as the extension .tar.gz is commonly used for source packages, whilst .tgz is more commonly used for Slackware binary packages). Source packages need to be compiled and then installed. However you will need some method to be able to keep track of them and hence potentially remove them should you require. Some source packages provide a built in method of doing so but many do not.

The best way to keep track of packages you install is a package manager like Slackware's pkgtools (installpkg, upgradepkg, removepkg, etc.) and for this you need to use Slackware packages (perhaps by first compiling and creating them from source packages). Trying to use source packages directly is far harder than using SlackBuilds/sbopkg, so if you are considering this method because you have problems with SlackBuilds/sbopkg then you are simply making a mistake. It is not the way to go. You will only going to make your like more difficult.

For Vlc, save yourself some time and fetch a binary Slackware package from AlienBOB's repository here: www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/vlc/.

To install Geany, if you have 32-Bit Slackware you can use geany-1.22-i486-1gv.txz or if you run Slackware64 you can use geany-1.22-x86_64-1gv.txz.

If you want to build and install Geany from source using sbopkg, use the following command:

sbopkg -ki geany

Thanks for the quick reply.

As i'm new to this type of installations, i want some of my doubts cleared so that i may not do something harmful to the system.

Web suggests that both .tar.gz and .tgz is one and the same thing. So i was trying to install a .tar.gz as if it were .tgz. Now you have cleared the difference that .tar.gz is gzip compressed tar and is not a slackware binary package. When i browse through pkgtool (invoked in a directory containing .tar.gz, .tgz, .rpm), it doesnot show any entries that are .tar.gz or .rpm. Does it only show the entries that are binary packages?

I converted .rpm packages to .tgz using rpm2tgz and then installed the resulting .tgz packages. Its my mistake not to mention of this conversion in the original post. Does installing a converted rpm package potentially harm my system?

I earnestly wish to learn how to install packages from source. Is there any concise tutorial/post about how to do this. I want to know how the ./configure, make, make install works. Also it will be helpful to know pitfalls, if any, of doing so.

Thanks again for the priceless help.

Originally Posted by puru Thanks for the quick reply. As i'm new to this type of installations, i want some of my doubts cleared so that i may not do something harmful to the system. Web suggests that both .tar.gz and .tgz is one and the same thing. So i was trying to install a .tar.gz as if it were .tgz. Now you have cleared the difference that .tar.gz is gzip compressed tar and is not a slackware binary package. When i browse through pkgtool (invoked in a directory containing .tar.gz, .tgz, .rpm), it doesnot show any entries that are .tar.gz or .rpm. Does it only show the entries that are binary packages?

Does it show ANY extensions?

I converted .rpm packages to .tgz using rpm2tgz and then installed the resulting .tgz packages. Its my mistake not to mention of this conversion in the original post. Does installing a converted rpm package potentially harm my system?

Not any more than installing any other packages. If you trust the source, you should be fine.

I earnestly wish to learn how to install packages from source. Is there any concise tutorial/post about how to do this. I want to know how the ./configure, make, make install works. Also it will be helpful to know pitfalls, if any, of doing so.

With almost every source package for every version of Linux, there are instructions. They can be in a README file in the .tar.gz archive, on their website, both, or in some other location. The file may be "INSTALL", it may be "Readme.first", or whatever else the author wants to call it. That's what you need to read, and it will tell you how to install whatever package it is.

puru: .tar.gz and .tgz are the same type of file: GNU tar archives compressed using gzip.
You can examine their content from the command line by typing tar tzvf file.tgz or
tar tzvf file.tar.gz. The pkgtool utility uses .tgz files that contain an executable,
a manual page, maybe some libraries or extra documentation, and an installation script
but a random .tgz or .tar.gz file may contain either that or simply the source code (in C or C++)
to generate the executable. Before attempting to install, you should check the content with tar tvf.
As slackware executables go to /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin or /opt, if tar tvf shows these directories
in the archive, you have a package ready for pkgtool. If there is no such directory name, you are probably
looking at a source archive. You may then need to download a SlackBuild script to produce an installable package.

Concerning rpm packages, you can usually install them after converting them into .tgz files with rpm2tgz (unless
they are source rpm packages). The problem is that the distributions using RPM (RedHat, CentOS, Scientific Linux, Mageia, Mandriva,...) may use different versions of dynamic libraries (such as libXm.so) or place these libraries
in directories different from the ones used by Slackware. In such a case, the program will not start. You can locate
the missing libraries using ldd <executable>.

With source rpm, after unpacking the .tar.gz (or .tgz) file, you will need again to look for a SlackBuild script.

Thanks everyone.

TBOne: The pkgtool doesnot show any extension. What i mean is in a folder containing .tar.gz and .tgz, .txz only certain packages are shown in the pkgtool. It may be showing only binary packages.

I installed some packages usign ./configure, make, make install method successfully.

Thanks again everybody.