Boxing Day desktop reinstall: 14.2 or -current?

Lysander666 · 12-18-2019, 07:42 AM

Over the Xmas period I will have a little more time on my hands. This is a good opportunity to reconfigure my meaty desktop system which is turning into something of a tower block. It has three internal hard drives and it's about to get its fourth. Thank you for making great cases, Cooler Master. Just as well I got to grips with persistent naming.

Currently it runs 14.2 and looks like this:

Code:

lysander@psychopig-xxxiv:~$ inxi -F
System:    Host: psychopig-xxxiv.netstark Kernel: 4.4.199 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 
           Distro: Slackware 14.2 
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5QLD PRO v: Rev X.0x serial: <root required> 
           BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0305 date: 07/30/2009 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core2 Quad Q8400 bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
           Speed: 2003 MHz min/max: 2003/2670 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2003 2: 2003 3: 2003 4: 2003 
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cypress XT [Radeon HD 5870] driver: radeon v: kernel 
           Display: server: X.Org 1.18.3 driver: radeon resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CYPRESS (DRM 2.43.0 LLVM 3.8.0) v: 4.1 Mesa 11.2.2 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 82801JI HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cypress HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5800 Series] 
           driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Device-3: Creative Labs SB X-Fi driver: snd_ctxfi 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.4.199 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet driver: ATL1E 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: e0:cb:4e:28:f4:a0 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 521.67 GiB used: 364.58 GiB (69.9%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HDP725032GLA360 size: 298.09 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: HD160JJ size: 149.05 GiB 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Intel model: SSDSA2M080G2GC size: 74.53 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 29.40 GiB used: 22.25 GiB (75.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc1 
           ID-2: /home size: 38.78 GiB used: 36.45 GiB (94.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc3 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 5.00 GiB used: 199.5 MiB (3.9%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdc2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 27.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 34 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 214 Uptime: 3d 3h 53m Memory: 5.82 GiB used: 1.09 GiB (18.7%) Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.36

and the current state of affairs:

Code:

lysander@psychopig-xxxiv:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs            32M  1.2M   31M   4% /run
devtmpfs        8.0M     0  8.0M   0% /dev
/dev/sdc1        30G   23G  5.7G  80% /
tmpfs           3.0G  148M  2.8G   5% /dev/shm
cgroup_root     3.0G     0  3.0G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sdc3        39G   37G  349M 100% /home
cgmfs           100K     0  100K   0% /run/cgmanager/fs
/dev/dm-0       147G  110G   30G  79% /run/media/lysander/b00428ae-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
/dev/sda5       299G  197G  102G  66% /media/Media
lysander@psychopig-xxxiv:~$

I just ordered a 240GB SSD which I shall make the main drive for /, /swap and /home. Currently only one drive [the Samsung] is LUKS encrypted, I plan to encrypt all, including /home.

The main question is: 14.2 or -current? If I go for the latter, is it much easier to switch it to 15.0 when it comes out? I've been using -current for about eight months on my laptop and I would say it's [more or less] stable enough to use on this desktop production machine.

As for partitioning, I'm thinking 35GB for /, 5GB swap, and the rest for /home.

Any suggestions for improvement are most welcome.

One question re encryption - LUKS drives/partitions do not automount, which is fine. Is the drive fsck'd after the passphrase is entered?

cwizardone · 12-18-2019, 07:58 AM

-current.
Just a wait a few days before installing each batch of updates to see if any problems pop up. Usually not, but it happens and why not, it is the "development" branch.

I keep copies of Alien's boost-compat and icu4-compat "at the ready."

Alien Bob · 12-18-2019, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lysander666

The main question is: 14.2 or -current? If I go for the latter, is it much easier to switch it to 15.0 when it comes out? I've been using -current for about eight months on my laptop and I would say it's [more or less] stable enough to use on this desktop production machine.

At this point in time, if you are an experienced Slackware user I would say: install -current on a machine you intend to use as a desktop workstation. Slackware 14.2 is simply too stale if you want to compile and use recent releases of desktop-oriented software.
Maintaining a -current system will require some more work because you will have to keep up with the updates to slackware-current. You should not underestimate that.

If Slackware 15.0 is released, it will be *exactly* the same as the 'slackware-current' you have installed at that point in time. You change the Slackware mirror URL in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors to a "15.0" release version and you are all set.

hitest · 12-18-2019, 09:08 AM

I'd go with -current all the way. 14.2 is getting a little long in the tooth for newer hardware.

bifferos · 12-18-2019, 09:43 AM

I'd say -current just to get Python3. Lots of stuff I'm into now depends on it, e.g. OpenWrt building.

kgha · 12-18-2019, 09:48 AM

-current!
The only (and very few) issues I've encountered with -current during 2019 have been PBKAC - e.g. forgetting install-new when a new dependency was added. As Eric writes, switching to Slackware15 stable will be easy. And as cwizardone writes, Eric's boost-compat and icu4-compat are indispensable lifebuoys!

enorbet · 12-18-2019, 09:50 AM

Hello Lysander666
Since you apparently use Xfce I see no reason to not go -Current. Plasma5 still has one or two really minor glitches but Xfce, at least here, works perfectly well, and it's easy to switch WM/DEs in Slackware (though I personally don't like sddm as much as kdm). However I do strongly suggest you change that wallpaper or you my never leave the house!

Looks like a sweet box... your PC I mean, of course. Happy Holidays

captain_sensible · 12-18-2019, 10:27 AM

i've been using current since September with no problems ; when i installed it the kernel was 4.19.75

php at PHP 7.3.10 (cli) (built: Sep 24 2019 18:58:08) ( ZTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group is a big help

using builds but also slpkg quite a lot these days.

I also went for current on the basis it will be nearer to 15, however i did notice in the docs a reference to kernel update 5.4 so i'm assuming 15 release will be 5.4 kernel ?

hitest · 12-18-2019, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain_sensible

I also went for current on the basis it will be nearer to 15, however i did notice in the docs a reference to kernel update 5.4 so i'm assuming 15 release will be 5.4 kernel ?

Code:

bash-5.0$ uname -r
5.4.4

Yes. Slackware-current is now running the 5.4.4 kernel.

Lysander666 · 12-18-2019, 11:16 AM

A lot of responses already, thank you to all - looks like it's going to be -current then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

Maintaining a -current system will require some more work because you will have to keep up with the updates to slackware-current. You should not underestimate that.

I don't update -current often, and only when I've paid attention to the forum and changelog. But yes, I take your point, and thanks for the reminder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

If Slackware 15.0 is released

Interesting choice of words...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

it will be *exactly* the same as the 'slackware-current' you have installed at that point in time. You change the Slackware mirror URL in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors to a "15.0" release version and you are all set.

This is the plan then, on the 15.0 release I will switch it over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by enorbet

However I do strongly suggest you change that wallpaper or you my never leave the house!

Oh, that's one of a rotating Xmas wallpaper folder which changes every ten minutes, there are another 14 in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by enorbet

Looks like a sweet box

Honestly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by enorbet

... your PC I mean, of course.

It's very solid but not new by any definition of the term when applied to hardware. The Q8400 CPU is a good workhorse CPU: it's one of the earlier quads and still performs most tasks admirably. This is not a gaming machine though - it was when it was built - nine years ago - but it falls way under par for modern FPSs. It's still very good for all office tasks and lower-spec games.

gouttegd · 12-18-2019, 11:31 AM

Nothing more to say regarding the choice between -14.2 and -current, but about this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lysander666

As for partitioning, I'm thinking 35GB for /, 5GB swap, and the rest for /home.

Any suggestions for improvement are most welcome.

One suggestion: Have you considered using LVM? Given that your machine already has three disks and you plan to add one more, logical volumes could give you some flexibility compared to physical partitions.

z80 · 12-18-2019, 02:22 PM

current as was already suggested ...

When going LUKS add LVM and a dedicated /boot partition to the mix.

TracyTiger · 12-18-2019, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lysander666

One question re encryption - LUKS drives/partitions do not automount, which is fine. Is the drive fsck'd after the passphrase is entered?

I just now watched a Slack64 14.2 system boot/load and I see fsck checks were run on all 4 partitions with filesystems. Three of those were LUKS encrypted (not /boot). Neither RAID nor LVM used on this system.

You can use /etc/fstab and /etc/crypttab to unlock/open and mount encrypted file systems automatically. You just need to enter password for the root partition or use a flash drive to get things started. See README on installation ISO for details.

[protip: For LUKS, typing a passphrase is not the same as reading the same passphrase from a file. This is due to newline character entered by text editors. Solution is to always use a file for key or to delete newline from the key file if the passphrase was typed when initially formatting the LUKS drive.]

Quote:

Thank you for making great cases, Coolermaster. Just as well I got to grips with persistent naming, too.

I've built several systems in several different model Cooler Master cases and they've always worked well for my purposes.

EDIT: For an ext3/4 file system you should be able to use tune2fs and fiddle with settings such as mount count and maximum mount count to force fsck on next boot and check date/time when lasted checked. At least that's what the documentation shows. Other file systems may have similar file system configuration tools.

EDIT2: Exploring this a little further I see that my filesystem settings on that system were set to never check the file system. So just watching the system loading messages say a file system is clean doesn't mean it will ever really get checked. With file system journaling the man page says it will never report "dirty". @Lysander666 you may want to check your mount count, interval time, and last time checked with tune2fs or a similar tool to make sure your disks get checked as you want. Thanks for the question so I had an opportunity to learn a little more about Slackware Linux.

bassmadrigal · 12-18-2019, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lysander666

Quote:

If Slackware 15.0 is released

Interesting choice of words...

I wouldn't look too much into this.

andrew.46 · 12-18-2019, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitest

Code:

bash-5.0$ uname -r
5.4.4

Yes. Slackware-current is now running the 5.4.4 kernel.

You snooze you lose:

Code:

andrew@ilium~$ uname -r
5.4.5
andrew@ilium~$

2 kernel upgrades on December 18th