Dependency resolution
 

Hi guys! I want to know what's your preferred way to resolve dependencies. Is there a smarter way than slackpkg install dep_a, slackpkg install dep_b and slackpkg install pkg? How do you deal with manual dependency resolution? I heard about queuefiles and sbotool but I'm interested in how can I resolve dependencies with slackpkg+ in the smarter way than slackpkg install a, slackpkg install b and then finally slackpkg install package.

For regular Slackware packages, I've gone the lazy route for years and just done a full install. I used to pick and choose things, but HD space is plentiful and I value my time more and more as I get older.

For 3rd-party things like SBo (SlackBuilds.org), I use either slackrepo or sbopkg. slackrepo calcuates dependencies automatically, but I need to run in on a clean Slackware install. sbopkg does not calculate dependencies, but its companion app, sqg does. I run sqg -p $PRGNAM and then use sbopkg to build/install that queue.

you can't

The official answer is "do a full install".

Yep. A full installation of Slackware works out of the box with all dependencies met.

What do you think about slackpkg templates? Is it a good way to organize dependencies?

yes, they are.

here I use them extensively but manually solving dependencies is not a precise science, it's more a fix-things-as-you-move-along science, you have to deal with it as is not officially supported (Slackware is offered as a whole).

what I found helpful is to use the work that others have done already in this field, like the one of the Salix people (thanks guys!): they have a PACKAGES.TXT file where all the dependencies for a specific package are listed (there are even alternatives but be aware that you might encounter a few gotchas), and that came handy a few times here in preparing templates.

but if you want to avoid any issues and, most important, you expect people to give you support, just go with a full install like the others already suggested, it's the best choice.

Full install + sbotools or sboui for handling dependencies of packages from SBo.

Since you are asking about slackpkg specifically and it cannot be used for 3rd party repositories of software then the official answer is do a full installation.

I'm not running Slackware right now for reasons I've described elsewhere, but, normally, I would do a full install. When I wanted to add a new package not included in the full install, I would look first at slackbuilds.org and get it from there, installing dependencies as listed at that site before installing the desired package.

Back in the olden days, before SlackBuilds, I would look for the sources of a package I wanted, then compile from sources. When I ran make install and encountered errors, I would look for the dependency mentioned in the first error message (as subsequent errors likely resulted therefrom), resolve it, rinse and repeat.

Once I resolved all the errors, I had a new working application.

I do a full install.

For third party, I rely on the source, SBo and trail and error.

I list the build requirements (in build order), the runtime requirements and the package(s) the SlackBuild is for (in reverse build order) in the SlackBuild header.

A quick way to pick up library dependencies is to ldd a program. It will print out the libraries it can't find. For non-library dependencies (probably a very small group), run the program in a terminal and see what message it gives when it crashes.