Devel versions of packages in slackware
 

Hi everyone, as probably everyone will notice, I'm new to this forum.
I've been lurking around here for some time now, but this is my first post. I'm pretty much a newbie: so why did I install Slackware? I used Ubuntu for a while, but then I felt I wasn't getting anywhere without "getting my hands dirty" and that I wasn't learning anything.
I usually try to fend problems off with Google and an RTFM attitude, but this time this isn't helping. Probably it's my bad, but I decided that I'd try to rob you of your time. I'm sorry.
So, this is my issue, probably is something so stupid that you won't believe it: I can't understand where I'm supposed to find the devel versions of the packages. I mean, the only thing I can find around here are .rpm, but there rpm2tgz didn't help much. Maybe they aren't even needed? I need to compile some stuff which has them in their dependencies (mainly Amarok 2.3) and I don't know what to do. I'm being cautious because the last time I tried to do something daredevil like install random packages I s****d up my system.
BTW, I'm running Slackware64 13.0, on xfce.
One last thing: I installed the multilib thingy from Alien, should I use it for Amarok? It looks like I'm unable to find a 64bit version of the application (maybe it doesn't even exist? I'm this clueless)
I thought that maybe this thread would fit in the "Newbie" section, but since it's distro specific I thought it would fit better here.
Thanks for your time, I hope I'll be able to contribute the community as well.

Hi DJ Trendyness and welcome to linuxquestions.org!

Slackware does not seperate between "devel" and "normal" packages. If you have a package installed, the devel part is already there in the package.
About AmaroK: Since Pat compiled a 64bit version there should be no problem with that. Slackware 13.0 ships with it already, and Slackware current has version 2.2.2 included. Look in the Multimedia menu of your desktop environment or fire up a terminal and type "amarok" - if you did a full install like recommended it should already be there :)

Yes, I use Amarok already: the problem is, I find the 2.2 rather buggy. Maybe it's just the xfce's compatibility thingy, but I read some secondhand experiences with Amarok 2.2 and none was too happy about it. Moreover, since I've a huge library, I'd like to compile with the SQL support (I heard it's much more faster and more reliable, as for now I found out that my current version fails to scan part of my library). Maybe the fact that roughly half of my library it's on a external hd with FAT32 an issue?
Anyway, thank you very much for the info about the devel, that has been bugging me for a very long time!
One last thing: if I were to compile from source (because I'm unable to find the 2.3 for slackware, on slackware64-current there is still the 2.2.2) should I compile with the " . /etc/profile.d/32dev.sh " (which I have no idea what it does but it's written to do so on Alien's multilib's readme when dealing with 32bit packages) command?

PS: I'm sorry, I just found out a thread on "General" which was already dealing with the devel issue, but it didn't show up on my search.
I'll try to avoid opening new threads in future. Thanks.

If you are compiling software from source on Slackware64 there usually is no reason at all to run " . /etc/profile.d/32dev.sh ". On Slackware64 you should create 64bit packages by default, not 32bit packages.
The only time you need to run that "32dev.sh" script is on occasions where you are building up a chain of dependencies for some software that comes in 32bit binaries only. Which I hope is a rare event.

Eric

You may want to try out clementine which is based on the old amarok 1.4 branch. I have a slackbuild here:

http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13...io/clementine/

Two little tricks:
1. I you want a newer version of a an application than the one already included in Slackware, try to re-use the SlackBuild included in the distribution you use.

Let's suppose you made a local copy of the distribution (it's easier so). For instance for Amarok the slackbuild is: /local_copy/source/kde/amarok/amarok.SlackBuild
In this case the source tarball used by the SlackBuild is: /local_copy/source/kde/src/extragear/amarok-2.1.1.tar.xz

Download the newer tarball and put it alongside the old one, in this case in /local_copy/source/kde/src/extragear/
Then run the SlackBuild again as root: type /local_copy/source/kde/amarok/amarok.SlackBuild
If it works you'll find the new package in /tmp; to upgrade type as root: upgradepkg /tmp/new_package_name

This is not guaranteed to work, especially if the sources are patched before the package is built, but generally is worth trying.

2. While you are at it you can check and edit if needed the configure options of the SlackBuild.
For that put the new source tarball somewhere, extract it with tar, cd to the new directory created by tar and type ./configure --help
Then compare available options to the ones set-up in the SlackBuild, that you can change according to your liking before running it.
Be aware that available options can change between versions.

Sorry for this too long post, I don't have enough time to shorten it.