Hi there,

I am currently running Slackware 8.0 and would like to use some of the new 10 and 10.1 packages but can't because I have the wrong version of glibc running. Just wondered what I would need to do in order to upgrade to the same version of glibc that slackware 10.1 uses without breaking anything particularly my existing slackware 8 and 8.1 packages.

Many Thanks
Stephen Elliott

Well once you start to upgrade stuff from that early version of Slack it won't stop.........LOL..........

you would be better off just doing a complete re-install
with 10/10.1 iso's------

To be honest I have setup so much stuff on there I would rather keep the existing box and just upgrade GLIBC so I can run packages that run on 10 and 10.1

Upgrading glibc will most likely cause problems, with thing you already have installed that were built against it. your better off just upgrading everything. but if you want to give upgrading glibc a shot. go to the source directory on a slackware ftp download the tarball and the buildscript for it and build it. if it causes problems you could always revert back to you original version

I've e-mailed the Slackware support team and waiting for an official answer. I really don't want to upgrade everything because you know soethings gonna break.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=325050

once you start trying to install recent software, they are probably going to require you to upgrade many of your libs/apps to work.

is it possible with some work, yes. but is it worth your time?

This seems to be a topic that never seems to have a complete answer. I'm curious what the official responce is from Slackware support. Please post it here when they reply.

My understanding though is that as long as the major verion doesn't change then it should be compatible with the previous versions, not requiring a reinstall/recompile. So, for instance, if your system is working with glibc 2.3.4 and it upgrades to 2.3.5 you should be OK. But when glibc 3.0 comes out then you have a problem. At least this is what is explained in Running Linux 4th edition regarding upgrading libraries.

Don't do IT! unless you want to break your system completely. The only way to upgrade from 8.0 or 8.1 is to replace every single package in your installation except for 'noarch' packages.
This CAN be done but not from your running system. You'd have to run 'pkgtool' from an installation CD or some other way.

However, Slackware 8.1 is KILLER stable. I'm currently building a new distro that goes BACK to some of the light GTK-1.2 programs used in Slackware-8.1, but compiled against GLIBC from slack-current.
If I were you, I'd just download the source code for the newer programs that you want to use and compile them on your system.

Of course a fresh installation would be much easier in a way... Either way hope you make backups of your data and have rescue floppies around.

Agreed.

See, Pat compiles 10.1 packs with 10.1 libs, 10.1 glibc, etc. When you try to run them on your 8.0 slack install, you WILL run into problems.

It's the same way with people running only portions of -current- you will run into problems.

The best way is to either go all out (probably re-installing to 10.1, which is an VERY good option, as it is a rock solid release), or stick to all 8.0 packs.

Hope this helps~

Andrew

What im doing now is just downloading the source for the packages I wanna use from current and compile them using the slack-build file. All I have to do is modify the script it a bit and it works.

That's the most intelligent solution. You may occassionally find something that won't work because of needing newer libs.
I'm building a new Amigo version that knid of reproduces slackware 8.1, but with current packages. Except I drag up all the old GTK-1.2 and GNOME 1.4 software, like gnucash, abiword and gnumeric.
The basic desktop is built around pure GTK-1.2 apps though, with a panel, ROX-Filer and cool WindowMaker with no DOCK or miniwindows! 280MB including about 20 GUI accessories. Then you just add mega-packages to add options -all the way up to 1.4GB with KDE and 120 other GUI apps, including GTK-2 stuff.