Hello!

How do you keep your Slackware system up to date? I've been reading about swaret and slapt-get but I don't understand them very well. Until now, I've downloaded and installed packages from slackbuilds.org.

Thank you!

For Official Slackware packages (those that come with Slackware), the only updates you need will be security updates. The easiest way to keep up with these is to simply join the security mailing list. Then, you will get an email that lets you know when there is an update, along with the procedure and links needed to update the package (usually this consists of just running upgradepkg and perhaps restarting a service). I recommend not using ftp.slackware.com for your downloads because it is slow. Instead, bookmark a mirror nearest you.

To supplement this, you could install slackpkg. It can be a very useful tool and is included in /extra. It can help you do many things. For some examples I refer you to my HowTo: Upgrade Slackware 12.0 to 12.1. For simple security updates I usually just do a
Then I install the update (it will be in /var/cache/packages) using upgradepkg.
I only need to do this when I know there is an update (when I get an email from the security mailing list). Basically this just saves me the trouble from having to manually download the package. Plus, its signature is automatically checked.

If you are way behind on updates then a
might be more useful. Don't do this blindly! Skim through the recent Slackware Security Advisories first.

For third party packages (such as those from SlackBuilds.org)
Since you are using SlackBuilds.org, I recommend that you subscribe to the SlackBuilds.org mailing list. SlackBuilds.org also has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to for the Changelog. The mailing list will send you the Changelog and other discussions related to slackBuilds. It is also the best place to go if you have trouble with them. Usually the maintainers do a fair job of updating the slackBuilds when there are security updates, so you can use the SlackBuilds.org Changelog to help you keep up to date. Also, there is a new tool out called Sbo_pkg that can help you automate this more. Search this forum or the SlackBuilds.org mailing list and you are sure to find it.

However, often the slackBuilds are not updated for some time because they still work with the newer software versions. In these cases, I recommend that you see if that particular software has a mailing list of rss feed. I would say that RSS feeds are the easiest way to go when given the option.

Speaking of which there are some general feeds that provide security/update news as well. Here are a couple of examples
LWN.net
Yahoo Linux/Open Source
Yahoo Security News

Here's some Slackware feeds
Slackware Security Announces
Slackware -current Changelog
SlackBlogs

Just keep in mind that newer is not always necessarily better. Stick with just security updates unless you need some new feature or the old version is not compatible.

Usually you could check the Changelog site and see what about new releases.

Personally I use slackpkg to keep update my installation.

Hi all,

I simply check the changelog from time to time and download the latest patches. Then I simply run (as the root user) "upgradepkg *.tgz" in the directory where I downloaded the patches.

Subscribing to the mailing lists is a great idea because then you know when to download the latest patches.

If you look at the existing changelog you'll see tha tupdates are only posted when they're needed, so staying up-to-date is not a difficult or time-consuming task.

Regards,

-Drew

It's actually called 'sbopkg' -- without the underscore -- and it can be found in the link in my sig. One feature that I am working on is the ability to display potential updates to packages created using the SBo SlackBuild scripts. It's not in a working state just yet, and I will not have any time to work on it during the next 2-3 weeks due to moving, but I plan to turn my attention to it in July and hopefully have that be a feature in a future release of sbopkg.

Just check on the Changelog every few days:

http://slackware.com/changelog/stable.php?cpu=i386

and if there are anny changes, run:

What I just did was:

a) I went to the Slackware Security Advisories:
b) I've read the last security patches (there is one related to Samba for instance). samba-3.0.30-i486-1_slack12.1.tgz

c) I've downloaded that patch (and some more) from:

Which is one of the mirrors closest to where I live (Argentina).

d) I run:

And the following text showed up:

Is this OK? I haven't installed that patch before. I guess when I installed Samba that patch was already included.The same happened with the rest of the patches:

mkinitrd-1.3.2-i486-3.tgz
mozilla-thunderbird-2.0.0.14-i686-1.tgz
php-5.2.6-i486-1_slack12.1.tgz and
rdesktop-1.6.0-i486-1_slack12.1.tgz

The same happened with slackpkg update; slackpkg download and then upgradepkg package_name (same result). So, I assume my system is up to date. Am I right?

Thank you!
Glore2002.-

Yes, your are up to date. Slackware 12.1 is a recent release, so there are not new critical updates yet!

Very clear. Thanks for your help.

Solved!

Sorry I keep butchering the name of your script!

If you already are using slackpkg then there is no point in manually checking the changelog unless you want to read any special notes. Just running slackpkg update will tell you if the changelog changed, and if it did then it will be downloaded (so you can check the local copy for notes).

Yeah, you're right. Still, it only takes a couple of minutes to check the webpage.