If you look at /etc/inittab, you'll see that init 5 is not used (although, it is configured to run as init 3). init 4 is what is used to bring up X.

Since you're still having dependency issues, it might be best to try and reinstall all the official libs.

When you've logged into the root user at the console, make sure you're connected to the internet, make sure you have the correct mirror uncommented in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors (make certain that you don't uncomment Slackware64 if you're running the 32bit version and vice versa... also, make sure you have the right Slackware version). Once that is done, update the gpg key (only needed the first time you update with a new mirror), then update slackpkg so it knows what's out there.

Afterward, you can force a reinstall of everything you'd like. I'd probably recommend at least the a and l series

Or you could just force a reinstall of everything

Well, I tried everything several times and with variations. The summary is:
Can't run any of these as need GPG and running 'slackpkg update gpg' gets same runaround even when disable GPG.
1. -checkgpg=off is 'unknown option'
2. install and upgrade each get 'command-not-found'

If left only with a reinstall, I can save my /home directory simply by not referencing /home and only deleting and
then reinstalling / , is that correct?

Probably not correct. Before you do anything else, please boot the DVD installer, then as soon as you are logged in as root type:Post the exact output in your next message, along with the usage (mount point) of all partitions. You can also gather this information this way: mount your root partition as /mnt, then type and post the result of:With that information we should be able to provide you further guidance.

lsblk -o model,name,fstype,size gives:

IC25N080ATMR04 sda 74.5 G

| - sda1 swap 7.2 G
| - sda2 ext4 [/] 46.6 G
sda3 ext4 [/home] 13 G

COMBO LSC-24082K sr0 iso9660 2.3 G

/mnt and /mnt / then: cat /mnt/etc/fstab [as well as cd-ing to /etc or /etc/fstab or /proc
all give: proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 or else 'this is a directory'

For some reason your /etc/fstab was wiped out.

The easiest way to rebuild one is simply to use the installer.

Start it, run setup, set the SWAP partition as suggested (will be /dev/sda1), then at the TARGET step choose /dev/sda2 for root or / but do not format it, then set /dev/sda3 as /home but again do not format it. At the INSTALLATION step just skip the installation (press "cancel" or something like that. At the CONFIGURE step, accept to configure, but skip all steps until you be proposed to use the new /etc/fstab: of course accept it.

Next your system should boot OK. If not, go back.

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Followed instructions and everything went well [booted fine] until tried startx when again had message of no GLIBC, so went back to your earlier instructions on how to install that [cd to /floppy/slackware/a and then installpkg --root /mnt glibc-solibs*t?z] and again everything worked perfectly as got message that glibc-etc was installed.
But couldn't shutdown properly as got message needed special entry to do that and when tried several init options and got hung-up with no prompt [last lines were about some blacksomething in code], I had to crash to close and reboot; and again was told that no startx possible as had no glibc: which previously had just been told had been installed.
Repeated procedures and kept getting that still was without glibc.
No idea what is going on; if you think I should just do full reinstall from scratch, I certainly can understand.

From original post:
Reading the OP's last few replies, it sounds like the glibc issue may have been resolved. What about the libstdc++ that was the very first error? Doing a search of /var/log/packages, I find that libstdc++ can be found in cxxlibs and gcc-g++ packages:
returns:
/var/log/packages/gcc-g++-4.8.2-x86_64-1:usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6.0.18
/var/log/packages/cxxlibs-6.0.18-x86_64-1:usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6.0.18
/var/log/packages/cxxlibs-6.0.18-x86_64-1:usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.5.0.7



At the very least, the cxxlibs package should probably be reinstalled. If gcc-g++ is installed, that should probably reinstalled, also.

1 members found this post helpful.

Was able to install cxxlibs, but not libstdc++ nor gcc-g++ [not found, etc].
The cxxlibs made no improvement in the access to gui.

Why couldn't you install them? Did the installpkg error out (what was the error?), could you not download the packages, etc? Being specific will hopefully help us figure out what's going on.

If you're running into issue with installpkg, maybe it would be worth booting off the disc, mounting your harddrive (mount /dev/sda2 /mnt -- replacing /dev/sda2 with your root partition) and using that installpkg with the root option (installpkg --root /mnt location/to/gcc-g++-4.8.2-x86_64-1.txz) to get things installed. Then just reboot and you should be good--unless there's more dependencies you overwrote. If there are more errors in your output, you can find out what packages those missing files came from using http://packages.slackware.com and putting the filename in the box, changing the release to match your version, and then changing the mode to content.

We'll be here if you need more help

First, cxxlibs is libstdc++ (ie, libstdc++ shared libs are in cxxlibs package). Second, you might need to run ldconfig to update /etc/ld.so.cache, which file might still be pointing the runtime linker to the wrong locations for some libraries. I suspect that even if you get this working, that there will be rogue files left from the packages you installed that caused this whole trouble.

bassmidrigal makes a good point about 'unless there's more dependencies you overwrote.'

This thread brought up an issue I have wondered about for years and may be worthy of a more directed thread which is this.....

Why isn't Digikam included in base software install? It does have a lot of dependencies and with KDE being chosen in favor over Gnome along with the proliferation of digital cameras of all types, I'd think it's inclusion would solve a lot of issues.

Tried some recent suggestions, but didn't get anywhere [could have been my fault], but with so much time spent on this and wishing to get slack back up, I simply did a full new install, and everything now fine [besides getting my dvorak and other items again, even used the install "boot complement option" to insert "linux nomodeset" so don't have to insert that at every bootup].
One item I could use explanation for is why no "copy to" option in the kde file handling list; especially awkward when pull up a flash drive set of files and need to copy them to various locations; know can do via command line, but takes extra time -- am I overlooking something?
As to gwenview plugins, will hold-off on all that until get option of with 32-bit; whether with gwenview or with digikam.

OK, found the Konqueror options box with "copy to & move to" unchecked.
In about two decades of using it, had never had reason to come across that set of features; learn something new every day.