I am a long time Windows and Microsoft SQL administrator looking to move to Linux development. I have chosen Slackware Linux in order to learn the internal workings of the system. I really want to get a strong base in command line operation before moving to the more user friendly/GUI based systems. Everything has gone well with the installation and I have had very few troubling issues...until now.

I am trying to learn PHP and MySql development and I want to start off with the current versions. PHP5 being the most critical. What I am having trouble with is finding good information on how to upgrade Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The Slackware 10.1 distribution comes with PHP4 along with older, but more stable versions of Apache and MySQL. I was wondering if it would be easier to remove the three packages with the Slackware package remove utility and then install everything fresh from source. Since this is a new server I really don't have to worry about loosing any configuration information. The book I am using to learn PHP has an Appendix that lays out a complete HOW-TO with regards to installing AMP including SSL and several other libraries.

Is this a workable solution to my issue? I really would like to find an upgrade document, but everything I have read so far (I have been google searching for two days now) has been fairly cryptic and definitely not written for new Linux users.

Thanks for any help.

Removing the packages and installing by source is a great way to take control of your machine and start the Linux conversion process

1. Install MySQL (default configure options are fine)
a. ./configure
b. make
c. make install

2. Install Apache2: (default configure options are fine)
a. ./configure
b. make
c. make install

3. Install PHP5
a. ./configure --with-mysql --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-openssl
b. make
c. make install

Do you think I will run up against any dependency problems doing it that way? The instructions I have list several libraries to install with the setup including gd2 and PDFlib. The instructions seem detailed enough for me to follow without too much trouble. It seems like removing the old stuff and installing fresh is a lot easier than trying to upgrade. Of course at some point I would like to know how to upgrade as well, but I guess it is one thing at a time.

Thanks again.

You don't need PDFLib & gd2 (unless you plan on using them of course). I've developed PHP/MySQL for years and I've never touched them

When it comes time to upgrade look into Swaret (swaret.sourceforge.net), or SlackPkg (http://slackpkg.sourceforge.net).

Thanks,

Those two libraries are used as part of the tutorials that I am working through. GD2 is also used for photo album add-in for PHPBB2 that I am currently using on a hosted Linux website.

With the slackpkg application, does it remove old packages or should you do that first before installing the new package? The whole package/source file thing has been a major change in thinking for me when compared to windows software installs.

I can empathize, I too used to admin Windows machines / networks.
Linux can be very difficult, but once you get it, you'll never go back.

You can get PDFLib Lite (free) from:
http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Soft...FLib-Lite.html

And GD2 from:
http://site.n.ml.org/info/gd2/

Essentially you extract, configure, make, and make install each package, and configure PHP as:
As for updating Slackware, I personally use Swaret. There is holy war between Swaret and SlackPkg; I just happen to prefer Swaret. It allows you to upgrade the entire OS with one command: