Hello All,

Last October, I was given a super neat Kodak AIO printer. I found when I got it that it did all manner of amazing things except one: work with Linux. Kodak totally ignored it's Linux users and refused to acknowledge they even exist. An email from them back in November informed me they had no plans to introduce a Linux driver for their products.

Lo and Behold, about two weeks ago I found that someone had written a driver for it and it was available on SourceForge. At first I found only the Debian/Ubuntu version, but eventually found the source code. I tried and tried to install it but it simply would not find this wireless printer on the network. Then I remember src2pkg and converted it to a Slack package. The conversion worked first try and it installed like any other package, seamlessly, and viola! Cups found the printer immediately. Now this printer can be used as a printer instead of a place to stack books.

I found no idea what the changes were when I converted it with src2pkg, but it worked and this is yet one more time when Gnashley's absolutely brilliant program has saved me hours of headaches trying to get something to work.

So, thank you once again for this application.

Bob

Yeah, I agree fully! I'd not have any objections to see src2pkg (and also sbopkg, BTW) in future stock Slackware. These tools are incredibly helpful and save a lot of time. src2pkg, because it is much smarter than I am when it comes to using a C or C++ compiler , and sbopkg, because it makes installing quality assured stuff a breeze by automating the process and putting it all together in a very friendly and well designed UI.

gargamel

Although i havent used it i am sure src2pkg is great, but i think in this particular situation you could have also used deb2targz as well as some other applications.
I have the feeling libarchive (in stock Slackware) could do that as well, since deb's are ar archives. Never needed to convert a deb myself either.

I agree. The src2pkg utility is wonderful. Many thanks to gnashley for his work!

Without any shame I'm bumping this thread, because I also want to thank Gnashley.
I'm migrating my slackware from a 32 bit machine to a 64 bit machine, so there's plenty of re-compiles including stuff that I kept in my $HOME/local/bin directory because there were no packages for them.
I can now integrate them properly into the root system because src2pkg turns them into bona fide packages.
It is really a mature program - you know the sort of thing - you think you've discovered something that hadn't been thought of, then when you look closer in the documentation you see that is has
Thanks Gnashley

sahko: "could have also used deb2targz" Could have simply used 'ar' as well. But, as harryhaller says: "bona fide packages" -that's where src2pkg makes a difference, because it does a bunch of sanity checks on the content instead of simply changing the package archiving and compression. There was a thread recently where someone had converted a package using rpm2tgz (or other tool) and, after installing it, nearly all his system was inoperable because of bad permissions in the original package -can't do much as a user when /usr/bin is chmodded 700!

Still BobNutfield, I'd like to help you get it built correctly from source for your system. Which driver are we talking about? This (c2esp)?:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cupsdriverkodak/files/
or something else? (please provide link to package you downloaded or sources)

1 members found this post helpful.

Agree with all the above praising src2pkg. And gnashley is one of the most helpful people on these forums.
Agree with that, too. They're useful and take up little space.

"I'd not have any objections to see src2pkg in future stock Slackware." Has anyone ever suggested this to PV? I noticed awhile back he said something about maybe coming up with another build system which used some sourced components, instead of having everything in one SlackBuild.

I'm very interested in an answer for this too.

Well, we could send private messages to Pat or else open up a thread to discuss it, maybe to pose the question whether there were any objections to srcc2pkg being included in the distribution.
What do you think is best or are there any other suggestions?

Since volkerdi seems to be browsing the forum, I think it would be a better idea to make a thread here, so we could get input from him, and from the rest of the community (if there is any).