Hi.

I felt this was the best place to put this question up and it is my first time using Slackware (though I have used other distros before). My question is this:

How do you install a program?

I went to slackbuilds.org, got the data, used wget to get the files for compiling, compiled it, used installpkg on it -- and now what is the next step to using the tools I've downloaded?

In addition to that -- how do I upgrade certain programs? For example, the Firefox that came with Slackware 13.37 is 4.0 but the current one out there is 5.0. How would I go about upgrading Firefox to 5.0 using the Terminal (which is what I've heard, but am unsure about)?

To make installing SlackBuilds quicker and easier, get sbopkg;
http://www.sbopkg.org/

For ready made packages:
Eric Hameleer's (Alien Bob's) packages:
http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/
Robby Workman's packages:
http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/

To update Slackware, uncomment (remove the # ) from a mirror in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors, then run as root:
then:

1 members found this post helpful.

And for the rare occasion when something isn't in Slackbuilds.org and you need to compile from source, have a look at src2pkg which can build Slackware packages from source code.

Let see if I can show you how I compile, and install a program.

I download the program I want from SlackBuilds.org, as you suggest. I'll take an example.

I'm going to install aprogram called mozplugger (1.14.3) , it is a plugin, here is the description.
I need to download two files, this is similar for most programs you find on Slackbuilds.

They are : this is the slackbuild scripts. This is not the program, but the scripts to compile the program.

The second thing is : This is the source code. Note the source has the version number it the file name. This is an easy way to tell the two files apart. Both files are gunzipped, notice the .gz at the end.

The location you download to is your choice. I made a directory in my /home/myusername/ called src. I set my browser up to download to there. I open a file manager, I like Thunar, since I use XFCE desktop, and navigate to the src directory. There I now see the two file.

You need to uppack the slackbuilds script file. I right click that file, and on the pop up, select open with ark. Ark can extract the files, and create a directory and put the files of the .gz file in the new directory. That is straight forward with ark, the default is to preserve the paths.

Now in Thunar, you should see the new directory show up. I drag and drop the source file into that new directory. So, the short version is I end up with the scripts, and source in one directory, on my /home/username/src/mozplugger/.

Open a konsole, and so a 'su -' and give the root password. Notice the - after su, that causes the root user to use root environment, not the users environment.

Now navigate to the new directory with the source, and scripts.

In the konsole, enter './' and press the tab key. The slackbuilds script name will show up after the ./ cool. Press enter, and watch the system compile the program. If all is successful, it will end and output a line telling you the installable file is in /tmp.

O.K. so as root I navigate to /tmp in a konsole, and type 'pkgtool' and press enter. This tool is graghical, and easy to use. I select the first option to install from current. There will be a Yes, No, and Quit option. If I only have compiled one program, the one I compiled will be on the Yes option, press enter, pkgtool will install it.

That is it. If you want to save the compiled program, copy it someplace safe. Remember you have the source, and can re-compile it at will. I set my system to clear /tmp on a boot. Your choice here.

To answer your question on FF. What is in Slackbuilds is what is there. There are instructions on how to create the slackbuilds scripts, on SlackBuilds.org. I have never done it. So, I can not help there.

You should be able to install another version of FF, as far as I know, Mozilla supplies a .tar file compiled ready for installation. You would download it, and extract the files in the location of your choice. You can have more than one version of a program on your system. Not sure if that may couse problems, with a version 4 and 5 together. FF stores a lot of stuff on your /home/user/ that gets loaded when FF fires up. Major version changes sometimes cause problems. Not sure there.

Hope this helps.

3 members found this post helpful.

There's an official release of FF 5, so running slackpkg update and slackpkg upgrade-all will get it.

http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub.../ChangeLog.txt

Don't forget the Salix repository. That has a lot of extra things, and they are all tested to ensure they are compatible with Slackware.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <SLACKWARE> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

They're compatible to a subset of Slackware which Salix mostly is.
If you do use such packages you should ask for support from the Salix people, not the Slackware ones.

1 members found this post helpful.

camorri, thank you that is exactly what I needed. My mistake was that I was only downloading one of the files where I needed both. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to try it right now after making this post and report back.

brianL, thank you for telling me how to update Slackware and other software.

Everybody else, thank you for your help and contributions as well but I don't think it was quite exactly what I was looking for. ^.^

slackpkg just updates the stock Slackware, everything that's installed from the DVD/CDs.
sbopkg has an option for checking for updates from SlackBuilds.

No. They are compatible with Slackware, period. Pick any package from the Salix repositories. Any. It will work with Slackware. If anything, Salix is a superset of Slackware, it offers every single package Slackware offers plus several hundred more.

OK, for example if a package has KDE components as well as GTK+ or QT ones, are those built too? VLC and Libreoffice come to mind, cant find better examples ATM, sorry.

Another one: qmmp.

Sorry, but I don't understand how that question has anything to do with compatibility. In any case...

VLC from the Salix repos uses its default qt interface. It is compatible with Slackware.
LibreOffice from the Salix repos uses its default gtk interface. It is compatible with Slackware.
qmmp from the Salix repos uses its default qt interface. It is compatible with Slackware.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi again,

So I did everything you said brianL and it seemed to work. I hit OK and then it took me back to terminal (well, technically it was terminal but it took me back to typing).

I'm fairly sure it is installed, but how do I open it to run and do things? I tried looking for it with my File Manager (it's Dolphin) but no dice. Only the tar.gz files came up.

Bump for help:

As previously stated I did everything that was told, and now what? I don't see NetworkManager anywhere, not the icon or anything. Somebody please help.