Hi Everybody,

I've been a slacker for almost three months and i'm loving it.
I have few questions that i'd like to be clarified. Currently, i download the slackbuild file un-tar it and then i download the source file and install the package. All this is done as root in root's home folder. I don't delete them so that i know when i remove a package i remove it along with the dependency if any. I was wondering if my approach is right or is there any other better way to do it. Right now, root's home dir is full of *.tar files and directories.It looks messy.

Thank you for your time.

Hi. You might want to maintain a text file with the dependency tree of your own installed builds: this way it might be easier for you to remember what depends on what, and to keep the system free of unneeded dependencies when you remove something.

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Where are you getting your SlackBuilds from? It sounds like SBo (slackbuilds.org) since you mention untaring the slackbuild file and downloading the source. If so, many are using SBo frontends like sbopkg or sbotools. These keep the stuff out of your home directory (although, it just moves it to another part of the filesystem, under /var) and makes building software much more streamlined.

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I'm curious about your text file to track dependencies.

Does it looks like a sbopkg queue file?

I'm just using sbopkg for a little while and failed for now to download the whole queue files from gitorious so and still looking after a good way to manage my builds history.

I don't know how a sbopkg queue file looks like, I've never used sbopkg. In fact I prefer to manage my builds manually, as I find it much simpler. The kind of file I mentioned is just a mnemonic aid, something to look at in order to keep track of what I have installed.

I use a directory /home/slackbuilds for mine. To avoid having to rerun the slackbuild, I move the /tmp file to the working directory under slackbuilds.

Assuming that /home is the mount point of a separate drive/partition, you can actually reinstall slackware without having to download and recompile the packages again. (You would still have to reinstall the packages).

Thanks both for your replies.

@Philippe Lacroix : the queue file gives the build order and the options to pass to the build.

@Psionl0 : I do keep the packages but the recent moves in current made me recompile a few packages... And I'm always trying find the most lazy way to have things done :-D

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Thank you @bassmadrigal and @Philip Lacroix. I had installed sbotools from slackbuild and i hope it keeps the installations clean.

It was this part of your OP that concerned me.
I would prefer that the slackbuild files were not stored on the same partition as the system (which it is under root). Regardless, your setup would be a lot cleaner if you moved all your slackbuild files and directories under a single directory like "slackbuilds". It would be cleaner still if you moved each .tar file to the directory that was created when you unpacked the file.

Good luck with the "lazy way". My experience is that unless I become an expert on a particular short cut, it always takes longer than doing it the hard way.

For a simple, (also lazy) mechanism, I create a separate "build" user, and once I've used the package or other maintenance scripts or notes as root, I mv the files to an appropriate directory under /home/"build". -e.g.
/home/"build"/SBo.pkgs/, /home/"build"/alien.pkgs/, /home/"build"/"personal project 1"/, and so forth.

Keeps /root, /tmp, other directories clean, and provides a simple way to get back to previous installs, etc. should my root "work" bork something. Also, my personal backup scripts deal with /home/"build" ... If you keep /home on a separate partition, that has its own advantages ... I rarely actually log in as user "build", tho I have been giving some thought to converting this scheme to using git ... currently, I consider that overkill, tho.