Just spun up a Linode... Don't need/want any X...

Tried:
None worked.

How do you remove a whole package set?

I'd like to kill: kde, x, xap, and xfce


SOLVED: I'm an idiot. Kde wasn't installed only X.

...worked fine.

Technically, the Slackware's package sets aren't really package groups (like in dependency groups), like many other distributions have.

So, removing the X would be quite bad, from the POV of resolving the runtime dependencies of many packages from the still installed package sets.

Anyway, IF you intend to make a partial install of Slackware, I suggest you to forget the slackpkg and to start to learn how to find the packages dependencies. And please be kind to always specify that you do a partial install when you ask for help.

It's not true that Slackware has no package dependencies as many imagine, it just does NOT have an automated package dependencies resolution, then either you install everything, or you have to walk a painful way.

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Yes. As a general rule we prefer to provide technical support on full installations of Slackware.

Can you give any pointers to where or how to best learn how to find the packages dependencies? I would be interested in learning more about this.

Gentoo portage ebuild files, Salix repository..
Depends on what package you want really, if it's just some binary package unpack the bin and use ldd to see what's what.
If it's a packaged collection of scripts all I can say is good luck. Script packages from different upstreams change deps like the weather does.

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Two ways I do it:

1) Read the 'requires' on the slackbuilds.org page

2) Start the program in cli and see what it complains about.

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Unfortunately, this is that damn Linode Slack 15 image... The creator has dropped some packages and I haven't figure out what's not there.

EXCEPT, I did figure out that xap, kde, & xfce are not there (but x is)???

I don't know if the guy was high when he created this image or some cli app requires X stuff (because I'm certainly not going to be running X on a virtual server). I left x on the machine because I could see some command line app requiring something weird like gnome wallet or something.

Whatever, my applications are running so, I'm happy.

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I'm new to Slackware. Failed to compile a lot of programs on Slackware. Practiced for while.

You can use

Or you can run the program and read the warnings. Symlink the dependencies in /usr/lib64 and it's that easy!

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why would removing X be quite bad, as long as I also exclude XAP, XFCE, KDE?

Well, because Slackware packages are built on full installed Slackware, the X dependencies are poured in many libraries and applications which obviously does not depend in X11.

Let' me give you a classic example: PHP has support for ImageMagik, BUT it depends on the X11 libraries.

So, removing the X series may result in a broken PHP - then a broken LAMP stack, then the webserver serving a Wordpress site can go nuts.

Yeah, looks like Slackware has its own shortcomings - like any thing invented by humans.

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why do we have the packages series then?

Good question!

In the past, I have asked myself alone, this...

In my humble opinion, those package series are a categorization by functionality, like in: there we put the libraries (L series) , there we put the KDE software (KDE series) , there we put the X11 server things (X series) and there we put the major applications which requires X (XAP series), etc...

This probably helps in the development and testing.

BUT, I have arrived to be quite certain that those package series does NOT represent a sorting by runtime dependencies, so trying to use them as a dependency resolution would be prone to failures.

Patrick has stated a number of times over the years that the package series are a historical remnant and that nothing should be read into them any more.
e.g. https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post5766773

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that's how i remember it: a historical thing

if 'nothing should be read into them any more', than that's too bad.

Hi solarfields,
Over the decades I have installed Slackware on quite a few servers, which I subsequently ran and maintained. None of these servers ran any GUI software (I did not install: x, xap, kde, &c.). For individual packages in the other package sets --> I installed only the individual packages necessary/useful for the server's purpose and its maintenance. (From the computer-security point of view, if a piece of software does not exist on the server, then the server is highly unlikely to be bitten by a flaw in this software.)

In my experience, not having x, xap, xfce, and kde can be just fine for some computers. I will agree that setting up the first server was a fair amount of work, but it was not terrible, and I made a 'recipe' of the installation --- and then I used my recipe for subsequent servers.

I see LuckyCyborg mentions PHP and LAMP stack and Wordpress. So far, I have never setup a server with any of these, consequently I am not familiar with their needs. However, I am aware of them, and someday I may setup a server with a LAMP stack...

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