Slackpack Package Manager
 

Hi everyone, i see that LinuxQuestions has an active Slackware community and im happy to be with you now hehe.

Id like to say a few words about a package manager project which im running for a year now.

Slackpack is a package manager for Slackware Linux.

Slackpack has a friendly GUI environment and it can install
packages, list installed packages, remove Slackware Linux packages
(.tgz or .txz) and convert to .tgz format from:

.deb (Debian Format)
.rpm (Fedora format).

Slackpack can also create Slackware Linux .tgz packages from application's source code.

in the latest version (1.1.8) Slackpack has been ported to Qt4 successfully and it now has full .txz support, overall Slackpack runs great on the new Slackware 13.0 release.

you can find more info on the project's website:
http://slackpackpkgman.wordpress.com
along with screenshots and changelog and blah blah blah...

oh i think you got the idea.
Thank you for your time, I hope to give Slackpack a shot and if you like it reply here with your opinion. xD

btw please, if you have an idea for an UI update of for a new feature or if you found some bug or something please submit them on the following links or just email me.

feature requests:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func...9&atid=1031794
submit bugs:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func...9&atid=1031791

Hi MysticalGroovy and welcome to LQ.
I've had a quick look at Slackpack and so far I'm impressed. I've not had chance to check all it's functionality but I will. Slackware is now sadly lacking a graphical QT4 package manager as KDE4's KPackage no longer works properly. I think your product ,( it is yours - isn't it ? ), will fill a gap and is welcome. I, like many others, mainly use the command line for package management, creation, etc but it's always very welcome to have a graphical tool to have available when needed.

Congratulations and thank you very much for this. I would recommend others give it a try.

The download links don't seem to work on the website.

I downloaded this version and it worked for me.

Still doesn't work for me :(

Weird - I've just tried it again and it waits a while but works eventually. I could mail you a copy if you want (it's only 545 KB). I trust the author, (I think it's MysticalGroovy), won't mind as he's made it publicly available anyway.

I keep receiving a "Connection reset" error message. Your email will be welcome.

Would this work if I implemented it into a CLFS build..? I am finishing up on the toolchain. And I think that this could be a great addition to my setup.

@escaflown : I do not have an Email address for you and I cannot log on to any of my personal webpages to upload it for you. (Yes - things are not going well tonight for me !). If you gave me an address I'll gladly send it to you.
@manwithaplan : Yes - I think the package should work for a cross linux from scratch setup. You may need to setup the /var/log/packages directories and obviously you'll need the supporting packages as well. It shouldn't be very difficult though. This is a QT4 KDE4 package though which will need a lot of additional package building from an basic LFS build (i.e. KDE/QT4 and supporting stuff). I have built a CLFS setup with KDE3 and it took a while - loads of building to do. If you have the KDE/QT/X and associated stuff already done then it won't be much of a chore.

Good morning everyone,
thank you for your answers.

@bgeddy:
yes Slackpack is mine :)

@escaflown:
strange Ive just checked the download links and everything's working correctly.

MysticalGroovy,
Slackpack looks very nice. Good job. And the download works now.
One question:
Will there be a Slackpack for Slackware64? The download page only lists packages for i686.

Just install it, but how to manage to use it as user, cause it ask me to use it as root?

So...just as a suggestion for clarification, do we use the latest version 1.1.5 ported to Qt4 with older versions of slackware using KDE 3.5? Or do we use an older version? Maybe a clarification of which version to run for which version of slackware, or other compatibility notes on the webpage would be helpful.

The tool looks very nice. It's a good front end for the *pkg commands and the option for creating slack packages from sources is great. One suggestion: will it be possible to allow regular expressions search in the search zone?

@bgeddy: thanks for the email.

Package managements need roots privilege. You can use either "sudo" or "kdesu" for running the application. For example: kdesu slackpack. You will then need to provide the root's password.

To install or remove something, sure.. but if all you want to do is look through the package database, it really should be able to do so without becoming superuser. I personally just open up a text editor to the appropriate file in /var/log/packages, but YMMV.

MysticalGroovy: perhaps you can think about using src2pkg as a backend for the .deb and .rpm conversions, since it's gained a lot of knowledge on how to make sure the conversion creates a valid package with files conforming to Slackware conventions.

@tommcd:
probably not in the next few months m8, I currently not have the time or the knowledge to port Slackpack to 64bit slackware :)
Ill add it as a feature request on Slackpack sourceforge site so i wont forget it :)

@mostlyharmless
Slackpack 1.1.5 is written on Qt4, so the latest Slackware 13.0(using KDE4/Qt4) is required to run Slackpack 1.1.5, theoretically speaking Slackpack 1.1.5 could run on an oldest version of Slackware if you have Qt4.5 installed.

@bgeddy:
currently you cannot use regular expressions on the search box but ill add it as a feature request in sourceforge project site so i wont forget to implement to the next slackpack release :)
(btw the search box is currently a bit beta as a feature)

thank you all for your answers :),
recently I got an email and a nice fellow called mr. Robby Workmanwho contributed alot to the Slackware community and he suggested me to add a source code control system for Slackpack, so basically Im working on it right now Ill post here for updates :)

@tuxdev,

hmm why not, thx for the suggestion :)

Ok i will test it this afternoon, but it, should be easy if it ask (graphically) for root password and load.

You're completely right. I was talking about the installation and remove part of the process.

Works fine using kdesu, thank you very much for your hard work

Yes - I agree with this. The application could check if the user is root when he requests an operation requiring root privileges or perhaps disable such options when the user is not root. As it is the app checks on entry for root status and exits if not found.
@MysticalGroovy : I know this may be a pain but the above mentioned functionality change would be very useful. It's nice to be able to browse packages as a normal user.

@bgeddy:

good morning m8 :)
yeah i think it should be possible to browse the packages without becoming a superuser and i can implement it too in Slackpack, but do you really think its necessary?

I mean that the usage of a package manager is to update/install/remove etc packages from the system, to do this in slackware you need root access, if you cant get root access why do you want to use Slackpack for? you wont be able to process packages, you'll be able to only see the installed packages on the system, and if you cant process the installed packages, why you would want to..see them?

p.s: sry for my bad english btw :)

ok, mr Robby Workman just confirmed that Slackpack builds and runs fine on x86_64 so it doesn't need no porting at all ;)

@MysticalGroovy: Thanks for the quick reply. Your English is great BTW - no problems !
This is possibly me just being lazy. I always operate as a normal user (not root) and don't like going to root unless neccesary. I'm used to using Kpackage in KDE3 which allows me to browse the installed packages list and look at what files are in a package without being root. In that application it's not till I want to do something that needs root privileges that I have to give the root password.
This is just a small observation and not really a "make or break" aspect of the application - just a little convenience.
I'm really appreciative of your work on this and think the application is great ! Good work.

not a bad idea!:hattip:
I should implement a feature where the user will be able to see files in the selected package like in KPackage! :)(yes, without being root ;))

thx bgeddy :)!

btw gentlemen, i would like to ask you if you have any feature request you should add them here:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func...9&atid=1031794
so i wont forget them

Good work! It's nice to have a GUI sometimes and my wife will be glad she doesn't have to mess with that "text thingy" anymore.

I downloaded the source, and after editing the makefile, I recompiled the source to work in Slackware64. That said, it has no package afterwards to install. However, I can run the binary in the bin directory using kdesu. It came up clean and seems ready to go. The app looks very nice with a straightforward ui that is very user friendly.

I'm going to create a menu entry to make it easier to call up by kdesu. I sure wish I knew more on how to write code!

Thanks, MysticalGroovy - well done! :)

I downloaded the source, and after editing the makefile, I recompiled the source to work in Slackware64. That said, it has no package afterwards to install. However, I can run the binary in the bin directory using kdesu. It came up clean and seems ready to go. The app looks very nice with a straightforward ui that is very user friendly.

I'm going to create a menu entry to make it easier to call up by kdesu. I sure wish I knew more on how to write code!

Thanks, MysticalGroovy - well done! :)

I have included the makefile for others to see and comment.

my pleasure mlangdn :)

maybe you could send me a copy of your menu entry file? xD

I didn't make a menu entry file - I don't know how to do that. What I did, was create a softlink to the binary in /usr/bin. Then I created a menu entry using kmenuedit. To call up Slackpack, I use kdesu Slackpack to launch the app. This may be a bit crude, but it works for me.

hmmm ok
ill see if i can implement kdesu into slackpack so when you run the program and youre not root to ask for root password.

Hey all,

a few Slackpack updates:
slackpack now has its own SVN repo xD

browse code:
checkout current version:
---
today i was about to release the 1.1.6 version but i didnt make alot of upgrades so after a 5min thinking I decided not to release the next version yet.

some of the finished updates:

• progress dialogs added to all features
• packages are listed automatically on tab change
• code rearranged
• various code tweaks

Slackpack version 1.1.6 released :)

• progress dialogs added to all features
• packages are listed automatically on tab change
• added icons to list packages tab tree view
• code rearranged
• various code tweaks

Slackpack 1.1.6 package (.tgz)
Slackpack 1.1.6 source (.tar.gz)
--------
Slackpack Homepage

I just installed slackpack 1.1.6. During installation it displays sloppy message with some warnings and errors at the end:

I improved slightly your README file:

Pay attention to the way your installer interprets apostrophes:

I'm not the target of slackpack because I prefer command line or ncurses interfaces. Anyway thank you for your work.

I downloaded the source tarball this morning and ran qmake. It recognized the system as x86_64 and created a makefile accordingly. I only added -fpic to the clags thingys and issued make. Again, I simply ran the binary as root from my /home directory. It sprang to life and looks very nice.

However, I saw the create pkg from source icon and decided to give that a whirl. It does not work on a tarball itself, but only in the extracted tarball's folder. Even then, it failed to create a package, saying it could not output a package in the current directory. This still needs a bit of work. I didn't explore that any further.

hey all and thx for your answers,

ahm.. yes mlangdn i can confirm that ver1.1.6(and maybe 1.1.5) has an issue with Create Package feature. Ill have to take a good look on that :)

@w1k0
thx for the README Update! ;)
the sloppy errors i see, surely has something to do with SLackpack documentation(which isnt finished coz im so bored to finish it :))ill take a look on this issue too

thank again for your answers :)

ok, ive fixed the "create package" feature and included the new README file by w1k0 :) xD

slackpack-1.1.6-i686-2.tgz

Do you have a link for the updated source?

good morning :)
yeah sure heres the link:

slackpack-1.1.6-source-2.tar.gz

In my opinion it'll be good idea to implement three functions in slackpack:

1. Possibility to run slackpack as regular user -- the program asks about root's password when user tries to install, update or remove packages.

2. Possibility of browse packages in Search Packages tab for files included in them.

3. Possibility of search packages tree for a package containing specific file.

thanks for your ideas w1k0 :)

1)on my TODO list ;)
2)im working on it right now :)
3)just like the second one only this one maybe included in a later release :)

Hi all,

I suggest a feature for Slackpack: Possibility of browse packages by series like: a, ap, d, kde, x, y...

cool, never though about that :)

Well, I gave it a shot at creating a package. I pointed it to dvdauthor as a test package, and it created the package in root's home. While it did work this time, its not something that gives me any control over where it goes or any extra parameters I may wish to add.

That said, overall it can be a useful app, and I think congratulations are in order for your work on this project.

Slackpack 1.1.7 version just released :)

updates

• added package information feature on list pkgs tab
• added save/copy actions
• segmentation fault on remove/upgrade package bug fixed

Slackpack 1.1.7 package (.tgz)
Slackpack 1.1.7 source (.tar.gz)
------------
Slackpack homepage

Thank you all for your feedback :)

How to compile slackpack?

I want compile myself this package.

I decompress sources, then
# qmake Slackpack.pro
# make.
# make install
this last step does not working
In effect Makefile is:
...
####### Install

install: FORCE

uninstall: FORCE

FORCE:
...
without real actions.

How to install it?

Thanx,
Matteo

P.S.: pardon for my bad english

after qmake && make the slackpack executable is created at the 'bin' folder.
it does not installs itself into the system, however, you can just copy "Slackpack" executable from the /bin directory of the source into '/usr/bin', and run it from everywhere :)

into slackpack-1.1.7-i686-1.tgz I see many other files as slackpack.desktop, icons and other.
I must to copy all manually? There are not a script (as a SlackBuild or other) to create a slackpack tgz?


I think that may be useful to add an install directive in Makefile, even if I need to copy slackpack executable only


Thx,
Matteo