OK, reading through the Slackware documentation and am a bit confused about updates. Perhaps it is a case of what I am used to vice what Slackware does. I am used to daily/weekly updates in other distros. I don't need that, just what I m used to - I know Slackware is all about consistency and stability.

So, the docs on updating tell me to check change logs by pulling them down and reviewing, then update as necessary. Does slackpkg update not check to see if updates are available? Just trying to get the basic process down.

EDIT: I get it: read further into the slackpkg docs.

Thanks in advance.

Updates are not fast and furious in Slackware (stable) because most are Security updates only. Slackpkg will pick up all of those if you run it on a regular basis (say once a week on Sundays or something like that). Another good way to know what's going on with updates is to sign up for the mailing lists. You'll receive emails of all updates and then you'll be able to use your Slackpkg to update at your leisure.

http://www.slackware.com/lists/

Luck!

P.S. If you're new to Slackware, be aware that you should blacklist all kernel updates. Do NOT let Slackpkg run kernel updates... it's NOT a good idea. You should manually install any kernel updates that come down the stream. They're rare, but they do occur.

*from: http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...using_slackpkg

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Got it, thanks for the advice!

I did let slackpkg update everything last night because I went from 14.2 to current and I did have to copy vmlinuz from /boot to my efi/Slackware directory, then got stuck in a boot loops so also had to copy elilo.efi from /boot also to the efi directory. After I figured that out, all was well. I'll blacklist those things you mentioned so that doesn't happen again. Will probably switch to stable once 15 comes out as I have read in other threads about 15. I don't need current, just wanted something more modern than 14.2.

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You're very welcome! Luck with your Slackware! It's the best there is! Of course, I'm a bit biased about that.

I like it so far - I just need to get used to it and how things are managed. I am used to either rapid updates/rolling releases (arch, void) or slow updates when I used a BSD. I appreciate the stability though and also the manual things in Slackware because it gives me control and in all honesty, I don't need nor want latest and greatest. As long as everything I need works, I am good. I have a simple tool list I use and it all works for me.

Did my Patreon thing for Pat as well - I have donated before as I appreciate effort it takes to do this. This is truly a grass-roots effort and the community seems to be very welcoming and eager to help out.

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In the last 20 years, I've run most of the main line Linuxes, including Arch. Slack was always my main OS, though. I ran the others as learning experiences. Arch was always impressive to me. However, I'm not a fan of systemD, so I wouldn't run any of the systemD Linuxes these days.

I'm a firm believer in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage. SysVinit is a very KISS UNIX-like system and it works well. I saw no need for the over-complication of systemD in Linux. However, my computing needs are minimal these days. Maybe systemD provides things others more active need in their operating systems. For me, Slack is all I need.

Stick with it. You might find that being a Slacker is the way to go.

I have used nearly every distro on distrowatch in the past 2 decades. Used to be a big Gentoo fan but compiling everything got tedious. Not a systemd fan either and was using Void, which uses runit and is very fast, but, Slackware has always fascinated me as it was one of the first distros I used back in the 90's. I wanted to dive back in and see how it is these days. I am tired of hopping around to find distro "nirvana" so want to settle on something that works well and I can tweak a little if I need to.

Trying my best to stay on this path - it is a slow and steady one but good so far.

Appreciate the help!

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I don't know how many other people use sbopkg but I find it very handy. I know how to use slackbuilds by itself but it's kind of tedious so sbopkg makes things easier. I am mainly concerned about updates - looks like sbopkg can check to see if any of the built packages need to be updated.

I am liking this Slackware thing

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Did you try sbotools yet?

No, and sadly I have moved on...I found the procedure to install multilib and steam to be quite involved. That's an understatement actually, lol. It took me 2 days to get everything working well without multilib, then I started to read multilib and steam docs and didn't want to break everything so gave up. It shouldn't be this hard. I did like the extent of the documentation and the simplicity of the system but installing wine and steam should be as simple as enabling a multilib repo and running 2 install commands. Not saying it was impossible, just way more complicated (and probably risky) than I am used.

This is what's common in other distros, but Slackware has never really pushed for this type of ease of use (which tends to give Slackware users a lot more flexibility at the tradeoff of not being able to easily install software from repos on a stock system).

But it actually is relatively easy to get multilib installed and wine/steam with a few commands, but it does require installing slackpkg+, which is an extension for slackpkg that allows configuring additional software repos. You're able to add the multilib repo and Alien Bob's SlackBuilds repo and then install things from those repos with slackpkg.

But it is typically recommended to set it up manually at least once so you have a basic understanding in case something goes wrong.

The multilib page on SlackDocs discusses how you can use slackpkg+ to keep multilib up-to-date and the slackpkg+ site has a README that goes into a lot more detail with that.

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@sevendogsbsd

theres a very easy way to get something more update than 14.2 if you head over to Alien Bobs mirror ; he does iso install from time to time. http://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/sla...4-current-iso/

I last installed the September release. After that there are many approaches; personally I've found that the best is that of gino d'acampo "minimum effort maximum satisfaction.

What i did was install slpkg https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1.../?search=slpkg with diligent use you can install a package and it installs deps as well !

After that i followed Aliens article : https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sl...:systemupgrade


I was on 4.9.75 but now on 5.4.12 with blacklisting the packages that were installed sept eg cinelerra still work . In fact i can not detect any issue at all

Darn, wish you would have posted about this, as others have said it is as easy as you think. You can use slackpkg+, slapt-get and others to add third party repos from dev's. AlienBob provides the mulitlib repo and it works like a charm. Well maybe better then a charm I never had much luck with them.

Even manually it is easy using AlienBob's step by step instructions.

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I think the thing I found daunting was the whole experience. I had a working system after a couple of evenings of work (not long overall) but then when I started to read about how to implement multilib and then wine and steam, I got discouraged. I wanted a bit of tweaking but not THAT much. I know you all say it's easy and I certainly have the skill, but for whatever reason I didn't want to tackle that much for my main machine. I am back on my true love (!) FreeBSD. I do have a second machine though, and am thinking about setting that up with Slackware so I can play with it and learn how to do these things at my leisure.

I really like the idea of Slackware and the fact it is a "rebel" if you will (no systemd, cult following, KISS principle). I am a rebel as well, both in my profession and my long time use and promotion of FOSS.

When I get a free weekend I am going to set up my spare machine with Slackware and work through these things slowly. I'll reach out if I have questions, thanks.

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