There is no /var/lib/packages in Slackware 14.1 or Slackware 14.2. Did you see this path in Slackware Current?

Yes he's talking about slackware-current, just has the path confused. /var/log/packages is linked as follows:

Hi,

Maybe /var/log/scripts can help a little bit as some packages have post install scripts.

/var/log/scripts also only has glibc-zoneinfo-2019c-noarch-1_slack14.1 and ntp-4.2.8p13-x86_64-1_slack14.1, which are the last packages I updated. The last one was ntp. What happened? Did upgrading ntp remove all the others in / var / log / packages and / var / log / scripts? This is very strange.

Could I take the package files (noting if it's the same version installed), contained in / var / log / packages, from another Slackware 14.1 server, and copy it to this problem?

I cannot switch Slackware 14.1 to Slackware Current. My boss would give me more scolding. We only have stable systems with stable packages. Upgrading the kernel in a production environment just with good planning first as well.

But I will install Slackware Current on a test VM just to kill some curiosities ...

Good advice. Sadly there is no way to avoid an inadvertent drag-and-drop event.

I'm familiar with XFE. Will have to take another look. I wish XFE supported multiple tabs (in addition to dual pane) and had a way to configure bookmarks with friendly names rather than full paths only.

@cesarsj

I was not advocating for you to switch to using slackware-current. I was just clarifying where the package lists are stored in the slackware-current setup.

I'm not sure how to fix your problem with the missing /var/log/packages files. On 14.1 that is the correct location. You could put some of it back together from PACKAGES.TXT and MANIFEST, since that is the information contained in /var/log/packages, but that will only cover what comes from a stock slackware install. Any third party packages would be missing from that method.

I accidentally deleted a system file with D.A.D and had to dig in a backup to get just one file. I also witnessed the same thing of losing my packages and had to do a clean install. Now I backup twice a week just to be safe. I know I'm wearing the hell out of my SSD. Lesson learned..

Trackballs are great with a messy desk as well.

I've found that my thumb after a shitload of coffee is not as accurate as moving my entire arm after said shitload of coffee. I could drink less coffee, but I'm afraid my heart might stop.

Do you have a mount point that isn't mounted for some reason? If /var/log/packages was supposed to mounted on something (a logical volume or a partition) but that didn't happen, you wouldn't see the stuff that's in the missing mountpoint.

If you have another Slackware64 14.1 server that you know has the same set of packages that your damaged server should have, you can copy the contents of the "good" server's /var/log/packages directory. You should also copy over the contents of /var/log/scripts as well. Follow that by doing your normal update procedures to make the damaged machine current.

I ended up switching to my left hand for the mouse. I had no idea at the time why my right hand was getting hard to control but it turned out to be Parkinson's Disease. Anyway, a couple of days and I got quite used to a left-hand mouse. Wish they made more mice that fit the left hand.

Oh, 3 mugs of coffee starts my day

Ummm guys... FWIW default Dolphin always asks "Move here?, Copy here?, Link here? Cancel" on drag 'n drop. Polish and intelligent refinement is why I prefer KDE most of the time, although I do wish they weren't so cavalier about dropping good apps with no replacement or substitute, one of which was the v3 of KPackage which is an extremely useful GUI for manipulating /var/log/packages and Slackware's pkgtool aware as well. I have been installing it's dependencies in a KDE3 directory in /opt for years now in both 14.2 and -Current. A few other dropped kde apps are more troublesome.

The mention of moving the /var/log/packages to another location with -Current now has me wondering why v3 KPackage still works. I'll have to look into this. Thankfully Dolphin still does not assume a "Move Here".

There's a symlink from /var/log/packages to the new -current location.

I bought one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-.../dp/B00009KH63 in a black friday sale a couple of years back. It's great for point and click, but drag and drop can be a little awkward for any buttons other than button 1.

Does this happen all the time or only across different file systems?