Can't run level 4 because you don't have GDM, KDM or XDM installed
 

I installed Slackware64-14.1 using the DVD ISO method.

Before installation I customized the tagfiles so that I only installed the packages I thought were essential to running the OS.

I don't wish to have Gnome or KDE as my graphical environment. For this reason I chose the packages fluxbox, blackbox, fvvm, lxpanel and ALL the packages listed in "xcfe" series.

Towards the end of the installation I chose the xinit.xcfe method.

After booting into tty1, I edited the /etc/inittab and changed id:3 to id:4

I rebooted my notebook computer and after logging in using my password, I typed the following command:

startx

The error message returned was: command not found

Additionally I received an error message stating "Hey, GDM, KDE or XDM not installed. Can't run level 4...."

How do I fix the problem?

Startx is part of xinit package.

For graphical runlevel, you need a display manager e.g. GDM, KDE or XDM

Unless you really need the space just do a full install, it will save you time in the long run. The extra couple of MB's are worth it.

Thanks for your reply.

I wish to run XDM only.

Which specific packages of which specific series do I need please?

Unfortunately the space constraints on my notebook computer are limited.

I have googled extensively for the minimal set of packages that I need to install to run an XDM graphical environment. Sad to say there is no such answer.

Would you like to provide that answer? That would be great.

AFAIK for xdm you need libICE,libSM,libX11,libXau,libXdmcp,libXext,libXmu,libXt,libxcb,util-linux.

And for startx (shipped in xinit as Veerain said) you need libX11,libXau,libXdmcp,libxcb.

But if you just want to run XFCE, another possibility would be to install Salix XFCE, see here.

Maybe you could post your tagfiles or a link to them, so we could see if they seem consistent at first sight.

I also saw this post you wrote. Assuming that's actually the same topic, it would have been better to post it in the current thread (that's a user's opinion, I am not a moderator). I have no answer to that other question, as in genuine Slackware there is no dependencies database.

The list of threads in LQ about Slackware that includes the words "minimal" and "install" should give you some clues.

Also, Salix provides dependencies files for Slackware version 14.1 on i486 and x86_64. I assume that they are accurate but didn't check.

Thanks for your reply.

The files listed in your reply have been marked as ADD in the relevant tagfiles.

And the following is what happened:

Installation of Slackware64 was successful, using my customized tagfiles.

After rebooting my notebook computer and typing startx, error messages began to appear on the console tty1:

libnettle being a dependency of xorg-server, there is no chance that you can start an X server without. For your information I have found that this way (I have a copy of the deps files I mentioned earlier in ~/Slint/deps/i486/deps):Also, to find which package ships a not installed dependency, for instanceOr use the Slackware Packages Browser.

Thanks, Didier, for the above tip. The next time an error about a missing file occurs, I will use the "grep" command to find out which package is responsible.

Sorry, I don't understand your above statement. Would you like to provide an example?

By the way, have you ever used customized tagfiles during installation of Slackware? If you have, could you help me answer my other post entitled "Unable to locate tagfiles on USB stick"?

Thanks in advance.

/var/log/packages only record installed packages, thus in your case the grep command wouldn't have given you an answer.

In such a case, looking into MANIFEST.bz2 comes handy, as this file records all files that should be there in a full Slackware installation. This file is to be found in the /slackware or /slackware64 directory of the DVD or any mirror. There are similar files in /extra and /testing, but that are not of interest in you case. What I wrote is an example, as I keep a local copy of the file tree as found in mirrors for several Slackware versions. But if you don't it's probably simpler to use the Slackware Packages Browser.

I will also answer your other post.

Thanks for your tip.

How different are the contents of MANIFEST.bz2 from PACKAGES.TXT? I can download the latter by using the following URL: http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackwa...1/PACKAGES.TXT

See under the heading "Presentation of Slackware software packages" in Get acquainted with Slackware.