Hi gnashley,

I have just installed Bluewhite64 12.0. For those not familiar, it is for all intents and purposes Slackware 12.0, but rebuilt from the ground up for AMD64 & EM64T x86_64 machines.

Website:http://bluewhite64.com/bluewhite64-linux-news.html

Anyhow, my question is this:

Is there any LARGE unsurmountable reason that you are aware of, that would prevent src2pkg from being an effective packager for Bluewhite64, as well as Slackware?
I am willing to do any work required, within my realm of ability, and with help from you if you are willing, AND if you are not opposed to my trying to create a src2pkg for use with (Bluewhite64) 64 bit linuxes.

One thing I did think of, is the installwatch (new name now?) binary, included with the latest version of src2pkg. Can that be rebuilt under my 64bit arch? Will it work the same?

Any feedback, good or bad, will be appreciated, as whether I can come up with an official "src2pkg64" type of package or not, I do plan to use src2pkg for my own BW64 system, and any info on whether this will/won't work and why, are valuable, esp. from the author of the handiest Slackware tool since sliced bread

Thanks,
Sasha

EDIT:
Duh! perhaps this would have been better suited to the "Bluewhite64" forum - please relocate as req'd. Sorry!

Isn't src2pkg a bunch of Bash scripts? Maybe I'm wrong I don't use it. Nothing to port AFAIK, the scripts should work with a 64-bit distro as well as a 32-bit.

"basically" yes, it is a bunch of Bash scripts as well as some text config files.
The main thing I am concerned with is the 'installwatch' binary, as I have no idea what is in it and I don't recall having the source for it (maybe I do, but since gnashley redid it because the old one went unmaintained, I am not sure).

At a glance (like until I am off work and have the time to look into it) I suspect that as weibullguy suggests, checking out the paths and stuff to make sure they are correct for BW64 is the most obvious thing to look at re 'porting' the src2pkg program, but I figure asking the designer is a wise and harmless thing to do before diving in.

SVA

True, asking doesn't hurt.

Is BW64 standards-compliant? If so, then you can just use src2pkg as a 32-bit app and not port anything.

In any event, my interest was peeked a little. Looks like src2pkg comes with libsentry. Looks easy enough to build for the x86_64 ABI and install in the correct directory.Also, here are instructions for building installwatch to help get you started. Good luck!

Thanks Weibullguy for those tips, they will be helpful I am sure, when I am off work as of tomorrow and will undoubtedly be looking into this.

True, I could run it just as a 32bit app, but would rather not start mixing and matching 64 & 32 bit stuff; ie, I would rather rebuild src2pkg & all as 64bit, and use it as such, with it installed system-wide as it is on my Slack system..

AFAIK BW64 is standards compliant (???). Either way (it is or is not) the default lib location is /lib and when one wants to go installing 32 bit stuff, a /lib32 folder must be made for 32bit libs, AND stuff cannot be installed willy-nilly (system-wide) as 32 bit libs & things could be installed over any preexisting 64bit stuff. Therefore, installing 32bit stuff is supposed to be done locally, ie install to /home/<user> or maybe /usr/local/abcd rather than globally. With 64bit stuff, this is not a concern.

The libsentry and installwatch/safeinstall things are indeed the main questionable parts I was concerned with, and as long as the source I can get (from your link or wherever/whatever version gnashley is using) will build under 64bit and work as expected, it shouldn't be an issue. Just lots and lots of path-checking and the like, and then testing while my BW64 install is fresh and 'normal'.

Thanks for the suggestions, again. I will keep posted as to progress.

Also, @ the mods -- sorry, this is looking more like a BW64 issue, so feel welcome to move this thread as necessary

Sasha

OK, not compliant then. Too bad, your life would be much easier if it were.

BTW, I got the source for libsentry from the src2pkg site.