[SOLVED] Setting up Slpkg for Slackware Current

Sylvester Ink · 05-06-2020, 03:53 PM

I'm having a similar problem as described in this post:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...es-4175664918/

I had a fresh install of Slackware 14.2, which I updated to Slackware-current using slackpkg. I installed Sbopkg and set it up to track -current, then used it to install the latest Slpkg. (I know it's odd to have 2 extra package managers like that, but it's worked fine for me on my 14.2 setup.)

In any case, I set up slpkg.config as instructed:

Code:

RELEASE=current

Then I ran "slpkg update". Unfortunately it still seems to be using the 14.2 repository. I also ran "slpkg upgrade" to rebuild the logs, but that didn't help either.

Regnad Kcin · 05-06-2020, 06:34 PM

I also use both slpkg and sbopkg/sqg and
have been running slackware64-current for years.
"current" is Slackware for me.
I like the interface and the feedback that slpkg provides.
I do set up the config for slpkg so that it doesnt downgrade things for me. Sometimes slpkg does indeed fail.
When slpkg is not working for me I use sbopkg/sqg.
I also still occasionally download some slackbuilds and run/install them manually. Some things are not simple to build such as LibreOffice, vlc, and inkscape, and in those cases I use the packages like AlienBob and Ponce provide. If there are binaries available, it is often far more convenient to unpack those somewhere and link to them.

Sylvester Ink · 05-07-2020, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regnad Kcin

I also use both slpkg and sbopkg/sqg and
have been running slackware64-current for years.
"current" is Slackware for me.
I like the interface and the feedback that slpkg provides.
I do set up the config for slpkg so that it doesnt downgrade things for me. Sometimes slpkg does indeed fail.
When slpkg is not working for me I use sbopkg/sqg.
I also still occasionally download some slackbuilds and run/install them manually. Some things are not simple to build such as LibreOffice, vlc, and inkscape, and in those cases I use the packages like AlienBob and Ponce provide. If there are binaries available, it is often far more convenient to unpack those somewhere and link to them.

I'd certainly like to run it like that, but I can't get slpkg to use current at all. I've reinstalled it twice, still the same problem.
I've noticed that when I run "slpkg health", I get a UnicodeDecodeError, which doesn't happen on my 14.2 box. Not sure if it's related.

Code:

usr/share/apps/picmi/themes/picmi.svg
usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/22x22/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/picmi.png
usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/picmi.svgz
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/slpkg", line 41, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/site-packages/slpkg/main.py", line 854, in main
    arguments[args[0]]()
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/site-packages/slpkg/main.py", line 212, in command_health
    PackageHealth(mode="").test()
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/site-packages/slpkg/health.py", line 79, in test
    for line in fopen:
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.8/codecs.py", line 322, in decode
    (result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe2 in position 4004: invalid continuation byte

Sylvester Ink · 05-07-2020, 11:52 AM

It seems that by default slpkg doesn't support SBo current, just up to 14.2. Is there another repo I should enable for that, or should I stick to sbopkg?

captain_sensible · 05-08-2020, 07:22 AM

The thing about current as i understand it , is that it moves forward and then you hope that certain extra software keeps pace and that its all in harmony with slackware current.

Also if you install 14.2 and use slackpkg to update as i did, what you get depends on the time you did the update. So for me
i have kernel 5.4.12 ;i installed slpkg from slackbuilds with the deps it indicated which was python 3.7.2

Slpkg is working a treat but its one reason i'm not keen to do another system upgrade.

I can't remember the date when i did the upgrade but i've had no trouble at all.

I use slpkg with caution since sometimes such as with clamav via a build it reminds you to setup groups etc for things to work. When you install a package it doesn't tell you that( from my memory) ; you simply find things don't work .
If i can't get what i want in SBo then there are plenty of other repo that slpkg can use.

/etc/slpkg/repositories.conf
[REPOSITORIES]
slack
sbo
alien
# rlw
# slacky
conrad
# slonly
# ktown{latest}
# multi
# slacke{18}
# salix
# slackl
# rested
# msb{1.18}
# csb
# connos
# mles{desktop}

or :

#slpkg repo-enable
//allows you to do that if you have python3-pythondialog-3.5.1-x86_64-1_SBo installed

two sites to read up on for slpkg

https://dslackw.gitlab.io/slpkg/
https://gitlab.com/dslackw/slpkg/blo...er/EXAMPLES.md

Sylvester Ink · 05-08-2020, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain_sensible

The thing about current as i understand it , is that it moves forward and then you hope that certain extra software keeps pace and that its all in harmony with slackware current.

Also if you install 14.2 and use slackpkg to update as i did, what you get depends on the time you did the update. So for me
i have kernel 5.4.12 ;i installed slpkg from slackbuilds with the deps it indicated which was python 3.7.2

Slpkg is working a treat but its one reason i'm not keen to do another system upgrade.

I can't remember the date when i did the upgrade but i've had no trouble at all.

I use slpkg with caution since sometimes such as with clamav via a build it reminds you to setup groups etc for things to work. When you install a package it doesn't tell you that( from my memory) ; you simply find things don't work .
If i can't get what i want in SBo then there are plenty of other repo that slpkg can use.

/etc/slpkg/repositories.conf
[REPOSITORIES]
slack
sbo
alien
# rlw
# slacky
conrad
# slonly
# ktown{latest}
# multi
# slacke{18}
# salix
# slackl
# rested
# msb{1.18}
# csb
# connos
# mles{desktop}

or :

#slpkg repo-enable
//allows you to do that if you have python3-pythondialog-3.5.1-x86_64-1_SBo installed

two sites to read up on for slpkg

https://dslackw.gitlab.io/slpkg/
https://gitlab.com/dslackw/slpkg/blo...er/EXAMPLES.md

Yeah, I generally prefer to stick with the stable release. I'm still using 14.2 on my desktop, and for the most part I don't miss anything from current. However, I have a new laptop with hardware that requires newer packages (kernel, wifi drivers, etc) to work properly. I know people recommend to build it myself, but it's much more convenient to use current at this point.

I have sbopkg set up to track current just fine, and that's how I installed slpkg, which meant I didn't need to install the dependencies (like python3) because they're already installed on current. If worst comes to worst, I can use sbopkg alone, which is what it seems like I'll be doing.

I've read those two links you provided already (though I appreciate you linking them for any other people that might need the info), but I did miss the fact that slpkg does NOT support current for the sbo repo. I know I could use one of the other repos for it, probably ponce's repo, but I prefer to build my own slackbuilds. (Because I'm a luddite.)

I could potentially make a local repo that checks out sbo's git-current and point slpkg to that, but I need to find some info on how to set that up first.

captain_sensible · 05-11-2020, 08:29 AM

Obviously all Sbo's stop at 14.2 i've had a quick look to see if its possible to add Ponce's current SBo repo. I guess at present this pretty much clarify's it : https://github.com/dslackw/slpkg/issues/61

Sylvester Ink · 05-11-2020, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain_sensible

Obviously all Sbo's stop at 14.2 i've had a quick look to see if its possible to add Ponce's current SBo repo. I guess at present this pretty much clarify's it : https://github.com/dslackw/slpkg/issues/61

Yeah, I figured as much. I had assumed that since Sbopkg had the capability to support current, slpkg might as well. It seems like a lot of Slackware users use current, and a lot of them prefer slpkg due to its ease of dependency management, so coming from 14.2, I had assumed there was support for current built in. Personally, I'd stick with 14.2 if it weren't for the hardware issues, and I don't mind managing my own dependencies using sbopkg. I'll continue using that for now.