Hi there,
I am using FC4 as a desktop at home and Slackware only as a lab/test OS on another machine.
Now I want to migrate totally to Slackware (also as Desktop).
My question is, is there something for keeping the system up2date? something like apt/synaptic yum etc?

I am familiar with slackware, but not with security updates and so on under slackware. I used slackware without X, it wasn't directly connected to the internet and I compiled everything from source.

now if I use it as a desktop I want to update it very easy from the internet, to install/remove packages and so on in the same simply manner.

I know there are some tools, pkgtool, SlackUpdate, slapt-get etc. I didn't use them so I don't know how they work. What is the best? What do you use?

it seems that slapt-get is ok
and there is also gslapt ...

I tried slapt-get, slackpkg and swaret, and in the end for me I decided best to just subscribe to the slackware security forum, and get updates that way, and just update by hand, which is not that hard

Yes, I tried my luck with all three as well. They all fubar'd my box. I highly prefer to manually update.

A good GUI program if you're using KDE is kSlackcheck.

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=16214

I, too, subscribed to the slackware-security newsletter to learn about updates. I never even tried slapt-get, slackpkg or swaret. I've always done it the manual way to avoid problems that can happen with automatic updaters.

slapt-get, swaret and all those other package management tools are still being developed. From what I gather, from various postings, is that they do not "mess up" your system by design, but rather by human error. From what I've read about them, people update libs, apps and other stuff that should not be updated necessarily "on the fly". It's always best practice to read up on practical ways of updating your system before you just go and let a program do it for you. Things like shutting down services before you upgrade and doing good research can prevent such castrophies from occuring. You can screw your box up by hand just as easily as using one of these tools.



The only way these tools get better is by reporting possible issues to their maintainers, to alert them of the issues you're experiencing. That way they can come up with solutions that prevent such actions. I'm all for a Slack based package manager such as slapt-get and swaret. It's works for me because I use it on my personal box and my server/test box. Would I use such things in a production type environment? Probably not. For personal use, however, they are practical solutions that just need refinement.

If you're feeling really movitated, you could always write a shell, perl or python script to do practically the same thing.


Those are just my thoughts though.....



-ZhiZaki-

I actually used swaret to upgrade in one fell swoop from Slack 9 to Slack 10 and I didn't have a single problem when it was all said and done. I actually did 2 home computers that way. So I have never experienced the problems others have. Swaret works very well for me.

I would suggest though that you get on the alt.os.linux.slackware news group and ask this question.
There was a long discussion awhile back on this very subject and from what I understand there is
a new package system out there for Slack that is supposed to be "all that".

My advice would be to check there before deciding on anything. Most of the guys on that news
group are well seasoned veterans of Slackware, as am I. I usually do all my upgrading and installing by hand but I understand the need for a good package handler every now and then.

So good luck, and BTW you have made a good decision on using Slackware, I have used it for
around 10 years and find it to be Rock Solid and fast. It takes a little more grey matter to install
and upgrade but it is not designed to hold your hand for you as many others are. But using
Slackware will teach you Linux, and I find that a bonus.

Good luck and have fun.

I install slapt-get and gslapt.

Then i manually check the changelogs and manually update programs through gslapt.(it's easier to right click and choose upgrade on the packages that need upgrading than it is to manually download every single package and do a upgradepkg *.tgz)

I have used both Slapt-get and swaret, neither has ever "hosed" my system. I have had things like alsa quit working because I failed to read the instructions. Don't use the repositories for upgrades and you should do ok. BTW I still consider myself a newbie because there is so much I still haven't figured out yet, but I'm learning.