Software Management in Slint.

--- The basics ---

In Slint software is provided as packages that can be installed,
removed and updated.

As in Slackware, installation and removal of software are recorded in a
database made of text files in these directories:
/var/log/packages
/var/log/removed_packages
/var/log/scripts
/var/log/removed_scripts

The main commands to manage the packages are listed below. All have
associated man man pages, and should be run as root. All command listed
below can be run from a graphical terminal or in a console, but gslapt
that works only in a graphical environment.

installpkg to install a package stored locally.
removepkg to remove an installed package.
upgradepkg to replace an installed package with another one (generally
with he same name but at another version).
slapt-get to install, remove, upgrade pacakage stored on remote
repositories listed in /etc/slapt-get/slap-getrc

The packages shipped in the installation ISO come from the slint
repository in /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc

Do yourself a favor: read the comments in /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc and
/usr/doc/slapt-get-0.10.2t/README.slapgetrc.Slint in the installed
system.

After having installed Slint, you be notified of updates of installed
packages coming from repositories registered in
/etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc

You can install additional packages the commands slapt-get, or the
graphical application gslapt.

slapt-get and gslapt have search feature that helps finding additional
packages to install.

WARNING: you can use slapt-get, gslapt and removepkg to remove installed
package but do not remove packages shopped in the Slint ISO, even if you
do not use them at all. Removing an included package will result in no
increase in performance and could prevent other applications to run.
Also, if you have added a package not included in Slint you may remove
it but be careful that the removed package be not a dependency of other
ones that you also installed and intend to continue using.

--- Keep your system up to date ---

You need to keep your system safe installing the software updates
provided by Slint as soon as available.

All updates are listed in the ChangeLog:
http://slackware.uk/slint/x86_64/slint-14.2.1/ChangeLog.txt

After Slint installation run once this command:
slapt-get --add-keys

To synchronize the local list of available package with that of the
repository, this command is automatically run hourly:
slapt-get -u

This of course needs that the machine be connected to the Internet.

To get and install the upgraded or rebuilt packages run periodically as
root this command:
slapt-get --upgrade
Alternatively you can use gslapt, graphical front-end of slapt-get.

On the desktops, a small icon is displayed in the notification area of
a panel (the top panel in MATE) to notify of available software updates.
Just make a left click on it and follow instructions.

Be aware that some packages are blacklisted in
/etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc, i.e. can not be automatically upgraded or
installed.

This is the case for kernel upgrades, provided only as security fixes,
see below how to apply them.

--- Apply kernel upgrades ---

The Linux kernel packages shipped in Slint are sometimes upgraded to
provide security or major bug fixes.

To know when and how apply these upgrades, read KernelSecurityUpgrades

--- Get applications not available in the repositories ---

If the application you want is not installed and not available in one
one of the repositories enabled in /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc, you
could make a package for it using build material provided by volunteers
@ https://slackbuilds.org. To know how-to proceed, read:
https://slackbuilds.org/howto/
https://slackbuilds.org/faq/

The packages built this way should be compatible with Slint.

To ease the process of downloading the files and building the packages
you could use the third-party application sbopkg, available here:
https://sbopkg.org/ Before using this tool you need to be acquainted
to the slackbuilds and read:
https://sbopkg.org/docs.php
https://sbopkg.org/queues.php
then download and install a package:
https://sbopkg.org/downloads.php

Be aware that builing and installing packages this way you can
occasionally encounter issues like missing dependencies or conflicts
with installed packages: the components used to build the packages are
provided by volunteers who can not check the results in every possible
configuration.

WARNING: If you can find neither a package for a software you want nor
stuff to build one @ https://slackbuilds.org,you could be tempted to
build and install this software manually issuing commands
./configure && make && make install.
Avoid to do that, as software built and installed this way will not be
manageable by the Slint packages management system and associated tools.

Rather, just post a question or request on the Slint mailing list and
we will try to help, possibly adding this package to the extra
repository. When done, use slapt-get -i <package name> to install it.

Last updated on 24 July 2019
