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 to install it. Last updated on 24 July 2019