path: root/files/slackpkg.8

.TH SLACKPKG 8 "Oct 2017" slackpkg-2.82.2 ""
.SH NAME
.B slackpkg
\- Automated tool for managing Slackware Linux packages

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B slackpkg
.B [OPTIONS]
.B {install|remove|search|upgrade|reinstall|blacklist} 
.BI { PATTERN | FILE }

.B slackpkg [OPTIONS] {clean-system|upgrade-all|install-new}

.B slackpkg
.B [OPTIONS]
.B {search|file-search}
.BI { PATTERN | FILE }

.B slackpkg
.B [OPTIONS]
.B {generate-template|install-template|remove-template}
.I TEMPLATENAME

.B slackpkg [OPTIONS] info 
.I PACKAGE 

.B slackpkg [OPTIONS] update [gpg]

.B slackpkg [OPTIONS] {new-config|check-updates} 

.B slackpkg [OPTIONS] help

.SH DESCRIPTION
Slackpkg is a tool for those who want to easily install or upgrade
packages via the network.  With slackpkg, you can have a minimal
installation of Slackware Linux and install/upgrade only those packages
you need most.

You don't need to setup NFS or make dozens of CDs for all your
computers; all you need to do is to type one command and all of
the latest official Slackware packages will be at your fingertips.

.SH INSTRUCTIONS
Slackpkg has many features.  It can search for specific files, remove
all third-party packages in your system, install packages added to
Slackware since your last update, show package descriptions, etc.

Before you do anything, you will need to uncomment one mirror in
/etc/slackpkg/mirrors file and run:

.in +5
# slackpkg update
.in

The "update" action will download and format the list of files and
packages in Slackware.  Every time this list is changed, the update
needs to be run.

The main features of Slackpkg are the ones directly related to
package management: install, upgrade, and remove packages. 
To do any of these tasks, the Slackpkg syntax is:

.in +5
# slackpkg [OPTIONS] <action> {PATTERN|FILE}
.in

.I OPTIONS 
can be one or more of the many configuration options listed in
/etc/slackpkg/slackpkg.conf.  There are equivalent command line options
for most of the configuration directives found in slackpkg.conf - see the
.B slackpkg.conf(5)
man-page to see what options are available.

.I PATTERN 
can be a package name or just part of package name.  It can also 
be a software series (like kde, a, ap, ...).
.br 

.I FILE 
is a file with a list of 
.I PATTERNs 
inside: either one per line,
or several per line with spaces as separators.

Slackpkg can be used to upgrade the whole distribution. 
.br
The usual way is to do:

.in +5
# slackpkg update
.br
# slackpkg install-new
.br
# slackpkg upgrade-all
.br
# slackpkg clean-system
.in

Another feature of Slackpkg is the ability to work with templates, which can 
make it much easier to create different machines with the same contents of
packages.  The basic steps are as follows:

.RS +5
.IP \(bu 2 
Install one machine
.IP \(bu 2 
Run "slackpkg generate-template TEMPLATENAME"
.IP \(bu 2 
Copy /etc/slackpkg/templates/TEMPLATENAME.template to the same directory on 
the other machine
.IP \(bu 2 
Run "slackpkg install-template TEMPLATENAME" on the other machine
.RE

.I TEMPLATENAME 
is the name of your template.

Following this manual page, you can find what each of these (and other)
actions does. 

.SH ACTIONS 
.TP 5
.B help
.br
Show slackpkg's actions and a short description of them. Useful if you need 
to know a little about slackpkg. The information here, on man-page is much
more complete.

.TP 5
.B update
.br
update will download the latest package lists from a Slackware mirror
(or your CD).  It's a good idea to run

.in +5
# slackpkg update
.in

before attempting to upgrade, install, or search for packages. 
.br
If you need to update Slackware's GPG key, run

.in +5
# slackpkg update gpg
.in

The GPG key doesn't change. This should be a "one time" command - run it
once and forget it... 

.TP 5
.B check-updates
.br
Verify if there is any update to ChangeLog.txt. This is good to be used from
cron to alert the sysadmin about updates.

.TP 5
.B file-search
.br
You can search the official Slackware packages for any file in the Slackware 
distribution.  Do you need a strange library?  Use file-search to find it.

.in +5
# slackpkg file-search filename
.in

All packages with matching "filename" will be shown, thus you can see whether
the packages are installed or not; if not, you can download and install them 
with other slackpkg actions.

.TP 5
.B search
.br
You can search for any package distributed in Slackware.

.in +5
# slackpkg search pattern 
.in

All packages names that matches with "pattern" will be shown.
Like file-search, you can see whether the packages are installed or not; if
not, you can download and install them with other slackpkg actions.

.TP 5
.B install
.br
Installation of a package is very simple. Just use a command like this:

.in +5
# slackpkg install package
.in

and the package will be downloaded and installed.
.br
You can't use the "install" option to install an already installed package, 
but you may reinstall or upgrade it.

.TP 5
.B upgrade
.br
upgrade installs the most recent official version of the specified package(s).

upgrade will not attempt to install new packages (use the install
function for that purpose; the latest official version of the package
will be installed).
.TP 5
.B reinstall
.br
In case you mistakenly corrupt something, the reinstall option will allow 
you to reinstall the same version of a package that is currently installed.

.TP 5   
.B remove
.br
With remove, you can remove certain installed packages.  As an example:

.in +5
# slackpkg remove kde
.in

will remove all packages with "kde" in their name.

.TP 5
.B blacklist
.br
With this action, you can "blacklist" certain packages.
.br
Blacklisted packages will not be installed, upgraded, or removed by slackpkg. 
If you want to remove some package from the black list, please edit 
/etc/slackpkg/blacklist.

.TP 5
.B download
.br
This action tells slackpkg to download the packages, but not to install them.
They will be placed in /var/cache/packages, and you can 
install/upgrade/reinstall them later (or burn them to CD).

.TP 5
.B info
.br
This action prints information about the package(s): compressed and 
uncompressed size, description, etcetera...

.TP 5
.B clean-system
.br
This action removes all of the packages that don't belong to a standard 
Slackware installation.  With this option, you can clean up your system, 
removing third-party packages as well as any packages that were removed 
from the official Slackware package set.
.br
If you have some third party (or custom built) packages that you would like 
to keep, you can temporarily add them to the list of blacklisted packages 
before you run the 'clean-system' action.

.TP 5
.B upgrade-all
.br
This action upgrades every package installed on the system to the version in
the official Slackware tree; this is the "good" way to upgrade the entire
system.  
.br
Remember to use the "install-new" action before you use "upgrade-all."

.TP 5
.B install-new
This action installs any new packages that are added to the official 
Slackware package set.  Run this if you are upgrading your system to 
another Slackware version or if you are using -current. 
.br
If you want to install all uninstalled Slackware packages onto your system, 
use the following command instead of the install-new action:

.in +5
# slackpkg install slackware.
.in
.TP 5
.B new-config
This action searches for .new configuration files and ask the user what to 
do with those files. 
.br
new-config is very useful when you perform an upgrade and leave the 
configuration files to be reviewed later.  Instead of a manual search,
diff, and replace; you can use the new-config action.
.br
new-config searches /etc and /usr/share/vim for new config files.
.TP 5
.B generate-template
This action creates a new template with all official packages that are 
installed in your system. The template is stored at /etc/slackpkg/templates
.TP 5
.B install-template
This action install the required template in the system. The template must
be in /etc/slackpkg/templates. If the template "includes" other templates,
all of them need to be in /etc/slackpkg/templates. You can disable the
"includes" in slackpkg.conf or in command-line.
.TP 5
.B remove-template
This action remove all packages that are part of selected template. Be
careful, this can put your machine in an unusable state. The "include"
handling can be activated/deactivated in slackpkg.conf or with the
appropriate option in command-line. 

.SH FILES
.TP 5
.B /etc/slackpkg/mirrors	
File to specify the location from which to download packages
.TP 5
.B /etc/slackpkg/slackpkg.conf	
General configuration of slackpkg
.TP 5
.B /etc/slackpkg/blacklist
List of packages to skip
.TP 5
.B /etc/slackpkg/templates
Contains all template files
.TP 5
.B /usr/libexec/slackpkg
Contains slackpkg core and additional functions
.TP 5
.B /var/lib/slackpkg
Slackpkg internal use - Formatted package lists, copy of
ChangeLog.txt, list of files, etcetera...

.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR slackpkg.conf (5),
.BR installpkg (8),
.BR upgradepkg (8),
.BR explodepkg (8),
.BR makepkg (8),
.BR pkgtool (8).

.SH AUTHORS
.TP 5
Piter PUNK aka Roberto F Batista 
<piterpk AT terra DOT com DOT br>
.TP 5
Evaldo Gardenali aka UdontKnow 
<evaldo AT fasternet DOT com DOT br>