My Slackware installation notes. Some old notes have been archived.

Do note that Slackware also has a great documentation site.

The official way to do this is, of course, to get it from slackware.com.

Personally, I have getslack, a bash script based on (more accurately, a trimmed-down version of) the excellent (he termed it infamous) mirror-slackware-current.sh by Alien Bob. When going down this path, the next step would be to prepare the installation media.

Slackware Installer ISO Image

Slackware USB Installer

Note: GPT Disks and EFI

Note: I have removed a section on DE-less installation since my current slackware installations ARE, in fact, DE-less.

Note: I have also removed a section on hijacking other Linux system - this, here, turned out to be VERY similar to what needed to be done.

[LastUpdated20210620]

I need to use GTK3 version that is newer that the one on 14.2, so I tried the development version (slackware64-current). I have done the same once (pre-11), so I am aware that there can be some issues when doing this. I am happy to say that I AM writing this on a slackware64-current (15.0 beta?) installation on my laptop.

So, this is a little note to my future self (or anybody that may be find this useful DISCLAIMER: Use this at your own risk!). I am doing this while still using Devuan and I want to keep that for backup, in case things go wrong. (On a side note, the reason I use Devuan was because of the GTK3 version.) So, I have an extra partition that I have reformatted and prepared to download the stuffs I need.

• download official packages (getslack)
  • create download path: <mount-path>/home/share/slackware
  • create custom getslack config .getslack
  • set VERS=current
  • exclude kde & xfce
• setup EFI boot
  • bzImage in kernels/huge.s (rename to vmlinuz)
  • initrd.img in isolinux/ (this has the slackware setup)
• boot and run installation as usual
  • DO NOT format partition (packages are there!)
  • pick packages from mounted path
  • manually set kernel to boot (i use huge - generic needs initramfs)
• boot newly installed slackware
  • remove gnuchess and xaos packages
  • make sure vim does not create backups (edit /usr/share/vim/vimrc)
  • allow dmesg for user
    • edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local ← echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/dmesg_restrict
  • just for personal reference, some useful info on using nmcli

    nmcli r[adio] wifi
    nmcli r[adio] wifi on
     
    nmcli d[evice] wifi list
    nmcli d[evice] wifi connect <ssid> password <pass> ifname <wlan0>
     
    nmcli c[onnection] show
    nmcli c[onnection] down <ssid>
    nmcli c[onnection] up <ssid>

  • customize /etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults (standard default paths)
  • create user
• things to note!
  • elogind conflicts with my acpi scripts (lid, to be exact)
    • edit /etc/elogind/logind.conf
    • insert HandleLidSwitch=ignore
  • pm-utils not available
    • use loginctl instead (e.g. loginctl suspend instead of pm-suspend)
    • on the plus side, does not need root
  • to lock xsession when suspending, create sleep-hook (script)
    • e.g. edit /lib64/elogind/system-sleep/xlock

      xlock

      #!/bin/bash
      case "$1" in
              pre)
                      upid=$(pgrep dbus-launch)
                      user=$(ps -o user --no-headers $upid)
                      export XAUTHORITY=/home/$user/.Xauthority
                      export DISPLAY=":0.0"
                      su $user -c 'xlock -mode matrix' &
                      sleep 1
                      ;;
      esac

    • make it executable (chmod a+x)
• get additional packages (getslackpack)
  • luckily, alienBob's repo 'supports' current
  • create custom getslackpack config .getslackpack
  • (alien) openjdk libreoffice libreoffice-dict-en“
  • note: ffmpeg already on current!
• get additional packages (getslackbuild)
  • run as VERS=14.2 getslackbuild fetch <pkg>
  • pkgs: dmenu geany rox-filer slackware-xdm-theme
  • pkgs: slock st wmname pmount unrar
  • pkgs: nss-mdns avahi libdaemon
  • note: rox-filer cannot be compiled, needed patching (this)
  • i have gathered all the scripts from slackbuilds.org that i use and keep them here
• i want to use dwm
  • using my own custom build script (which has personalized patches)
  • my dwm xinitrc will run loginctl hibernate when battery<30% (→ what i need on my current laptop)

To maintain:

note: my libmy1slack library will detect current when /etc/slackware-version has '+' suffix. this sign will disappear when -current is near to a stable release.

• run slack-update as usual
  • when -current going stable, use SLACKVERS=current slack-update
• run slack-current instead of slackpatch
  • when -current going stable, use -f switch
  • to see removed packages, use slackview (i.e. SLACKVERS=current slackview find –alien)
• update those installed using getslackbuild if needed

This is what I do for a lean (not necessarily minimal, but trimmed to my liking) installation. Will continuously update this based on my latest experience.

LastUpdated20230322

• official packages (getslack)
  • without kde & xfce (checkout my getslack config file below)
  • removepkg: gnuchess, xaos, xsnow
  • removepkg: joe, nano, vim-gvim, slackpkg
• setup/config
  • make sure vim does not create backups (edit /usr/share/vim/vimrc)
    • or, run vimstart (from my1shell repo)
  • dmesg no longer allowed for user
    • edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local ← echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/dmesg_restrict
    • or, run setup_slack (from my1shell repo)
  • setup acpi from my personal script
• additional packages (getslackpack)
  • (alien) openjdk libreoffice libreoffice-dict-en”
• additional packages (getslackbuild)
  • dmenu slock st wmname
  • slackware-xdm-theme
  • geany rox-filer pmount unrar
  • nss-mdns avahi libdaemon
  • scripts from slackbuilds.org all gathered here
• custom dwm build
  • using my own build script (which has personalized patches)

To maintain:

• run slack-update
  • this actually runs 3 scripts (getslack,getslackpack,getslackbuild)
• run slackpatch (if required)
• run getslackbuild build -x -i (if required)

Configuration file for getslack

Configuration file for getslackpack

Configuration file for slackpatch

Listing for my1live-root…

Core list for Slackware-15.0 (Current)

20110621 I want to have a 32-bit system running in chroot environment on my Slackware64. I've used such system on Debian using schroot…

20110906 I managed to do this as published here…

20120518 Minor change to the fstab entry for dev, which needs an rbind option so that the pty inside can be valid! Discussed here.

20120524 This is now part of my slackstuff collection (now known as my1shell)… in form of a script called slackroot.

20121031 The path to the chroot installation MUST ALL BE owned by root - or else, users will get a Write failed: Broken pipe error.

TODO A how-to on creating 32-bit chroot on 64-bit Slackware using slackroot script.

slack_chroot32.txt

- on my pure slack64 (maintained using getslack/getslackpack)
$ ARCH=i686 getslack
 
- create root filesystem using 32-bit packages
# slackroot /opt/chroot32 --arch x86 --desk -x
 
- copy user/group info from 64-bit system to chroot32
  = will maintain its own login info!
# preproot --init /opt/chroot32
 
- mount bind 'system' paths
# preproot /opt/chroot32
 
- ssh into system to use 32-bit chroot
# ssh user@127.0.0.1
 
- unmount bind 'system' paths
# preproot --done /opt/chroot32

Some things to note…

20210620 Slackware's CPU frequency scaling works (checkout /etc/rc.d/rc.cpufreq) - just to remind myself, no need to look into this!

To allow non-root users basic admin (poweroff,reboot,etc.), insert the following to /etc/sudoers (obviously, through sudo). Note: Actually, only to users in group power.

%power ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/sbin/poweroff
%power ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/sbin/reboot
%power ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/pm-suspend
%power ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/pm-hibernate
%power ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/pm-powersave

Note: The pm-* binaries (pm-utils) are no longer available on Slackware 15.0

• install nss-mdns (requires avahi (requires libdaemon))
• save nss config
  • mv /etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/nsswitch.conf-orig
• use provided nss config
  • cp /etc/nsswitch.conf-mdns /etc/nsswitch.conf
• run daemon at startup

  script="/etc/rc.d/rc.avahidaemon"
  [ -x "$script" ] && $script start
  script="/etc/rc.d/rc.avahidnsconfd"
  [ -x "$script" ] && $script start

Main references are here and here.

1. Basically, need to have C library and compiler capable of multilib. I use getslackpack to download required packages from Eric's multilib site. Install as instructed.
2. I already have a 32-bit Slackware tree downloaded using getslack which I use for my 32-bit chroot installation. I use massconvert32.sh script on this tree. The massconvert32.sh script can be used to update as well (built packages are not rebuilt). Install as instructed.
3. My slackpatch script has been updated to handle 'blacklisted' 64-bit versions and 'upgraded' compat32 packages

Update20180903

Read here. I now have a more specific script to get multilib stuff (previously part of getslackpack script),

• use getslack-multilib to download alien_bob's multilib stuff
  • compat32-tools glibc(&friends) gcc(&friends)
  • compat32 library packages
• upgrade pure-64 glibc/gcc packages counterparts
  • upgradepkg –reinstall –install-new *.t?z
• install compat32-tools
  • some useful helper scripts
• install 32-bit layer support libraries
  • upgradepkg –install-new slackware64-compat32/*-compat32/*.t?z
  • obviously, can be used to upgrade as well

A bash shell script I used to upgrade from 14.1 to 14.2

• run shell script (getlinux)
• select version, download source
• extract at /usr/src/ (e.g. linux-4.4.199)
• copy a config from /boot

  # cp /boot/config-generic? > .config

• use that config

  # make oldconfig

• configure build

  # make menuconfig

• build the kernel

  # make -j4 bzImage

• build/install modules

  # make -j4 modules && make modules_install

  • modules_install requires root, obviously!
• copy (as root) kernel

  cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.14.12
  cp System.map /boot/System.map-generic-4.14.12
  cp .config /boot/config-generic-4.14.12

• generate initrd if using generic

  mkinitrd -c -k 4.14.12 -f ext4 -r /dev/sda3 -m ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

  • a useful initrd generator script IS available
  • run /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh
  • then run the generated/recommended command
  • checkout the -P option if required

Run ls -l output on /var/log/packages

# ls -l /var/log/packages

Get package full name ONLY

# ls -l /var/log/packages | sed 's|^.* \(.*\)$|\1|g'

Get package name ONLY

 # ls -l /var/log/packages | sed -e 's|^.* \(.*\)$|\1|g' -e 's|^\(.*\)-[^-]*-[^-]*-[^-]*$|\1|g'

Find package files for installed packages

for pkg in `ls /var/log/packages/` ; do
	pkg_file=`find /home/share/slackware/slackware64-14.2/ -name "${pkg}.txz"` ;
	[ -f "$pkg_file" ] && continue ;
	echo "Cannot find file for $pkg" ;
done

Find installation log for standard packages

for pkg in `find /home/share/slackware/slackware64-14.2/slackware64 -name "*.txz" | sort` ; do
	base=`basename $pkg` ;
	name=${base%.*} ;
	test="/var/log/packages/$name" ;
	[ -f "$test" ] && continue ;
	echo "Cannot find file for $test" ;
done

To list currently installed packages (to be used in my1live)

• get all installed packages

  # slackview file --name pkgs.txt --installed --insert

• sort based on software sets

  # slackview file --name pkgs.txt --sort

• remove those already selected for my1live

  slackview file --name pkgs.txt --dups curr.list

• rename pkgs.txt to my1live list (e.g. XXmore.list)

Little tips for better Slackware/Linux desktop experience.

Double-clicking in file manager (Thunar) shows no video (audio is ok, so program is running). Running mplayer from command line is fine. Turns out gui version is gmplayer - running from console shows this error message

Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_va_gl.so

So, just edit ~/.mplayer/gui.conf, find the line for vo_driver and set it to gl. Show be ok after that… at least in my case it is.

When using xdm, login fails sometimes with error message … Unable to establish ICE listener…

• edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local ← rm -rf /tmp/.ICE-unix/*

Note: NOT tested… just found this

Although the mplayer setting to disable xscreensaver has been selected, xscreensaver still runs!

Possible Solution: Edit ~/.mplayer/config

heartbeat-cmd="xscreensaver-command -deactivate >/dev/null 2>&1"

The solution is here

• in short, ALSA using the HDMI output as default
• use alsamixer, [F6] select the card (the one that is NOT HDMI) and make sure output is not muted
• use aplay -l to identify the card/slot# and device#
• use aplay -D plughw:<card/slot#>,<device#> <WAV file> to test
• edit /etc/asound.conf or ~/.asoundrc to fix this (sample below)

  asound.conf

  pcm.!default {
          type hw
          card <card/slot#>
     }
     ctl.!default {
          type hw
          card <card/slot#>
     }

As seen here…

Check /etc/asound.conf

  pcm.!default {
      type plug
      slave.pcm "softvol"
  }

  pcm.softvol {
      type softvol
      slave {
          pcm "dmix"
      }
      control {
          name "Pre-Amp"
          card 0
      }
      min_dB -5.0
      max_dB 20.0
      resolution 6
  }

Sometimes need type in pcm.!default to be hw

Setting up application(s) on Slackware… but, most are applicable to all distributions.

There are a couple (a few?)of applications that I thought have great features but relatively unknown (I only knew about them after looking for specific solution). Here they are:

• xfig - nice app to create figures for use with latex
• xpaint - can do screen capture (xpaint -snapshot)

Editing /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

• change document root to a folder my main user have full access
  • also create a link to it from my user account
• allow php to be indexed ⇒ add to directory index in dir_module
• enable php (towards the end of the file) ⇒ include mod_php.conf
• enable mod_rewrite (API server?) ⇒ LoadModule … mod_rewrite.so
• optional: set serveradmin email and servername
• optional: to only serve locally, set listen localhost:80 ???

Setting up SSL: (for HTTPS!)

• modify /etc/httpd/httpd.conf:
  • enable loadmodule mod_ssl.so
  • enable loadmodule mod_socache_shmcb.so
  • include httpd-ssl.conf
• generate private key:

  • openssl genrsa -out privkey.pem 2048

  • rsa private key with 2048-bit long modulus written to file
• generate cert:

  • openssl req -new -x509 -key privkey.pem -out cacert.pem -days 1095

• edit /etc/httpd/httpd-ssl.conf
  • acordingly…

• run

  mysql_install_db

• make sure permision given to user mysql

  chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql

• start daemon

  sh /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld start

• run

  /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

• create specific database for specific app

  create database app_db;

• create specific user for specific app and grant all access

  grant all privileges on app_db.* to 'user_app'@'localhost' identified by 'pass_app';

• just formality, run

  flush privileges;

• to additionally create specific user for specific app

  create user 'user_app'@'localhost' identified by 'pass_app';

• recover root password:

  # /etc/rc.d/rc.mysqld stop
  # mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
  # mysql -u root
  $ mysql -uroot -p
  mysql> use mysql;
  mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD('<newpass>') where User='root';
  mysql> flush privileges;
  mysql> exit

• reset auto_increment primary key:

  alter table my1vehicle AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

• remove foreign key from table (start with checking for key name)

  select table_name,auto_increment from information_schema.tables;
  alter table my1data_use drop foreign key my1data_use_ibfk_2;

• backup db

  mysqldump -p -u user userdb > userapp-`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`.sql

The default tetex is usable, but it is no longer maintained and some new packages are not available.

• create /etc/rsyncd.conf

  rsync.conf

  max connections = 2
  log file = /var/log/rsync.log
  timeout = 300
   
  [share]
  comment = Shared Stuff
  path = /home/share
  read only = yes
  list = yes 
  hosts allow = 192.168.3.0/24
  uid = nobody
  gid = nobody
  #auth users = pub
  #secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

  • modify subnet mask address for host allow accordingly
• in /etc/inetd.conf
  • insert this line

    rsync	stream	tcp	nowait	root	/usr/bin/rsync	rsync --daemon

• in /etc/services
  • insert this line

    rsync	873/tcp

• maybe create /etc/rsyncd.secrets

  rsyncd.secrets

  pub:pub

• start rsync daemon

  /usr/bin/rsync --daemon --config=/etc/rsyncd.conf

on an x86_64 machine,

• install libtxc_dxtn package from slackbuilds.org (64-bit)
• use 'slackroot' to create 32-bit chroot environment (chroot32)
  • target for desktop
• ssh into localhost to enter chroot32 as normal user
  • remember to run 'preproot' (as root) prior to that
  • … and 'preproot –release' when done
• install packages
  • install alien_bob's steamclient package
  • install libtxc_dxtn package from slackbuilds.org (32-bit)
• run 'linux32' to create an official 32-bit environment
• run 'steam -tcp'

Some personal notes…

• alien_bob's libreoffice cannot run
  • got unspecified application error
• found a fix in lq forum
  • look for graphic driver used

    $ lspci -vv | sed -n '/VGA compatible/,/^$/ p'

  • in my case i915
  • have a

    export MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i915