[NTLUG:Discuss] Slackware Presentation Notes

Sat Nov 15 19:54:38 CST 2014

I mainly covered installation and package installation / maintenance.
There is obviously a lot more to Slackware than what I covered in the
presentation so if you have any questions, email or call and I'll be glad
to discuss in more detail.

One point we touched on but did not fully cover is starting the Xserver
from command line, (from runlevel 3).  In addition to startx, there are
other options.  xtartx  will start your default window manager or desktop
environment as was set during install, by default, it will be kde, but the
choice is ours. However you can use any of the following commands to start
the GUI of your choice:
startfluxbox           startxfce4
startfvwm2             startkde
startblackbox
(They are all just scripts in /usr/bin/)

One issue I failed to cover is how to set the default runlevel. Most of us
would want to change the default runlevel from 3 to runlevel 4 unless we
are running our system as server.
So, edit /etc/inittab and change the following line:
 id:3:initdefault:
to
  id:4:initdefault:
(Do not set to 0 or 6)
# These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
#   0 = halt
#   1 = single user mode
#   2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
#   4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
#   5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   6 = reboot

At any rate, here are my post-install notes originally written for
Slackware 14.0:
==============================================

Suggested post-install procedures:

The first thing I do is check the time and date to make sure it is correct,
if not I correct it with command
ntpdate pool.ntp.org
I might also add cronjob to keep time accurate
20 4 * * 0 ntpdate pool.ntp.org
which will reset time/date at 4:20 each Sunday morning.

If it's a laptop, I might condsider doing it at boot up:

@reboot ntpdate pool.ntp.org

I might switch to the generic kernel, (which is already installed since
version 14.0), so all we need to do is to create /boot/initrd.gz, list it
in the linux stanza of /etc/lilo.conf, and change the symlinks for
System.map, config and vmlinuz, and run lilo.

Example: Build an initrd image using Linux 3.2.29-smp kernel modules for a
system with an ext3 root partition on /dev/sda2:

mkinitrd -c -k 3.10.17 -m ext4

Now we change the symlink:

ln -sf /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.10.17

Next we need to add the line to the /etc/lilo.conf file.
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
So that it looks something like this:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda2 label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

While I'm at it, I shorten the timeout to 2 seconds (default is 2 minutes).
(This is the timeout before the first entry boots.)
Here's what the line should look like if you want only 2 seconds:
timeout = 20

(Default is: timeout = 1200)

Run lilo to write the bootloader with changes to MBR:

lilo
Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed
Added Linux + *
One warning was issued.

If you get errors in the output, go over what you've done and figure out
what you didn't do, or where you went wrong. After a reboot we should be
running the generic kernel.

The next two projects are setting up slackpkg and sbopkg:
1) slackpkg is an automated tool for managing Slackware Linux packages and
is installed by default. To start using it, edit /etc/slackpkg/mirrors and
uncomment one of the mirrors, (only one). I usually use tds or easynews.
*http://slackware.mirrors.tds.* <http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub/sl>
... ware-14.1/
or
*http://mirrors.easynews.com/* <http://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/slack>
... ware-14.1/
You have to do "slackpkg update" 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.
To install a package from the slackware package tree, just do

slackpkg install <package-name-here>

To remove a package:

slackpkg remove <package-name>

You can also search for keword

slackpkg search <key-word>

But the most useful task is keeping your install up-to-date:

slackpkg update;slackpkg upgrade-all

BTW; There are two mail lists of interest to Slackware users:
slackware-announce and slackware-security The slackware-announce mailing
list is for announcements of new versions, major updates and other general
information. It is a low traffic, moderated list. The slackware-security
mailing list is for announcements relating to security issues. Any exploits
or other vulnerabilities pertaining to Slackware will get posted to this
list.

2) sbopkg you have to download and install. It is a command-line and
dialog-based tool to interact with the SlackBuilds.org (`SBo'') repository,
a collection of third-party Slack-Build scripts to build Slackware
packages. See: *http://www.sbopkg.org/* <http://www.sbopkg.org/> sbopkg is
used to install and maintain packages outside the slackware package tree,
(ones listed on slackbuilds.org - LOTS...) When you run it first it will
ask to create a couple of working directories and files, once you agree to
that and hit enter, you'll need to let it "sync" so that it can synchronize
with the SBo repository. "The main menu allows the user to view the SBo
ChangeLog, check for potential updates to SBo packages, display the
contents of the local cache directory where source tarballs are saved,
display the permanent build log, and browse or search the local copy of the
SBo repository. Once the browse function is chosen, the user can select the
category of software to view. After choosing a category, the user can then
view the various software packages available in that category within the
local SBo repository. Selecting a package will display another menu
allowing the user to view the package's README, SlackBuild, .info, or
slack-desc files. The user can also edit the .info file and SlackBuild and
the edited files will remain after doing a sync. Additionally, the user can
choose to build a package using either the original SlackBuild or the
locally-edited one, if present. If using the dialog interface, and if
sbopkg finds a built package for a particular piece of software in the
OUTPUT directory, then sbopkg will automatically add a new menu entry
allowing the user to install the package if he chooses. Alternatively, the
user can choose to automatically download, build, or install individual
packages or several packages in a queue. Finally, if KEEPLOG is set to YES
in a configuration file, a permanent log of the build process is saved. See
sbopkg.conf(5) under KEEPLOG and LOGFILE for details."

You can run sbopkg with no arguments and use the menu options or just use a
command-line argument to install a package. For instance, to install
libreoffice, issue command: sbopkg -i libreoffice It also has a search
option. For instance

    sbopkg -s *office*
    Searching for *office*
    1) libraries/goffice       5) office/libreoffice
    2) office/broffice.org     6) office/libreoffice-langpack
    3) office/go_openoffice    7) office/openoffice.org
    4) office/kbgoffice        8) Quit

The first thing I use sbopkg for is to install xfce4-datetime-plugin. I
rarely remember the exact name of a particular package and that's where the
search function is particularly useful:

    sbopkg -s *date*

    Searching for *date*
    1) academic/qrupdate                 5) libraries/python-dateutil
    2) desktop/wmdate                    6) network/openrdate
    3) desktop/xfce4-datetime-plugin     7) Quit
    4) libraries/perl-Params-Validate

I install xfce4-datetime-plugin and replace the default one with it which
is a bit more feature rich. It has a drop-down calendar that is very handy.

The problem with httpd not running cgi scripts was that I needed to
uncomment the line in /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
LoadModule cgi_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_cgi.so

I tried lxde and it seems pretty nice on Slackware 14.0 so, here's the list
that I installed, you should be able to do it via sbopkg with one single
(long) command:
sbopkg -i "lxde-common lxmenu-data lxshortcut lxml lxdm lxinput lxpolkit
lxrandr lxsession lxsession-edit lxsplit lxtask lxterminal gpicview vala
libgee menu-cache openbox xarchiver xmms2 lxpanel lxlauncher lxpanel-xmms2
lxappearance libfm"
(It seems to only run from runlevel 4, (on my system anyway) so I needed to
telinit 4 and select it from the list. If you find it that way on yours too
and plan to use it for a while you may want to edit the /etc/inittab file
and change the default runlevel to 4, (by changing "id:3:initdefault:" to
"id:4:initdefault:")

Note: After installing LXDE, I got xfce error: "GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.
Cure:
Settings --> Settings Manager --> Applications Autostart
and uncheck [disable]: PolicyKit Authentication Agent

For those who have settled in on xfce4 and continue to run it from runlevel
3, you might like to shorten the command startxfce4 to something a little
shorter:

ln -s /usr/bin/startxfce4 /usr/bin/gui

P.S. If you want to boot somewhat faster, you can make following changes.
In the /etc/rc.d/rc.M file, find the following section and comment it out
by placing a ‘#’ in front of each line.

# Update all the shared library links:
if [ -x /sbin/ldconfig ]; then
  echo "Updating shared library links:  /sbin/ldconfig"
  /sbin/ldconfig
fi

# Update the X font indexes:
if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache ]; then
  echo "Updating X font indexes:  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache"
  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache
fi

That section should now look like the following.

# Update all the shared library links:
#if [ -x /sbin/ldconfig ]; then
#  echo "Updating shared library links:  /sbin/ldconfig"
#  /sbin/ldconfig
#fi

# Update the X font indexes:
#if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache ]; then
#  echo "Updating X font indexes:  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache"
#  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache
#fi

These commands only need to be run on occasion. Updating shared libraries
really only needs to be done when you add or remove shared libraries, and
similarly X font indexes only when fonts are added and removed.
rc.inet1

Most desktop distributions are now backgrounding the request for a DHCP IP,
(it's faster), so in the file /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 locate the following
section (search for dhcpcd).

echo "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:  /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}" | $LOGGER
/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}

Background the DHCP request by placing a ‘&’ at the end of the command like
this.

echo "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:  /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}" | $LOGGER
/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1} &

LILO

Those running slower systems are familiar with LILO’s “packman trap”
(“Loading Linux.........................

# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
compact

Additionally, those running only Linux (not dual booting) can benefit
further. Once you have a stable kernel that you’re happy with, disable all
of the prompting and timeouts in the lilo.conf file. This means commenting
out with ‘#’ prompt, timeout=, and message=. Putting these tweaks together
with the other booting speed ups and autologin will allow you to get 15-20
second boot times even on older machines!

*Note:* Remember that any changes to /etc/lilo.conf will not take effect
until running the lilo command.

-- 
In God we trust.
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