Packages: 2530, Size: 10.02 GB
Published on 2016-12-19 at 09:48:55 by Georgi Sotirov
Since a week SlackPack is also accessible from a new domain - SlackPack.EU. I was considering this since long ago, but the name was already taken in most TLDs. However, recently I spotted a promotional offer for .EU and I couldn't resist giving it a try.
Give it a try yourself!
Published on 2016-12-10 at 02:34:56 by Georgi Sotirov
With the upgrade to Paramiko 2.0 for Slackware 14.2 four months ago the functionality for SSH connections in MySQL Workbench was broken. Apparently in Parmiko 2.0.0 the module PyCrypto was replaced with Cryptography, but I have omitted this and since I'm mostly using socket or SSL connections, so I have not noticed the problem until yesterday. After some struggle to build the new dependencies (see below) the site already offers all the necessary packages.
Effectively the dependency tree for Paramiko become as follows:
So 7 new packages for just having SSH connections working in MySQL Workbench, but it worth the late night stay, so that the software is fully functional on the latest Slackware. I really hope this issue with the Paramiko package have not caused troubles, because I really try to verify all the packages I built by actually using them, but I cannot catch everything myself.
I wish you trouble-less using of all my packages and if there is a problem, please do not hesitate to contact me to try resolving it or escalating it upstream. Cheers!
Published on 2016-10-19 at 22:37:00 by Georgi Sotirov
Ten years ago I opened SlackPack to public (see the first news). The site was actually available earlier in 2006th, but I was still experimenting with it, so I consider 2006-10-19 as it’s official opening date. I started building packages for Slackware Linux even earlier (somewhere since the end of 2004) and after some time decided to share them with the community as contribution, because I do believe that using prebuilt binary packages is the best option for fast and easy upgrading of Slackware systems including management of dependencies even for advanced and power users.
A lot of time has passed since then and the site had it’s ups and downs offering as much as 65 new packages in a single day and as less as none in several months. Last was due to my personal engagements giving me no time for working on build scripts and patches. Even though SlackPack survived and now offers over 2000 packages for 11 Slackware releases since 10.x in 2005. My plans are to keep it going as further as I can.
During those years the site has inspired at least one other Slackware packages repository (see SlackOnly) and is refereed on the download pages of several open source projects for prebuilt distribution packages (including VLC and Highlight with others to come). I warmly thank all of you who have written me with just some nice words, or to report problems with the packages or the site, or to ask me how I do this or that (BTW in this regards several years ago I started preparing a repository of all the SlackBuilds, which I plan to publish somewhere in the beginning of next year). I specially thank the ones that have donated money to the site (of course it is still ran on my own expense, but your support gives me the strength to keep it going).
P.S. Today is also my birthday, so happy birthday to me! Cheers!
Published on 2016-10-14 at 20:00:00 by Georgi Sotirov
Since the beginning of the month the site offers over 2000 packages for 11 Slackware releases since 10.x in 2005. This comes as a result of my package building spree that started 3 months ago in the summer since when I build many new packages, rebuilt or upgraded even more others (somewhere over 900 in total). Previous milestone was in August 2014 when the site offered over 1000 packages (see the news).
Most of the packages are now available for all Slackware releases since I started building them, which eases the upgrades through automated tools like slapt-get.
There’s lot more to come, so stay tuned and meanwhile enjoy!
Published on 2016-07-02 at 10:55:14 by Georgi Sotirov
After the long wait finally Slackware 14.2 was released to public (see official announcemnt and release notes). As the first new stable release in almost 3 years it comes with many improvements, which bring the latest technology on top of the stability and security that we've all come to expect from the oldest GNU/Linux distribution still in active maintenance.
The new release comes with updates to Xfce and KDE desktop environments both using eudev, udisks and udisks2. This allows the system administrator to grant use of various hardware devices based on group membership that makes using various USB plug and play devices easily without requiring sudo, mount and unmount.
Slackware 14.2 comes with kernel 4.4.14 that brings advanced performance features such as journaling file systems (e.g. ext4, jfs, btrfs, xfs), SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM, and encrypted file systems. The support for X DRI brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics.
Here below are the highlights of Slackware 14.2's dvanced features:
There are about 100 new packages and many were improved and upgraded. Upgrading from 14.1 should be relatively easy and step-by-step instructions are provided in file UPGRADE.TXT, but check CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT as well.
You could download Slackware 14.2 as torrent or from the official mirrors. Live images of Slackware 14.2 and -current are available from Eric Hameleers (AlienBOB)'s site.
I was waiting for this release, so I could build some new packages requiring newer libs and tools, so enjoy the stable release and stay tunned for more!
Sources: Slackware.com and Slashdot.org.