Slackware Salix and Slackel

[viking60]

Slackware is the oldest living distro and is considered to be rock solid fast and stable.
SUSE started out as a German Slackware translation and Slackware has inspired many more.
So why is not everybody using it?

It might have something to do with that it does not come with a package manager and is hard to install and lets you worry about the dependencies....

Wait... hold on... don't run away yet!

Maybe we can fix that part with the package manager:
This is where Salix comes in; it provides a package manager called Gslapt and it does a good job. Salix has it's own repos but are compatible with Slackware.

You can now update find and install software.

Salix might fall behind on the Slackware version though. and that might acquire your attention.

No wait... don't run..

Maybe we can fix this too...

Slackel is combining the advantages of the two and is fully compatible with both Slackware and Salix

Slackel is a Linux distribution based on Slackware and Salix. It is fully compatible with Slackware and Salix but the difference is that it includes the current version of Slackware. So Slackware users can benefit from Slackel repositories. It is available in two editions, KDE and Openbox. Slackel disc images are offered in two different forms, Installation disc image and Live

It certainly is not the most famous of distros, but will it enable me to put my nose up in the air while I arrogantly proclaim that I am using Slackware - to the huge admiration of my fellow Linux using friends?

Sit tight and find out.....

[viking60]

The Installation:
You can choose between KDE and Openbox downloads. I picked Openbox. I also chose to use the entire disk and let the installer auto partition it.
Is a typical text based installation it takes some experience to identify the right language files etc.


You can choose between Grub and Lilo boot and where to place it.


You go through the motions and set up user and the root password at the end of it.
Nice and tidy.

Time to reboot then.....

This installation went just fine.

Now it is time to use it a bit.

Using it
feels snappy and the Gslapt manager is simple but fast. This thing does not seem to be running systemd so we need to start services in the old fashioned way. But Slackel comes with a daemon GUI so I do not have to bother remembering the good old /etc/rc.d/ stuff. I simply install my stuff and it turns up in the GUI where I can check it.

The services are started immediately after they are checked.
Since Slackware has this rock solid reputation it makes sense to install a server first:
So I install httpd and start the service as described above. Then I install php and mariadb and start the service again.

Maria db does not take

Code: Select all

mysql_secure_installation

usually that happens when you have forgotten to start the service.
The scripts starts but fails after the first entry.

The Apache server starts without problems and gives me the "It works" message.

I bang my head against the wall for a while and do an update with Gslapt and then reboot.
This broke the application menu in openbox and also stopped me from checking the services with the following message:

Code: Select all

Could not run '/usr/sbin/gtkservicesetup'

And gslapt does not fire anymore either so that update was fubared.

Code: Select all

Could not run '/usr/sbin/gslapt'

The information value is not all that high - I kind of noticed that they could not run.
I think I am going to take a brake here...

You are running - you say? Well... I am not stopping you...

Ok continuing then...
I did a

Code: Select all

slapt-get --dist-upgrade

which re-installed gslapt

I can fire gslapt from root terminal but not from the menus - I am beginning to think that there is something wrong with my user....
Ok I am not to happy so far but Internet works fine Java works fine flash is OK codecs are all installed so I do have a (somewhat) functional system.
So I install libreoffice just to have a look.....
And that worked just fine and looked OK.
So everyday programs are up and running and fully usable. There are serious structural issues that prevent me from starting GUI system tools and the Openbox app menu is broken.
The Apache server is running
Mysql cannot be configured properly at this point
The service does not start correctly:

Code: Select all

root[htdocs]# service start mysqld
Starting the mysqld service
140123 14:46:38 mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/lib/mysql/slackel.err'.
140123 14:46:38 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
root[htdocs]# 140123 14:46:40 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /var/run/mysql/mysql.pid ended


So I will have to amuse myself with reading error reports now...
One of the fixes in the error log was to run mysql upgrade so here we go:

Code: Select all

root[htdocs]# mysql_upgrade
FATAL ERROR: Upgrade failed

Yeah I love when that happens
According to the Slackware wiki there is nothing special with the Mysql setup; it is like I have done a hundred times before on other distros.
And I really have serious doubts about spending the time to find the error here - a fresh install might be better
Oh well I think I have spent enough time here.
Slackel works OK; codecs and locale are fine. My Openbox version was buggy and I did not manage to install and run Mysql (Mariadb).
If you really want to crawl under the hood of Linux I would recommend Arch rather than Slackware.
Regarding that rock solid reputation: I didn't notice it...

Slackware is like that Grandfather we all know:
The one that did paint a house for one cent back in his day, and he went to fetch the milk every day - barefooted.....in four meter of snow.
They don't make people like that anymore...So slack users will slowly become extinct.. while telling their stories...

[viking60]

Ok I'll admit that I might have been overly annoyed above. So I decided to have another go based on that "rock solid" reputation:

Since Slackers are used to fix all dependencies themselves I figured that it would be a good idea to chmod the files:
As root:

Code: Select all

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.{mysqld,httpd}

Then I initialized the database and created standard mysql tables (which I normally don't have to do):

Code: Select all

mysql_install_db --user=mysql

After that I tried to start the mysqld daemon again:

Code: Select all

service start mysqld

And oh wonder - It started!
Ah time to do the magic again then:

Code: Select all

mysql_secure_installation

Ahhhhh and this time it went through like it should.

Ok - a bit more detailed setup is necessary in the Slackware world - but if it is as solid as they say you will never have to do it again - I can live with that!

Time to set up php and phpmyadmin then.
I have installed php so I need to teach Apache "phpian" I edit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf and uncomment this line:

Code: Select all

Include /etc/httpd/mod_php.conf

It was commented out in the standard setup.

The Php setup went well:


Regardig Phpmyadmin it is not in the repos so we must compile it slack style. Slackel comes with a tool called Sourcery Slackbuild Manager.
That one resembles Yaourt in the Arch world.
So instead of doing it the CLI way I simply started it and searched for phpmyadmin. Once it was found I could simply check it and the install began.
No problem so far....
And it worked right out of the box!

Ok we have done it!
We have a functional LAMP server on Slackware.

Not to bad this after all...
Unlike Arch; Slackware is very well suited to be a server so these steps should be one of the more common ones in Slackware.
Here is my Slack with Openbox WM and fbpanel.

[viking60]

To sum it up:
Slackel is Slackware and Salix compatible and that should make the start with it easier than starting with the original Slackware.

I installed the Openbox version and was annoyed early on. The extra steps required might have something to do with it.

But I also came across a bug. After an update the system tools that requires root access simply did not fire from the fbpanel menu.
It was possible to fire them from a root terminal.


This was a bug. To fix it I had to remove ktsuss:

Code: Select all

spkg -d ktsuss

Then I had to update:

Code: Select all

slapt-get -u

Then I had to install gnsu:

Code: Select all

slapt-get -i gnsu

And enter this in a terminal as root:

Code: Select all

echo "%users ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

After that I could start gslapt from the menu again......Not a soft entrance to slack that.

Also the Openbox pipe-menu was broken after an update.....

I can set it up again on my own later.

But I have heard so many good things about Slack and how professional it is etc - and frankly; does this not resemble more of a hobbyist distro?

If you like changing tires and fiddling with your cars engine more than you like to drive it then this might have a certain appeal.
And I have not tested it for long so I cannot say how "rock solid" it is -once you are done (It is supposed to be very stable).

And maybe when everything works - you get that proud feeling of having done all by yourself....