Hi.

I did a fresh install in my laptop of -current but the last time I used Slackware was around 2009~10. A few things I just don't know (or can't remember) and I will appreciate any help.

1) slackpg

I edited /etc/slackpkg/blacklist
and uncommented lines

kernel-generic.*
kernel-huge.*
kernel-modules.*
kernel-source

Also, I selected a mirror and then:

slackpkg update
slackpkg install-new
slackpkg upgrade-all
slackpkg clean-system

With this, as far as I could remember, I will remain with the kernel shipped with the .iso (5.10.30)

Is this right?

2) If I comment those lines of kernel-* to allow slackpkg to update kernel too, do I need to run

eliloconfig ?

Will the previous installed kernel be completely removed?

3) with lilo there is a file called /etc/lilo.conf with an option called timeout ...

is there something similar with elilo?

4) suppose that I want to uninstall a package, e.g., fftw, and compile it by my own (without SBo in this case), what is the best approach to remove the package?

5) I've used debian/mint since 2009~10 and all local libs are, usually, installed in /usr/local/lib
I realized that slackware has /usr/local/lib and /usr/local/lib64
dumb question: any library compiled by me should go to lib64, i.e., which one is in the "default path" that any "./configure" will look for?

6) KDE is not saving my wifi password and I have to type it in every log in . How can I save the password in order to KDE connect to my wifi automatically?

Kind regards
Leonardo

1. Yes
2. Yes and yes
3. Dunno
4. Remove pkg, add to blacklist, install yours
5. On a 64 bits system, default is usually lib64
6. Do you use networkmanager ?

Welcome back !

Thanks

yes, I'm using networkmanager

Had the same thing. Or you use kdewallet and store wifi passwords per user or you need to save the password in the settings for all users.
If you right-click the NM icon (WIFI icon) -> Configure network connections -> access_point_name -> WIFI-Security and you select "Store password for all users (not encrypted)". That is how I did it.

2 members found this post helpful.

1) yes

[Automated upgrade of kernel packages aren't a good idea (and you need to
run "lilo" after upgrade). If you think the same, uncomment the lines
below ]


I updated from 14.2 to current , but current about 9 months ago. If kernels change you can go to :

https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackw...slackware64/a/ the kernels and firmware are available as txz packages. You install them manually using installpkg kernelpkg.txz not upgrade, which would wipe your old kernel.

Theres a nice article about the process of upgrading at : https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sl...:systemupgrade

2) Alien Bobs mentions at the beginning not a good idea to auto update kernels using slackpkg

3) i'm using grub2 looked in /etc didn't see any lilo.config , actually because my motherboard is uefi i wasd using elilo anyway before grub

Yep, it's /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf
The line you're looking for is "timeout".

This should be very easy to solve, but how can I define a global alias?

It seems that .bash_aliases is not working.

Kind regards,
Leonardo

Thanks!

I run LILO on my legacy machines, it works very well. I have used ELILO, but, I prefer GRUB on my UEFI machine. Each to his/her own. The following is a good tutorial on how to install GRUB on a UEFI Slackware unit.

Install Slackware using GRUB on UEFI

2 members found this post helpful.

For global alias, modify /etc/profile OR create /etc/bashrc OR create a file in the /etc/profile.d directory.

Lots of options all searchable on this site or the search engine of your choice.

Yeah. I've created .bashrc.

Thanks

Only run 'eliloconfig' if you're strictly using the distribution supplied kernel and not customising elilo.conf in any way because it unconditionally overwrites the latter each time you run it! It sets timeout & delay to 1 (0.1s), the kernel boot args to 'root=/xx vga=normal ro', deletes all other entries, and doesn't back up the original.

If you don't run it you just need to copy the kernel (and initrd) to the efi system partition (/boot/efi/EFI/Slackware by default) and ensure there's an entry for it in the config file (existing or new). Since they are the images used to boot you can retain previous kernels there as you wish separately from the files in /boot.

elilo is simple and reliable, i much prefer it to grub. It works more like grub-1 did with a basic config file that is read at boot time and needs no installation steps when modified.

Good advice! It should be noted that one can get the best of both worlds, elilo and grub2, with rEFInd which will seek elilo.conf, numerous foo.efi files as well as kernels IF you want it to and it does not overwrite itself when it detects an existing refind.conf. It is also simple text controlled requiring no extra binary steps to update.

BTW does anyone know the reasoning behind the seemingly redundant /efi/EFI policy?

Also BTW early BIOS/UEFI implementations are often problematic with both EFI booting and NVME drives. It seems a good idea to upgrade or read very thoroughly. I've got a 2014 machine giving me fits with both basic HDD UEFI as well as NVME, complicated by the operating system being aware of things the BIOS/UEFI is not. PITA! My new box is flawless and relatively easy even with combined UEFI and Legacy boot devices.

1 members found this post helpful.

The efi/ is the mount point for the EFI partition.

The EFI/ is required by the UEFI spec as the EFI partition is required to contain an EFI/ folder at the base (see 13.3.1.3 of the UEFI spec (pdf link)) and then individual folders beyond that for various OSes and distros. There is no requirement for the EFI partition to be mounted to /boot/efi/, however, that seems to be the standard location in Linux distros.

Technically, you could have the EFI partition mount wherever you'd like, but /boot/efi/ seems to be a decent location.

4 members found this post helpful.

Thank you yet again, bassmadrigal. As usual your response is clear and concise and very helpful.