Info and updates on my slackware repos
Finally after a week or so -current has been updated with a fix for glib2 so I’ve removed it from my repo so slackpkg will pick up the updated package.
I also uploaded a new iso today before these updates went live, so I’m making another one to upload eventually today as well. The one here currently does not have todays package updates.
Today -current was updated to include many libraries I’ve been shipping in the liveslak. http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=x86_64 with today’s changes I’ve removed the following from the repo:
On -current glib2-2.74.1 has also been updated (which is in the repo), but it hasn’t been patched to fix the 100% cpu usage gnome-keyring bug, so I’ve left my build up for glib2 until this is addressed. Slackware’s vte package does not contain the GTK4 library, which is needed for gnome-console to function as well. To work-around this issue, much like I’ve done for libnma, I created a gtk4 specific package for vte and have added it to the repo.
To update an existing liveslak system properly, please run these commands as root:
slackpkg update
slackpkg install gcs43
slackpkg upgrade-all
This will ensure you pick up any newly added packages and update the live system as well. I will post a new ISO as well soon for new users, existing ones should be good to go with the above commands.
I built a new ISO today with todays -current updates as well as re-added missing packages to the repo for gunpnp plugins and the Ubuntu AppIndicator Extension was missing as well. I need to watch the wildcards I use when removing files, when updating last week I deleted more than I was attempting to do –oops!
I did a complete install of this ISO before posting it and it very well may be perfect. You’d be hard pressed to find a better system right now running GNOME 43, I’d venture to say that this being live, install-able and a rock-solid Slackware with flatpaks as well, that this is a better installation than Fedora. We don’t require reboots every update on Slackware, come to the dark side!
I just want to note here as well that I packaged up LibreOffice 7.4.21 for aarch64 slackwareaarch64-current. It’s an initial build done without kde-integration and without java as well. (zulu java reports as 32bit from the 64bit installer). LibreOffice was built from a slightly-modified AlienBob SlackBuild, and eventually I’ll work out the rest and update the build. It takes quite a bit of hdd space to build up, over 17gb for the process!
This is a gtk3 based application suite so it naturally fits right in on gnome once installed. You shouldn’t need any extra libraries to use it on a aarch64-current machine, so add the repo to slackpkg+ and get word processing!
https://slackware.lngn.net/pub/aarch64/slackwareaarch64-current/libreoffice/
For the longest time it seems we have struggled to get users to understand they must edit /etc/rc.d/rc.4 and remove multiple –nodaemon flags present in the file — but struggle we will no longer! 0xBOBF has came up with a workaround and users will no longer need to edit this file on their system! Leaving one more bit (a small one) of vanilla Slackware untouched while installing GNOME.
Also, a few weeks back I had updated flatpak with some changes I took from AlienBob’s script he recently created. And it completely destroyed my flatpak integration from working as it should (icons showing up within GNOME Shell, etc) and so I’ve undone those changes. I re-worked my script to now include the flathub and gnome-nightly repos installed system-wide by default, and left the rest alone. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
As of now, users of the liveslak can install the system and have it operate correctly out of the box (finally!) or keep on using the live system and you’ll not notice any changes, it’ll work exactly like it did before.
Excellent work this week!
Recently, I noticed that in a GNOME session the gnome-keyring process was constantly taking up 100% of a cpu core. Naturally, I killed it, and it was fine, so I went upon my business. But then I noticed it on my next boot, and then I noticed it on another machine with a different version of software and before I knew it, I was scouring the net for answers.
Turns out, an old bug had resurfaced in some changes to code within glib2 and had shown itself in both 43.1 and 42.6. The bug was introduced in glib2 1.74.1 (but was occurring as well on 2.72.4- likely the same changes were backported), so I naturally downgraded the libs and moved on while waiting for a patch to come.
A patch has finally come, so I’ve updated the gcs43.1 and also upgraded gcs42.6 (aarch64) repos with the new packages. As well as a few other updates on aarch64 for webkit2gtk 2.38.2 and libadwaita 1.2.0, in preparation to likely ship GNOME 43 for aach64… eventually… I’m in no rush and 42 runs pretty well without many library updates on that port. Before 44 comes out, I’m sure I’ll ship it (it’s plenty build-able on your own anyway). 42 needed those webkit updates, as I can’t imagine building that on a normal aarch64 machine (M1 to the rescue!).
I’ve also updated the liveslak with -current and the new glib2. That’s all for the rest of the week out of me. Enjoy!
Upgraded a bunch of GNOME 43 x86_64 modules today. Added the cups-pk-helper package as well. For printing, ensure you’ve chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups and started the daemon. The printer pane should display an “Add Printer…” button if it’s working on your system correctly. I’ll post a new liveslak later today.
Mon Nov 7 20:34:53 UTC 2022 gcs43/cups-pk-helper-0.2.7-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Added. gcs43/gssdp-1.6.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/gupnp-1.6.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/python-gi-docgen-2022.2-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/webkit2gtk4.1-2.38.2-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. +--------------------------+ Mon Nov 7 09:51:46 UTC 2022 gcs43/gnome-shell-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/gnome-shell-extensions-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/gtksourceview4-4.8.4-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/mutter-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. gcs43/polkit-122-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded. +--------------------------+
*I have added the package to the GCS 43 x86_64 repo and github*
I had noticed recently that attempting to bring up the printer pane in GNOME resulted in an error message being displayed, and then days later 0xBOB had mentioned he noticed the same in chat, and it turned out I had possibly been a little over-zealous in removing extra packages from GNOME. While I would consider in 2022, printing to be an optional feature, I happened to need to print something and had to use another OS to do so because of time constraints. The missing package is “cups-pk-helper”, which was a shipped with GFS previously on Slackware and I had removed in all my pruning while slimming the install down. 0xBOB had replaced said package in his hybrid 41/42 offering on SBo for Slackware 15.0, and I’ll be checking that out and re-adding it soon to the repos here as well, I’ll be sure to make a note of when I add it back.
Updated the ISO again today, along with a few package updates which can be seen in the ChangeLog.txt. I’ve also changed some things a bit, moved the liveslak info back to it’s own page (for easier updating) and added information on installing the ISO or optionally, the GNOME packages on an existing system (though I don’t recommend that, if you don’t already have a 100% stock install).
If you’ve problems or comments, feel free to comment on the pages, I will try to help if things aren’t working out for you.
Today I’ve rebuilt the liveslak ISO with the latest -current updates and stable GNOME updates I’ve got at the moment. If you already have the ISO you can always update packages normally with “slackpkg update && slackpkg upgrade-all” under the root account.
Outside of the official Slackware updates, I’ve included updates for slackpkg+, evince, tracker, tracker-miners, vte, and webkit2gtk. The webkit package changes some build flags increasing compatibility with websites, notably https://heise.de/ which has been problematic thus far, should be working now.
Enjoy!
Download: https://slackware.lngn.net/pub/liveslak/slackware64-live-current-gnome-43.1-20221031.iso