Table of Contents [hide]

1 Updating Slackware
2 (UNTESTED) Updating Slackware’s kernel
- 2.1 (TODO) Switching to a generic kernel

NOTE – Replace \mcedit with your favourite editor. Some which I saw available with a default/recommended Slackware 14.1 install were: nano, vi, emacs, joe

NOTE – You must be root to use Slackware native package management. If you aren’t root, you can get to it with \su --login

Updating Slackware ∞

http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:slackware_admin:systemupgrade

Warning – if a proprietary graphics driver (e.g. Nvidia, Ati) is used, special considerations are required.

http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:hardware:proprietary_graphics_drivers

\mcedit  /etc/slackpkg/mirrors
\slackpkg  update gpg
\slackpkg  update

Edit your /etc/slackpkg/blacklist to prevent an accidental upgrade of your working kernel. NEVER UPGRADE YOUR WORKING KERNEL

\mcedit  /etc/slackpkg/blacklist

Un-comment these lines:

kernel-generic
kernel-generic-smp
kernel-huge
kernel-huge-smp
kernel-modules
kernel-modules-smp

Also, within that same file (/etc/slackpkg/blacklist), un-comment or add 3rd party repositories by adding appropriate lines for their repo tags. The following examples use regular expressions:

[0-9]+_SBo
[0-9]+alien
[0-9]+compat32

# Update the database:
\slackpkg  update

# Update slackpkg itself.
\slackpkg  upgrade  slackpkg

# View the difference betweeen your old and the new slackpkg configuration files.
# Overwriting /etc/slackpkg/slackpkg.conf is usually recommended.
\slackpkg  new-config
\slackpkg  upgrade  glibc-solibs

# Install every package which is marked in the Slackware ChangeLog.txt file with the string "Added"
\slackpkg  install-new
\slackpkg  upgrade-all

# Shows an overview of all currently-installed packages which are not part of the Slackware Linux release you are upgrading to.
#  --  All packages removed from Slackware.
#  --  Your third-party packages.
#  Note that some packages may be renamed, and appear as a new package (install-new) and the old package (clean-system)
\slackpkg  clean-system

# Check configuration, and prompt the user to confirm updates.
# For a new Slackware installation, you may as well overwrite all the existing configurations.
\slackpkg  new-config

(UNTESTED) Updating Slackware’s kernel ∞

This example uses kernel version 3.2.29
- TODO – How do I know what version is the latest?

/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -k 3.2.29

It will spit out a command to run. You can copy and paste this command line in your console, and let it create an initial ramdisk for you.

If you were already running a generic kernel and therefore already have an initrd, we strongly advise you to create a new initrd with a new unique name! e.g.:

mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb2 -m usb-storage:pcmcia_core:pcmcia:mmc_core:ssb:modprobe:usbhid:ehci-hcd:ohci-hcd:mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

=>

mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb2 -m usb-storage:pcmcia_core:pcmcia:mmc_core:ssb:modprobe:usbhid:ehci-hcd:ohci-hcd:mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd_3.2.29.gz

Create a new section for that kernel

The following will generate a block of stuff you can paste:

/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -l /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29
\mcedit  /etc/lilo.conf

(Do not remove your running kernel)

Apply the kernel changes with:

\lilo

TODO – Will boot-repair automatically pick this up, so I won’t have to use LILO? Or do I have to break my bootloader with lilo before using boot-repair?

(TODO) Switching to a generic kernel ∞

I could switch to a generic kernel to use less memory (it uses on-demand loading) and it supports a ramdrive

http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beginners_guide#switch_to_a_generic_kernel

Why do I want a ramdrive?

spiralofhope