Purpose of the document is the descpiption of ever repeating install and config procedures at a central place.

Because Slackware Linux uses most packages in their pristine forms, the documentation here is targeted mainly to this distro. The order of this document is more or less followning the natural installation order of a Slackware Linux system.

Examples of sourcefiles in this doc should specify their path (eg /etc/rc.d/rc.local) as a comment at the beginning.

For additional Software first look in the extra directory of a Slackware mirror. Use the installpkg command to install one of those packages.

Second check out www.linuxpackages.net (Also installed with installpkg). Are http://slackware.com/~alien/ and http://slackware.com/~rworkman/ worth a look too?

Third look at www.SlackBuilds.org. The SlackBuild Usage HOWTO tells you more. BTW a Slack buildscripct template can be found here.

If you can get 'only' the source code of a programm, than you should prefer checkinstall to the normal ./configure - make - make install procedure. Thus the software can be cleanly removed later or distributed ot oter Slackware-Boxes.

Self-build or third-party programs where no slackware package is available go to /usr/local/<programname-version>. Then make a symlink <programname> → <programname-version>. See also: Linux Filesystem Hierarchy, Linux Filesystem Hierarchy (german)

See Slackware Upgrade Mini-Howto

See App Install Config Tips

Original Slack installation howto

As of Slack 12.0 making boot disks is obsoletete. The description is kept in Slack Tips - Attic for reference

Since Slack 12.0 the default Kernel to select is hugesmp.s

Select kernel: Since Slack 10.2 I prefer bareacpi.i over the default bare.i for standard IDE Systems. For my SCSI-PC I use adaptec.s. lspci -v will help to select the suitable kernel. (obsolete)

With bare.i & adaptec.s I always enable APM in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules by uncommenting the line /sbin/modprobe apm (later). This switches the system off completly after shutdown (Fans are turned off too). lsmod shows if APM is working. With bareacpi.i APM in not necessary. (obsolete)

Keyboard layout: quertz/de-latin1-nodeadkeys.map

For netword based setup, after login as root, type network!

Use cfdisk. Make at least 3 Partitions for Swap, / and /home.

Imho the total of RAM and swap space should be at least 256MB as of Slack 12.0. Eg if the command free says, you have 64 MB of RAM then the swap partition should have 192 MB.

If you have 256 or more MB of RAM than Swap is not so important, but create a Swap partition anyway, probabliy with the same size as the RAM. Otherwise a fstab may not be created.

This is where the packages of the distribution go. E.g. a full install of Slack 12.2 needs about 5 GB, so 8 GB is a good size for this partition

Is for all data which has to survive a Slackware update. Use the rest of available disk space for this partition.

See Slackware Upgrade Mini-Howto how to use this partion also for e.g. /usr/local

Note: [Alt][Fx] gives another console while setup is running. Good for testing puposes

If you want to reuse old partitions which contain already data, eg for /home /home/share you can specify them here, but don't select to format them!

A note on network boot: It worked with the single line /mnt/cdrom/slackware *(ro,sync) in /etc/exports on the server and at the promt „What is the Slackware source directory“ /mnt/cdrom/slackware. Of course, the install DVD/CD has to be mountet in the cd-drive of the server before

Package Series Selection Recommendations: If disc space is sparse deselect E (Emacs), F (FAQ's), K (Kernel Source), T (TeX typesetting language), TCL (Tcl/Tk/TclX scripting languages and tools) & Y (Classic text-based BSD games). But select KDEI (KDE i18n) (and remove unnecessary languages later)

• Keymap: qwertz/de-latin1-nodeadkeys.map (I think this has to be specified again here)
• Root Partition: /dev/hda2
• Format /dev/hda2 with check and reiserfs
• Optional: Add existing FAT or NTFS Partitions to fstab: yes, as /ntfs-c
• Install from Slack-CD, Scan auto
• Package series: all, including KDEI
• Prompting mode: full; now the packages will be installed, this takes some time
• Bootstick: Optional

Install Linux Kernel: From CDROM! (Dont't skip)

• /dev/modem → /dev/ttyS0
• hotplug: yes; in case of problems: /etc/hotplug/blacklist /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
• /
• Lilo
  • Expert mode
  • Begin
    • Optional Kernel Parameters: hdc=ide-scsi, (hdc: secondary master, see slackbook, sag or ide_info /dev/hdX shows where the burner is) : Still necessary with Slack12?
    • Use UTF-8 Text Console: Yes
    • Frame Buffer: 1024x768x256 (keep default)
    • Lilo target: MBR (/dev/hda)
    • Timeout: 5s
  • Linux: Select Linux Partition: /dev/hda2
  • Install
  • Conifg can be changed later with liloconfig or directly by editing /etc/lilo.conf & re-installing th boot loader with the command lilo
• Mouse: /dev/mouse PS2 (recommended & works also for touchpads. Creates the symlink /dev/mouse → /dev/input/mice )
• gpm: yes
• Configure Network: yes (or later with netconfig
  • Hostname: ilse
  • Domainname: local
  • IP Address: static IP
  • Ip-Adresse: 192.168.0.1
  • Netmask: 255.255.255.0
  • Gateway: No
  • Nameserver: No
• Startup services:
  • aktivate: rc.cups, rc.mysqld, rc.httpd
  • deaktivate: rc.inetd
• custom screen fonts: no
• Hardware clock set to UTC: yes
• Timezone: Europe/Berlin
• Default Window Manager: xinitrc.kde
• Root Password: yes
• Exit

If you use netconfig to setup a static IP connection it changes the following files:

/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
/etc/HOSTNAME
/etc/hosts
/etc/networks

Bevore changing confiuration files, it is recommendable to keep a copy of the original file with the extension .org. Eg: cp /etc/ntp.conf /etc/ntp.conf.org. This allows to go back to the original configuration in case of failure and makes it easier to introduce your local changes to the new config files after an operation system upgrade (by using diff & patch).

Sometimes there is already an identical copy of the config file supplied. Eg. in /etc/apache/ the files httpd.conf & httpd.conf.default are initially the same. In this case just make a symlink: httpd.conf.org → httpd.conf.default. Thus a find -name '*.org' will always give you an overview of modified config files.

On Slack userer can be added to the system with the adduser command. Make sure that local users are added to the groups

audio, video, cdrom, plugdev

This avoids access right problems with various multimedia apps like Xine, Vlc or Skype.

Check: For command line (un)mounting the things below (pre Slack 12.0) still apply, i.e. you still need entries for cdrom and dvd devices:

• If required copy line /dev/cdrom and replace cdrom with dvd and check if Symlink /dev/dvd → /dev/hdc or similar exists
• Replace owner with users at line /dev/cdrom /dev/dvd and /dev/fd0 to allow a normal user to (un)mount such a device
• Add a line for usb drives at the end

Since Slack 11.0 the cdrom-burner (kernel scsi-emulation in lilo) is not found in eg /dev/hdd anymore, but in eg /dev/sr0 ⇒ This means that a Symlink /dev/cdrom → /dev/sr0 and not /dev/cdrom → /dev/hdd. You get that hint when you try to mount eg # mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom/ as root.

Since Slack 12 which uses HAL USB drives can mounted automatically if you stick to KDE, GNOME, or Xfce. They provide an automount feature via DBUS/HAL. Just add the usernames of the users to the plugdev group in /etc/group, reload configuration with /etc/rc.d/rc.messagebus reload and restart KDE. No changes to fstab are necessary.

If you also want to mount in the traditional way with the command line, than add a line for USB drives to /etc/fstab, eg: /dev/sda1 /media/memory0 auto users,noatime,async 0 0. The entries in fstab are respected by HAL. 'users' means that every user can mount and also a different user can unmount. 'noatime,async' are for conserving flasch memory lifetime. See slackware-12.0/CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT and linuxquestions.org

/dev/hda1        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/hda2        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
/dev/hda3        /home            ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/cdrom       /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,users,ro  0   0
/dev/dvd         /mnt/dvd         auto        noauto,users,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,users     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
/dev/sda1        /media/memory    auto        users,noatime,async 0   0

export LANG=de_DE.utf8
#export LANG=de_DE@euro #obsolete

This localizes many apps, eg Fluxbox Java, editors and pagers.

Note that for viewing and editing text files in a termial emulator window, both the emulator and the viewer/editor need to be UTF-8 aware.

Examples for applications which respect UTF-8 are the terminal emulator terminal (from the Xfce project), the pager less and the edior vim.

Dies beeinflußt auch das default character encoding von kate und kwrite unter Kde. Wählt man zB LANG=de_DE@euro, so ist das default encoding ISO-8859-15

locale -a shows all possible LANG values

#!/bin/sh
# default settings for every day command line usage
# may be overwritten in /home/<username>/.profile
 
# for CVS:
export EDITOR='/usr/bin/vim'
 
# for crontab -e
export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
 
# for mysql and man
#export PAGER='/usr/bin/most'
#export PAGER='/usr/bin/less'
export PAGER='/usr/bin/less -iR'
# -i: case insesitive search; -R: colorize output (for colordiff)
 
# conveninence shortcuts:
alias   o="$PAGER"   # default pager
alias   e="$EDITOR"  # default command line editor
alias  ge='kate -u'  # default gui editor
alias  ll='ls -alF'  # detailed directory listing
alias  ..='cd ..'    # go to parent directory
alias ...='cd ../..' # go to parent of parent directory
alias cal='cal -3m'  # calendar: Start on Monday & display 3 Months
alias  bc='bc -l'    # calculator: preload mathlib, scale=20

#!/bin/bash
# shebang only necessary for text coloring in editor
 
# use jedit instead of kate as gui editor:
# overwrites /etc/profile.d/local.sh
# only if jedit is installed & favored
alias ge='jedit'
 
# For per user scripts and commands:
# export is not really necessary here, because PATH is already exported in
# /etc/profile
export PATH=$PATH:~/bin
 
# for CVS:  2004-02-09 16:35, 2006-10-05 14:39
#export CVSROOT=/home/cvsroot
#export CVSROOT=":pserver:becki@etb-111:/home/cvsroot"
export CVS_RSH="/usr/bin/ssh"
export CVSROOT=":ext:becki@etb-111:/home/cvsroot"

See xorg_tips->etc_x11_xorg.conf

• # alsamixer : unmute master & pcm with m-Key; set master to ~75% and pcm to 100%; Quit with ESC
• alsactrl store

Source: /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa and Bootmessages; amarok home page has also infos about alsarc configuration

Disable – MARK – timestamp appearing in a 20 minute interval in /var/log/messages. From Battery powered Howto & alt.os.linux.slackware Faq

#/etc/rc.d/rc.syslog :
...
#/usr/sbin/syslogd
/usr/sbin/syslogd -m 0
...

Check with kernel 2.6: Harddisk standby after a timeout of eg 20 min in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

hdparm -S 240 /dev/hda

Values from 1 - 240 specify multiples of 5s. From man hdparm & Battery powered Howto and. Operation may not supported on SCSI disks. Doesn't seem to work with SCSI drives (eg. /dev/sda)

As of Slack 12.2 this section seems to have become obsolete and needless.

To get battery control on laptops (eg in KDE) on Slack12 add this to /etc/rc.d/rc.modules :

/sbin/modprobe ac
/sbin/modprobe button
/sbin/modprobe battery
/sbin/modprobe processor
/sbin/modprobe thermal
/sbin/modprobe fan
/sbin/modprobe video
/sbin/modprobe container

Source, description, more

To use the recommended generic instead of the huge kernel you have to build an initrd. This section is baese on slackware-12.2/README.initrd

Make a copy of /boot dir to be on the save side: cp -a /boot /boot.org

Create the initial ramdisk filesystem /boot/initrd.gz with

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.27.7-smp -m mbcache:jbd:ext3 -f ext3 -r /dev/sda2

In this example with an ext3 root partition on /dev/sda2 (see ls -al /dev/root) for kernel 2.6.27.7-smp (See uname -r).
Or

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.27.7-smp -m reiserfs

for Reiserfs

Add a new image-section at the beginning of the image sections to /etc/lilo.config:

image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-2.6.27.7-smp
  initrd  = /boot/initrd.gz
  root= /dev/sda2
  label = LinuxGeneric
  read-only

Run lilo and restart.

Important note: If initrd.gz is modified, lilo must be started again!

For remote Login via window manager see xorg_tips->kdm

To start remote xapps via ssh enable X11Forwarding on the (application-)server side by uncommenting it somewhere in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

#X11Forwarding no
X11Forwarding yes

Additionaly log into the server with ssh -X.

As of 2009-05-05 terminal emulator of the Xfce window manger (called „Terminal“, alternatively started with terminal) is recommended. It supports multiple tabs, transparency and respects UTF-8.

For a start here is a resonable configuration file for terminal. Copy it to : $HOME/.config/Terminal/terminalrc:

[Configuration]
BackgroundMode=TERMINAL_BACKGROUND_TRANSPARENT
CommandLoginShell=TRUE
FontAntiAlias=FALSE
FontName=Fixed 12
MiscDefaultGeometry=80x62
MiscMenubarDefault=FALSE
MiscConfirmClose=FALSE

Obsolete settings for mrxvt, aterm and xterm are at Slack Tips - Attic.

Rename the language packages you need in /var/log/packages and run removepkg …. Then re-rename the necessary packages to their original name again. Example for keeping only German (and default Enlish) :

cd /var/log/packages
mv kde-i18n-de-3.5.4-noarch-1 _kde-i18n-de-3.5.4-noarch-1
mv koffice-l10n-de-1.5.2-noarch-1 _koffice-l10n-de-1.5.2-noarch-1
removepkg kde-i18n-* koffice-l10n-*
mv _kde-i18n-de-3.5.4-noarch-1 kde-i18n-de-3.5.4-noarch-1
mv _koffice-l10n-de-1.5.2-noarch-1 koffice-l10n-de-1.5.2-noarch-1

Alternatively deselect the KDEI package series during setup and install the necessary language packages later manually with installpkg from the CD.

For Internet Connection wired or WLAN, with DSL router, with DSL modem or with analog modem and for Firewall setup see Linux Networking Tips

Check if cupsd is running with ps aux | grep cups or point browser to http://localhost:631 . If cupsd is not running, make rc.cups executable and start cupsd with /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start

On http://localhost:631 and your root password you can add local connected printers. Note that as of Slack12 an USB printer has to be connected (and switched on) in order to be selectable.

To setup Turboprint download the latest 1.x version from http://turboprint.de (keyfile-readmy claims to work only with 1.x versions of tp) & unpack. Dont change system.cfg (using /usr/local instead of /usr won't work with cups!). Install as root with ./setup . This may last a long time. Output should be similar to

Program Files /usr/share/turboprint
Commands      /usr/bin
Spool Dir     /var/spool/lpd
Man Pages     /usr/share/man
Log Files     /var/log
Temp          /tmp
Cups Drivers  /usr/share/cups/model
Cups Filters  /usr/lib/cups/filter

To setup printers start (x)tpsetup as root. xtpsetup needs X, so start it with su -c $(which xtpsetup) or something like

xhost +
su root
export DISPLAY=:0.0

Click on 'add' to add a new printer. To setup an USB printer use /dev/usb/lp0 as output in xtpsetup

To register keyfile, save the keyfile somewhere, start xtpsetup as root, press register → install keyfile and select keyfile in dialog box.

Turboprint manual: online offline / Cups manuals: for admins for users

lpinfo -v
lpstat -p -d # ?
lpadmin -d printername # set default printer see cups admin manual

On ingolf at 2006-11-28 hat been problems with parallel port, cups said „Parallel port busy; will retry in 30 seconds…“ and the printer (S500) stopped working. Searching google brought: http://www.luga.at/mailing-lists/luga/2006/07/msg00039.html. So I uncommented the „# PC parallel port support #“ section in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and set /sbin/modprobe parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7. Lets see, if it works from now on…

On the client side (this is the host which wants to use the printer, but where the printer is not connected locally) just make sure, that cupsd is running. No more changes are necessary.

On the server side, where the printer is connected via USB or printer cable, first make a local printer setup (see above) Turboprint needs only to be installed on the server side.

Than edit /etc/cups/cups.conf:

#BrowseAddress @LOCAL
BrowseAddress @LOCAL
<Location>
  ...
  #Allow From 127.0.0.1
  Allow From @LOCAL
</Location>
<Location admin> :
  ...
  #Allow From 127.0.0.1
  Allow From @LOCAL
</Location> :

Die ersten beiden Änderungen bewirken das remote cupsd's die lokalen Drucker erkennen können. Wird die 1. Änderung wieder Rückgängig gemacht, so vergessen die Clients auch die Drucker auf ingolf wieder.

Die 3. Änderung bewirkt, daß die Administration auch von einem entferten Rechner erfolgen kann @LOCAL heißt nur das lokale Netz, keine Dial-up Broadcasts (siehe cupsd.conf)

Restart cupsd then!

Note: This needs to be verified — 2006-11-07 14:50

• System-wide config
  • (x)tpconfig as root
  • http://localhost:631/admin/
  • lpoptions as root
  • kde-controlcenter → cups in admin-mode
• user-config
  • (x)tpconfig
  • lpoptions
  • kde-controlcenter → cups (as kprinter-default?)
  • kprinter

• The Cups Web-UI can install printers and set printer options. But this works only as root
• (x)tpsetup can install printers and only be run as root.
• (x)tpconfig can set printer options and do printer maintainance.
• System wide settings can be done with (x)tpsetup/(x)tpconfig or Cups Web-UI. They respect each other.
• Settings done with kde-controlcenter → cups in admin-mode are probably sysem-wide but only for kprinter
• Settings done with kde-controlcenter → cups in user-mode overwrite kde-admin-mode but apply only for kprinter
• lpoptions comes from cups and its settings are only used by lp and lpr commands
• lpoptions as root sets system wide settings for lp and lpr
• printer options set with (x)tpconfig probably apply only for lp and lpr too.

• How interact xtpconfig as user with kprinter config dialog and with cups-config in kde-controlcenter and with lpoptions ?
• How can the servicest of xtpconfig used, when turbopint is not installed locally? lpoptions? See also CUPS Software Administrators Manual
• For buying a new printer http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/02/1515243 http://www.linuxprinting.org/suggested.html http://hplip.sf.net/ may help

This is a description how to setup your computer in order to fetch the accurate time from the internet. — 2004-11-26, 2006-12-14;

Infos taken from: How do I use pool.ntp.org?, Time Synchronisation with NTP & NTP FAQ and HOWTO

Replace /etc/ntp.conf with something similar to the following example. These are the servers for Germany. Replace them with the server entries for your country. You'll find them here

#/etc/ntp.conf:
driftfile /etc/ntp/drift
server 0.de.pool.ntp.org
server 1.de.pool.ntp.org
server 2.de.pool.ntp.org
server 3.de.pool.ntp.org
de.pool.ntp.org

Test this: Do not replace ntp.conf but just add the server entries below the line #server pool.ntp.org

Test this: Do not replace ntp.conf but just uncomment the line

1. server pool.ntp.org

and add your appropriate sub-zone, eg:

server  de.pool.ntp.org

If, contrary to expectations, you have servers which do not use version 4, but the older version 3 of the NTP-protocol, add 'version 3' after the server entry, eg: server timesource.kaeser-net.de version 3. More

To manually adjust your computer clock from time to time, just issue the command ntpd -q from now on. Or, if you want an automated adjustment, the further steps depend on your type of internet connection:

As of Slack 12.0 just make /etc/rc.d/rc.ntpd runnable or with older versions add the following to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

# Start the NTP daemon:
if [ -x /usr/sbin/ntpd ]; then
  echo "Starting NTP daemon: /usr/sbin/ntpd"
  /usr/sbin/ntpd
fi

This script doesn't seem to work, when you have only a temporarely internet connection like modem or DSL!

Issue the command ntpd as root for the first time, and after some time (this could take as long as half an hour!), ntpq -p should output something like:

remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
+81.6.42.224     193.5.216.14     2 u   68 1024  377  158.995   51.220  50.287
*217.162.232.173 130.149.17.8     2 u  191 1024  176   79.245    3.589  27.454
-129.132.57.95   131.188.3.222    3 u  766 1024  377   22.302   -2.928   0.508

The IP addresses will be different, because you've been assigned random timeservers. The essential thing is that one of the lines starts with an asterisk (*), this means your computer gets the time from the internet.

Does this work with an hardware dsl router as internet connection?

Add this code to the file /etc/ppp/ip-up. Create it, if it not exists and make it runnable.

#!/bin/bash
# /etc/ppp/ip-up
spd=$((24*60*60)) # seconds per day ; #spd=5 # test
today=$(($(date +%s) / spd))    # today in days since 1970
last=$(($(stat -c%Y $0) / spd)) # last setting of time in days since 1970
 
if ((today>last)); then # fetch the time once a day:
    if ntpd -q; then
        touch $0 # remember time setting in the modification time stamp of this file
        logger "Time set successfully"
    else
        logger "ntpd error while setting time!"
    fi
else
    logger "No need to set time yet"
fi

On my pppoe DSL connection it doesn't work!

Change sudo config or suid /sbin/halt and symlink /usr/local/bin/shutdown → /sbin/halt, /usr/local/bin/reboot → /sbin/halt

Get system crontab file as root: crontab -l > cronbuffer; Open cronbuffer with vim and add somesthing similar to the following lines:

...
# Run daily cron jobs not at 4:40 but at 18:00 every day:
0 18 * * * /usr/bin/run-parts /etc/cron.daily 1> /dev/null
...
# Daily Shutdown Mo-Fr at 18:10, Sa&So at 17:00, give user 5 Minutes to log out:
0  17 * * 5-0  /sbin/shutdown -h +5 "Weekend! Shutting down!"
10 18 * * 1-4  /sbin/shutdown -h +5 "Quitting time! Shutting down!"

(At this occasion the time of daily jobs is also changed to something more reasonable at daytime, assuming your computer is off at night. This makes the command locate work properly.)

Install your new crontab with crontab cronbuffer. (Normally you could also use crontab -e to directly edit the crontab, but this did not work on Slack 11.0, don't know why.)

See beckibackup

NFS Slackbook Chapter

rc.nfsd must be executable; rc.inet2 starts rc.nfsd (Slack10.2)

To use the host as an NFS-server for a Slack network install on remote host etb-111, make the following entry in /etc/exports :????0A /mnt/cdrom/slackware etb-111(ro,sync)
sync is the default anyway, only present to suppress a warning.

1. mount -t nfs etb-100:/mnt/cdrom /mnt/test

laut root-mail von PV müssen die Pakete portmap & nfs-utils vorhanden sein.
Die beiden Pakete sind vorhanden. Dies zusätzlich noch überprüft mit pkgtool->View (aus [6])

Eintrag in /etc/exports gemäß "man exports":
  /home/becki       karl(rw,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=100)
  (1000 ist die uid von becki auf ilse)

Mounten (von karl aus) vorübergehend mit:
  # mount -t nfs ilse:/home/becki /home/becki/ilse
  # umount /home/becki/ilse/

Nachtrag 2003-07-26 12:48 wieder weg 2003-07-28 19:57
  Eintrag /etc/exports ergänzt zu
    /usr/local/musik  karl(rw,all_squash,anonuid=1000,anongid=100)
  Mounten (von karl aus) vorübergehend mit:
    # mount -t nfs ilse:/usr/local/musik /home/becki/ilse
    # umount /home/becki/ilse/

nfs abschalten  2004-11-18 21:11
  /etc/exports : alle obigen Einträge raukommentiert, nur noch Kommentar drin

Call fbsetbg -r /home/becki/wallpapers for a random pic or fbsetbg -a /home/becki/wallpapers/aCertainImage.jpg once for only one maximized image. Both commands create ~/.fluxbox/lastwallpaper

Add session.screen0.rootCommand: fbsetbg -l to ~/.fluxbox/init to get the bg-image at startup of fluxbox. (more)

Alternatively, this crontab changes the background image every 10 minutes (-R ignores ~/fluxbox/lastwallpaper):

# MIN HOUR DAY MONTH DAYOFWEEK   COMMAND
*/10 * * * *  PATH=$PATH:/usr/X11/bin DISPLAY=:0.0 /usr/X11R6/bin/fbsetbg -R /home/becki/wallpapers &> /dev/null

Slack 11.0 provides vsftpd and proftpd as FTP servers. proftpd is uses because of oviously better documentation and apache-like config file.

• Make /etc/rc.d/rc.inetd runnable
• Activate the line containing 'proftp' by removing the comment '#' sign at the beginning in /etc/inetd.conf
• If /etc/rc.d/rc.inetd was not runnable before, you can savely comment out everything else in /etc/inetd.conf
• Start inetd by typing /etc/rc.d/rc.inetd start

If you want to restrict to restrict the ftp users to their home dir, add the line

DefaultRoot ~

to /etc/proftpd.conf. More config templates and docu can be found in /usr/doc/proftpd-1.3.0/.

see MySql Tips and Commands

Tips refer to apache 2.x.

• chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd is necssary to start apache automatically at system boot.
• To enable per-directory settings with .htaccess files, you have to set the AllowOverride directive for the document root (usually /srv/httpd/htdocs) accordingly. Amongst others, this is usually necessary fot URL Rewriting. When on doubt, set AllowOverride to all. More Info
• To tell the browsers in the HTTP-header to use UTF-8 as default encoding, add AddDefaultCharset UTF-8 to the DocumentRoot section (<Directory „/srv/httpd/htdocs“>)
• Uncomment Include /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-autoindex.conf to enable fancy directory listings
• Uncomment /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-userdir.conf to enable user home directories Include, eg. http://~sandy/…
• See Subversion Tips for using apache as subversion server

Enable php by doing the following changes in /etc/httpd/httpd.conf (old: /etc/apache/httpd.conf):

<     DirectoryIndex index.html
---
>     DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
< #Include /etc/httpd/mod_php.conf
---
> Include /etc/httpd/mod_php.conf

(Re)start apache with /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd restart

Test apache & php by saving the following line as /var/www/htdocs/index.php

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Point your browser to http://localhost/. You should see infomations about your php installation there.

Note: PHP is also a great alternative to Perl or Bash command line scripts. See PHP Manual

This section refers to Slack 11.0 which ships with Php4. Download & install Php5 Slack package:

wget 'http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/slackware/slackware-11.0/extra/php5/php-5.2.0-i486-1.tgz'
upgradepkg php-5.2.0-i486-1.tgz

The upgrade script of the package keeps old php.ini & mod_php.conf. We need the new files:

cp -a /etc/apache/php.ini /etc/apache/php.ini.bak
cp -a /etc/apache/php.ini-recommended /etc/apache/php.ini
cp -a /etc/apache/mod_php.conf.example /etc/apache/mod_php.conf

If you made manual changes in your old php.ini, do the same with the new php.ini now.

Note: Ulike in php4 short_open_tag is off by default in php5.

Quick and dirty example with these parameters:

• Directory to be protected: /var/www/htdocs/digestTest/
• Realm: 'Digest Authentication Test' (arbitrary selectable)
• Username: testuser

Create password file .htpasswd with:

htdigest -c .htpasswd 'Digest Authentication Test' testuser

Create config file .htaccess (for Apache 1.x):

AuthType Digest
AuthName "Digest Authentication Test"
AuthDigestFile /var/www/htdocs/digestTest/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Create config file .htaccess (for Apache 2.x):

AuthType Digest
AuthName "Digest Authentication Test"
AuthDigestProvider file
AuthUserFile /var/www/htdocs/digestTest/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Put .htpasswd and .htaccess into /var/www/htdocs/digestTest/

Note that the manual discourages to put .htpasswd into the same directory which is to be protected, however it seems common usage. Check at least .htpasswd and .htaccess will not be displayed in your webbrowser!

More details at Apache manual

• Download e.g. jdk-6u11-linux-i586.bin from java.sun.com (no rpm)
• Installation:

mv jdk-6u11-linux-i586.bin /usr/local/lib
cd /usr/local/lib
chmod a+x jdk-6u11-linux-i586.bin
./jdk-6u11-linux-i586.bin
cd /usr/lib
mv java java.org
ln -s /usr/local/lib/jdk1.6.0_11 java

Since Version 10.1 Slack comes with a JRE, but no JDK. For developing in Java, download the JDK from AnySlackwareServer/extra & install it with installpkg. A default installation has a symlink /usr/lib/java → /usr/lib/jre-XXX. Among others, the install script of the JDK changes this symlink to /usr/lib/java → /usr/lib/jdk-XXX

Check install script at /var/log/scripts/jdk-XXX. Check if the java plugin of firefox still works after installation — 2007-03-29

Old /etc/profile.d/jre.sh & new /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh are identical and double things in $MANPATH and $PATH therfore chmod -x jre.sh or removepkg jre-XXX completely! — 2007-04-27

Download binary distribution from http://ant.apache.org, unpack in /usr/local and make a symlink: /usr/local# ln -s apache-ant-XXXX ant

According to Manual add ant bin directory to your invironment variables:

# /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh
...
#export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/java # this line should already be present!
export ANT_HOME=/usr/local/ant
export PATH=${PATH}:${ANT_HOME}/bin

Test this!