Slackware ARM on a Raspberry Pi

Rebooting for the first time after installing Slackware ARM Linux




login: root


Check the system time/date before updating


root@myrasbox:~# date


root@myrasbox:~# ntpdate


Creating a normal user account - IMPORTANT!!!

The first thing you should do after rebooting your Slackware ARM system, before anything else, is to create a normal user account. You need to do this because you should never work as 'root' on your system unless you really need to. So for the purpose of every day use you should create a normal user account, of any name, and give it a password, and each time you log-in you should use this account and not 'root' user.



root@myrasbox:~# adduser <name>

Example: adduser dave

Go through the account creation setup and create a new user account, filling in any details you require for this user and setting a password. From now on, always use this username and password for logging in and only use 'root' when it's absolutely necessary.

Now all that's out of the way, let's move on to updating the system with the latest available Slackware ARM packages.

Keeping updated with slackpkg


For more details on slackpkg commands, options, and configuration, read the man pages:

root@myrasbox:~# man slackpkg
root@myrasbox:~# man slackpkg.conf

Slackware Docs [slackpkg] and websites are also worth referring to for further edification. ;-)

Configuring slackpkg

To get started, type 'slackpkg help' at the command prompt.



Scroll down the file until you see the following section:

You are required to edit/unhash/uncomment one of the lines (and ONLY one line) which is an address of a Slackware ARM 14.2/-current mirror. We selected '' because that's the version we've installed. You should use a mirror for the version (i.e. 14.2 or -current) which you have installed. Or specify your own.


IMPORTANT! DON'T select the wrong Slackware ARM mirror for the version you have installed or you will end up with a broken/corrupt system!

Once you have correctly edited the slackpkg mirrors file, you need to save and exit that file. Do this by pressing and holding the CTRL key and pressing the 'X' key once, at the same time. You will be asked to 'Save modified buffer?' at which point you just press the 'Y' key followed by the enter key to save the file under the same filename.

Updating slackpkg GPG key

The first time you run slackpkg you should update Slackware's GPG key. You can achieve this with the following command:

root@myrasbox:~# slackpkg update gpg

Slackware's GPG key doesn't change. This should be a one time only command. So, once you've ran it, you can basically forget about it.

slackpkg update

To download the latest package lists from a Slackware ARM mirror type the following on the command line:

root@myrasbox:~# slackpkg update


slackpkg install-new

If you have installed Slackware ARM -current then you are strongly advised to run the following slackpkg command before upgrading any existing packages:

root@myrasbox:~# slackpkg install-new

NB: Slackware ARM -current users should run 'slackpkg install-new' right after running 'slackpkg update'.

The list of new packages are always selected by default. If you have a large list of new packages and you would rather have them all initially deselected, use the '-onoff=off' command option. Like this:

root@myrasbox:~# slackpkg -onoff=off install-new

You should be presented with a list of new packages which are available to install. As shown in this example screenshot:

You have total control over which new packages you wish to install or omit. Navigate through the list of available new packages using the up/down cursor keys (these will be installed if they have a '*' at the side of them) and select/deselect using the [spacebar] key. When you have chosen the packages you wish to install press the [Enter] key, making sure < OK > is highlighted at the bottom. You can switch between < OK > and <Cancel> using the left/right cursor keys. This will install any selected [*] new packages that have been added to the official Slackware package set.

slackpkg upgrade-all

Next you need to tell slackpkg to upgrade any and all of your existing packages if updates exist. This is the "good" way to upgrade the entire system. Do this by typing the following at the command prompt:

root@myrasbox:~# slackpkg upgrade-all


If any updated packages are available you should see a screen similar to the one below. Use this now familar method, the same way in which you have done previously, for selecting/deselecting upgraded packages. This will upgrade any currently installed packages that have been selected. When a package upgrade is highlighted in this list the name of the currently installed version appears at the bottom of the screen. So you can see which package version you currently have installed and which version you'll be upgrading to.

The packages you have selected will be upgraded, one after another if you've selected more than one, until all selected updates have been installed.




We're not quite done with configuring and updating just yet, as you'll see in the next section... rpi-update

Updated: 26 Jun 2019 09:27:01