Quick Start

This is the whole first-time setup. Configuration lives in /etc/slacker/ (override the directory with --config-dir). After installing the package the files are already there — you only edit mirrors and repos.

1. Pick a mirror

Open /etc/slacker/mirrors and uncomment exactly one line for your architecture and release. None is active by default; two or more active lines is an error.

# /etc/slacker/mirrors  - uncomment ONE line
https://slackware.uk/slackware/slackware64-current/

2. Declare your repositories

Open /etc/slacker/repos. The URL field is a literal URL, the keyword mirror (the active mirror, for the official repo), or mirror/<subpath> (the active mirror with a subpath appended). Binary repos must have distinct priorities; higher priority wins.

# priority  name        url|mirror|mirror/<subpath>                          [flags]
100         slackware   mirror                                                official
90          extras      mirror/extra                                          subtree immutable
80          conraid     https://slackers.it/repository/slackware64-current
60          alienbob    https://slackware.nl/people/alien/sbrepos/current/x86_64

Optionally add tag-priority lines so source/local packages are never migrated or downgraded by upgrade-all:

100         SBo         _SBo
100         local       _rtz

The full meaning of every flag, the subtree rule, and the priority model are in Repositories and Priority. The four distribution subtrees — extra, patches, testing, pasture — must always carry the subtree flag.

3. Import keys, refresh, check

slacker update gpg        # once: import + pin each repo's GPG key
slacker update            # verify GPG, fetch metadata
slacker status            # confirms the setup is healthy and flags anything to fix

update gpg pins each repo's key (trust on first use). For a subtree repo it pins the same Slackware key from the root, which is what lets per-package GPG verification succeed for extra//testing//patches/ packages at install. See Security.

4. Use it

slacker search firefox
slacker install mozilla-firefox
slacker upgrade-all
slacker history --last 20

From here:

• Commands — every action, with options.
• Common Workflows — the recipes you will actually use day to day.
• Configuration — every slacker.conf key.