INSTALLING SOFTWARE
TGZ ( slack-packages )


Slackware and Slack-based distro's like VectorLinux use .tgz packages.

Using the Midnight Commander, an ancient looking, but very effective tool, installing slack-packages are a breeze; su root, highlight the package, press F2 and choose install.

The Midnight Commander ( mc ) is a very powerful program, allowing you to manage files, copy, editing, moving, searching, installing, zipping, unzip, converting from one zip format to another, send files to a remote host, undelete files ( ext2 only ), link, symlink, chown, chmod, all those actions can be done with this “Miracle Commander”.

MC is available for almost every Linux distro, also Mandrake and RedHat, see install CD's, install it on your computer and have a look, just type < mc > in a console for the program to start. ( Warning: it looks ugly  compared to modern GUI interfaces ! )

Also you could use the package manager: "pkginstall" like this:
 

That will take care of the installation for you

Using RPM's in Slackware means that you have to convert them to .tgz with a tool called rpm2tgz. VectorLinux is less picky it accepts RedHat's rpm's without complaining.

Tar.gz ( tarballs ) can not be used in Slack or Slack-based distro's

Don forget to check out SWARET if you use Slackware !!


Bruno


-- Apr 25 2003 ( Revised Dec 11 2005 ) --