[wplug] Apache+ssl question

[Brian S. Woolstrum]

On 18 Feb 2003, Bob Schmertz wrote:

> Can you "upgrade" a package like Apache?  Well, sometimes "yes",
> sometimes "mostly yes".  If you were using a Linux distro with package
> management, like an RPM-based system (Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, et.al.)
> or Debian, then you could use the package manager to neatly replace your
> old Apache with the new one, taking out the old before sticking in the
> new.  Slackware, as I understand, has no such package management.
>
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Slackware does have package management.  In newer versions
of Slackware there is "upgradepkg" which is a command line
tool. On older versions you would need to use "removepkg"
then "installpkg", which are also command line tools.  Of
course you do need to have a Slackware package to upgrade
to.

There is also "pkgtool" that is a menu driven program
(curses based, not X).  But, pkgtool doesn't have the
upgrade option in it, only remove and install.

Slackware has had package management for at least as long
as I've been using it, which is 7 years.  It just isn't
RPM-based.  It used tar and gzip instead, its package
database is simply a directory "/var/log/packages" full of
simple easy to read text files. It doesn't do dependency
tracking or auto updating, although the auto updating isn't
that hard to do on your own.

Sorry, if this all seems like a rant (I guess it
probably is:),  but the myth of Slackware not having
package management seems to also have been around for as
long as I've been using it.


Brian S. Woolstrum