Configuration

Configuration

Everything slacker reads is plain text under /etc/slacker/ (override the directory with --config-dir). After installing the package these files are already in place.

/etc/slacker/
├── slacker.conf   KEY=value global settings
├── mirrors        catalogue of official mirrors - uncomment exactly ONE
├── repos          repo priorities/names + external repos + tag-priority lines
├── blacklist      freeze rules, pins (@repo 100% name) and dependency exclusions (!package:dependency)
├── distro-upgrade.conf   optional: DISTRO_UPGRADE_MIRROR for upgrade-dist
└── templates/     generated and user-created templates

---

slacker.conf

KEY=value, one per line, # for comments.

Key	Default	Meaning
ARCH	auto	Architecture, auto-detected from the installed aaa_base. Set only to force a specific arch (e.g. cross).
ADM_DIR	/var/adm	Slackware pkgtools administrative root - holds packages/, removed_packages/, scripts/, setup/. The Package History command reads it.
CACHE_DIR	/var/cache/slacker	Downloaded metadata and package files - all re-downloadable; safe to clear.
STATE_DIR	/var/lib/slacker	Persistent security state: the GPG keyring, the TOFU fingerprint pins (*.fpr), and the repo quarantine/trust markers. Kept separate from the disposable CACHE_DIR so a cache wipe can't reset the trust anchors; existing state is migrated here automatically on first run.
PKG_DB_DIR	ADM_DIR/packages	The installed-package database. Set explicitly only to override the derived location.
RESOLVE_DEPS	yes	Whether .dep files are read to pull in dependencies. See Dependencies.
IGNORE_TAGS	(empty)	Space-separated build tags (e.g. _SBo cf alien) that clean-system must not treat as foreign.
VERIFY	all	Package verification policy. See Security.
MAX_PARALLEL	4	How many packages download concurrently during install/upgrade/download (clamped to 1-16; 1 = serial). A failed download or verification is skipped and reported, never aborting the rest; a package that fails GPG/checksum is never installed.
REVERT	on	Enables the revert-pkg rollback command. Set to off to disable it.
CUMULATIVE_URL	https://slackware.uk/cumulative/slackware64-current	The cumulative -current archive revert-pkg fetches superseded official packages from - a revert-only source, never consulted by update/upgrade/install/check-updates, so its historical packages never enter the priority model.
TERSE	off	on passes --terse to installpkg and upgradepkg, so each package prints a single line - handy for following a mass upgrade. removepkg is terse already.
SEARCH	exact	How slacker search NAME matches: exact finds the package with exactly that name, partial lists every package whose name contains the word. Only package names are searched, never descriptions or files. slacker search --partial NAME and --exact NAME override it for one run.
BANNER	on	The labyrinth header at the top of every command and the SLACKWARE art after an upgrade of the official tree and at upgrade-dist. Printed only on a terminal, never into a pipe or a file; off hides both.
NEWCONFIG_OVERWRITE	(empty)	Paths or globs of config files whose .new new-config installs without asking (your file is saved as .orig). See new-config rules below.
NEWCONFIG_REMOVE	(empty)	Paths or globs whose .new new-config deletes without asking, keeping your file.
NEWCONFIG_KEEP	(empty)	Paths or globs whose .new new-config renames to .new.kept without asking, keeping your file - out of the way, not lost.
NEWCONFIG_AFTER	off	What a package command does when it leaves new .new files: off prints the reminder to run slacker new-config, ask asks to run it now, run runs it. Only at a terminal, never with --yes. See new-config after a package command.
PROXY	off	A proxy for downloads: http://host:port, or env to use the environment's proxy variables. Unset or off: direct. See Proxy.
NO_PROXY	(empty)	Hosts reached directly, not through the proxy. Replaces the environment's no_proxy when set.
RESOLVE_STOCK	no	Only for a container or minimal install: also pull the stock dependencies an official package needs, from a local dependency database.
STOCK_DB_URL	(empty)	Where update fetches that database from (used only with RESOLVE_STOCK=yes).

ADM_DIR defaults to /var/adm rather than /var/lib/pkgtools on purpose: on a real box removed_packages/ lives under /var/adm/pkgtools/... and is not exposed by name from /var/lib/pkgtools. Only /var/adm exposes the whole set that history needs.

new-config rules

The three NEWCONFIG_* keys let slacker new-config handle some .new files on its own, so it only asks about the rest. Each takes paths or globs of the installed file, without the .new suffix (* and ? do not cross a /). A key may be repeated on as many lines as you need; its lines add up (every other key keeps only its last line).

# take every new rc script except rc.modules.local,
# and never bother about the new ntp.conf or sshd_config
NEWCONFIG_OVERWRITE=/etc/rc.d/rc.*
NEWCONFIG_REMOVE=/etc/ntp.conf
NEWCONFIG_KEEP=/etc/rc.d/rc.modules.local
NEWCONFIG_KEEP=/etc/ssh/sshd_config

Key	What happens	Left behind
NEWCONFIG_OVERWRITE	the .new replaces your file	your old file as .orig
NEWCONFIG_REMOVE	the .new is deleted	your file, unchanged
NEWCONFIG_KEEP	the .new is renamed	your file, unchanged, and the new version as .new.kept

• When a file matches more than one key, the safer one wins: KEEP over REMOVE over OVERWRITE.
• A glob in NEWCONFIG_OVERWRITE never replaces /etc/passwd, shadow, group, rc.inet1.conf, rc.local or rc.local_shutdown; write such a file's exact path if you really want it overwritten.
• The rules apply with or without --yes; --dry-run shows what they would do.
• In upgrade-dist only NEWCONFIG_KEEP applies, so a file you keep is never replaced there, not even by "[A]ll new". NEWCONFIG_OVERWRITE and NEWCONFIG_REMOVE are not applied there: like the blacklist, a release jump shows every other file.
• new-config reads these keys even when the rest of the configuration is broken, like new-config itself.
• A .new.kept is no longer a pending .new: compare it by hand when you want, e.g. diff /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.new.kept.

new-config after a package command

install, reinstall, upgrade, upgrade-all, install-new, install-template and revert-pkg list the .new files they leave behind (new ones apart from those already pending) and remind you to run slacker new-config. A file a NEWCONFIG_* rule covers is marked with its key:

New configuration files were installed (your current ones were kept):
  /etc/ssh/sshd_config.new  (NEWCONFIG_KEEP)
  /etc/ntp.conf.new

NEWCONFIG_AFTER decides what comes after that list:

Value	What happens
off (default)	only the reminder, as before
ask	Run new-config now? [Y/n] - Enter or y runs it, n leaves the reminder
run	new-config runs right away

ask and run act only when someone is there to answer: input and output both a terminal, no --yes, no --dry-run, and only when this run left new .new files (older pending ones do not bring the menu back after every command). Otherwise you get the reminder, so cron jobs, scripts, slacker-gui, a Dockerfile RUN ... -y, docker run -t without -i and ssh without -t never have .new files touched behind their back. Ctrl-D at the question means no. The NEWCONFIG_* rules above are applied first, as always.

---

Proxy

slacker connects directly by default and ignores the proxy variables of the environment. To download through a proxy, set it in slacker.conf:

PROXY=http://proxy.lan:3128
NO_PROXY=localhost,.lan,192.168.0.0/16

PROXY	Downloads go
unset or off (default)	direct
http://host:port	through that proxy, for http and https mirrors alike, however slacker is started (sudo, cron and slacker-gui clear the environment, so this is the way for them)
env	through https_proxy, http_proxy or all_proxy from the environment, with its no_proxy, as wget and curl read them (lowercase first, then uppercase)

• Only http:// proxies. https mirrors go through them as a CONNECT tunnel, so TLS and the certificate check still run end to end with the mirror; the proxy sees only the host name. A socks5:// or https:// proxy is an error, never a silent direct connection.
• A password goes in the URL, %-encoded (%40 for @, %23 for #): PROXY=http://bob:p%40ss@proxy.lan:3128. It is sent only to the proxy, for https mirrors. An http mirror behind a proxy that asks for a password fails (407); use https. slacker.conf is readable by every user, so they can read a password written there. See Security.
• NO_PROXY takes names (each also matching its subdomains; a leading . is the same), IP addresses and CIDR ranges, each with an optional :port, separated by commas, or * for every host. Set in slacker.conf, it replaces the environment's no_proxy.
• file:// sources never use a proxy.
• slacker status shows the proxy in use and where it comes from: · Proxy http://bob:***@proxy.lan:3128 (slacker.conf), not for: localhost,.lan,192.168.0.0/16

---

mirrors

A slackpkg-style catalogue. Uncomment exactly one line. None is active by default; two or more active lines is an error. http://, https://, and file:// are all supported (the last for a local clone, NFS mount, or mounted media); ftp:// is not. The shipped file already carries the right directory for your arch and release - you only choose which mirror.

The directory segment follows arch + release:

Arch / release	Directory segment	Example active line
x86_64 · -current	slackware64-current	https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/
32-bit · -current	slackware-current	https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-current/
x86_64 · 15.0	slackware64-15.0	https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-15.0/
32-bit · 15.0	slackware-15.0	https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-15.0/

# /etc/slacker/mirrors  - uncomment ONE line (the redirector is a good default)
https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/

Not sure which to pick? slacker find-mirror probes the official list, drops stale mirrors, and prints the fastest fresh one to paste here - it never edits the file. Change your mirror by changing which line is uncommented.

---

repos

Two kinds of line: binary repositories and tag-priority lines.

What ships active by default

The installed repos comes with the official tree plus the three distribution subtrees already enabled - note patches at the highest priority (200), so a 15.0 security/bugfix package always wins:

# [priority]  [name]      [url]              [flags]
100         slackware   mirror              official
200         patches     mirror/patches      subtree immutable
90          extras      mirror/extra        subtree immutable
85          testing     mirror/testing      subtree immutable

Third-party repos ship commented out below that block, ready to uncomment and retune - e.g. alienbob, conraid, restricted, multilib, csb on -current/x86_64; mate, cbs on 15.0/x86_64; a smaller set on 32-bit. Their URLs are already matched to the build's arch and release (see the variants table below).

Binary repository

priority  name  url|mirror|mirror/<subpath>  [official] [immutable] [subtree] [verify=...]

• priority - higher wins; must be distinct across binary repos (a duplicate is a fail-fast error).
• url - a literal URL, the keyword mirror (the active mirror, for the official repo), or mirror/<subpath> (the active mirror with a subpath appended, e.g. mirror/extra - tracks a subtree on whichever mirror you picked, without hardcoding the host).
• flags (any order): official, immutable, subtree, verify=....

The full semantics of the flags, the priority model, and pinning are in Repositories and Priority.

Tag-priority

priority  name  tag        # e.g.  100  SBo  _SBo

Gives packages carrying a build tag a priority on the same scale as repos, so SBo/local/source packages are never silently migrated or downgraded by upgrade-all. Tag-priority lines may share a priority.

Edit this file by hand, or let add-repo / del-repo / add-tag / del-tag do it for you (validated, with a confirmation prompt).

The shipped configs are arch- and release-specific

slacker ships four ready-made /etc/slacker sets; the build for your platform embeds the matching one, so the directory segments and example URLs already fit your system. The differences are only in the URL/segment text:

	x86_64 · -current	32-bit · -current	x86_64 · 15.0	32-bit · 15.0
mirror dir	slackware64-current	slackware-current	slackware64-15.0	slackware-15.0
alienbob example	.../current/x86_64	.../current/x86	.../15.0/x86_64	.../15.0/x86
CUMULATIVE_URL	.../slackware64-current	.../slackware-current	(revert is -current-only)	(revert is -current-only)
ARCH hint	x86_64	x86	x86_64	x86

The active default block (official + patches/extras/testing) is identical across all four. You normally never touch this - it is chosen at install time.

---

blacklist

One rule per line. Three kinds share the file:

Rule	Written as	Managed with
freeze	[@repo] PATTERN	frozen / unfrozen
pin	@repo 100% name	pin / unpin
dependency exclusion	!package:dependency (or !*:dependency)	nodep / undep

For a freeze, PATTERN is a Slackware series when it ends in /, otherwise a glob or an unanchored regex matched against the full package id name-version-arch-build (with no regex syntax it is a glob, so * is any run of characters and a literal . stays literal). Full reference: Blacklist.

---

distro-upgrade.conf

Optional, and only consulted by upgrade-dist (see Distribution Upgrade). A single key points a distribution upgrade at a local copy of the target release instead of the network:

Key	Meaning
DISTRO_UPGRADE_MIRROR	A local source for upgrade-dist: a local release tree (file:// or http://), an NFS clone, or a mounted install ISO. When set, the upgrade re-points to this base and validates it (release segment matches the target, PACKAGES.TXT reachable) before the point of no return. Absent or empty, upgrade-dist uses the configured mirrors.

# /etc/slacker/distro-upgrade.conf
DISTRO_UPGRADE_MIRROR=file:///mnt/iso/

The local-source path is implemented but not yet tested end-to-end - treat it as experimental and keep backups. The network path is the tested one.

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Environment variables

Variable	Effect
NO_COLOR	Disables all coloured output (also auto-disabled when stdout is not a terminal).
SLACKER_MERGE	External merge tool for new-config's (M)erge action (default vimdiff).
PAGER	Pager for long output (history, show-changelog); defaults to less -FRX.
https_proxy, http_proxy, all_proxy, no_proxy	Read only with PROXY=env in slacker.conf; otherwise ignored. See Proxy.