SlackBuild Usage HOWTO

Caveat

All of our scripts are written for usage on the latest stable release of Slackware; if you're trying them older versions of Slackware, you should read this page referenced in our FAQ.

Step 1 - Download

Download the SlackBuild archive of the application you wish to build and extract it in your build environment. For example, after extracting the chemtool.tar.gz archive, you should have the following directory tree:

./chemtool
  |-- README
  |-- chemtool.info
  |-- chemtool.SlackBuild
  |-- chemtool.desktop
  |-- chemtool.png
  |-- slack-desc

Anonymous ftp access is available via ftp://ftp.slackbuilds.org if that's more convenient for you.

Next, download the source of the application from the address listed in the chemtool.info file and place it in the chemtool directory listed above. There is also a direct link to the source tarball on each application's page within our repository.

Step 2 - Edit SlackBuild script if necessary

If the version of chemtool is newer than what is specified in the SlackBuild script, you will need to change the script accordingly. Using your preferred editor, open the chemtool.SlackBuild script and find the line which starts with "VERSION"

VERSION=1.6.7

Change this line to reflect the current version of the chemtool source.

• If a newer version of some application does not compile correctly with a simple change of the "VERSION" string, let us know by following the instructions on reporting SlackBuild Bugs.

Step 3 - Execute the SlackBuild Script (as root)

If necessary, make the script executable with chmod and then run the script:

chmod +x chemtool.SlackBuild
./chemtool.SlackBuild

Step 4 - Install the Package

Assuming everything happened according to plan (the compile finished without errors), the finished package should be in the directory declared as "OUTPUT" in the SlackBuild script (this defaults to the /tmp directory). Use installpkg to install it; you'll probably want to move it to some other location for safekeeping after it's installed.

Other Resources

For more information on using, editing, and creating SlackBuild scripts, have a look at these and other tutorials at SlackWiki.org.

• SlackBuild Scripts Usage HOWTO
• SlackBuild Scripts Writing HOWTO