Slackbuilds is a simple shell script that automates the downloading, building and installation of packages from slackbuilds.org for Slackware Linux. It allows for searching for packages, viewing package readmes and installing packages with a single command. Slackbuilds works via ftp, and it is possible to add non slackbuilds.org repositories as well (provided they use the same directory structure).
To install Slackbuilds, first run 'make'. This builds the package (slackbuilds-version-noarch.tgz) file which can then be installed via installpkg.
The Slackbuilds package provides the command 'slackbuilds'. This is the one command you use to do everything. It takes the first argument as a subcommand (see the list of subcommands further down).
Slackbuilds maintains a local cache of the repository listings (stored in /var/cache/slackbuilds by default). This allows for quicker searching and downloading. Before anything can be done, it is neccessary to update your local repository cache. This is done by running 'slackbuilds update'. It is also a good idea to update your local repository periodically as well.
Slackbuilds allows searching for packages via the search subcommand. Use 'slackbuilds search ' to search for a string.
For building and installing packages, slackbuilds has three destinct subcommands: download, build and install.
Download downloads the tarball and saves it to /tmp, but does nothing else.
Build downloads and saves the tarball, extracts it and runs the slackbuild script, leaving the generated package uninstalled in /tmp.
Install works the same as build, only it installs the generated package immediately.
To force the downloading of the 32 files over the 64 bit ones, prepend the slackbuilds command with 'x86=TRUE'.
Repository files can be found in /etc/slackbuilds/repos. These files should be pretty self explanatory, but here's a summary just in case:
Name: The name of the repository. This is typically the same as the filename. Server: The address of the ftp server for the repository. Directory: The directory of the repository on the ftp server. Comment: A comment if desired.
As previously mentioned, it is possible to add your own repositories, provided they follow the same directory structure as slackbuilds.org. The directories, .tar.gz files, and READMEs are absolutely required. The other files are superfluous.
Additionally, a repository can be disabled by prepending a ! to its filename.
help Displays this list of subcommands
version Displays version information and exists
build Build but do not install a package
download Downloads the tarball for a package and saves it to /tmp, but does nothing else
info Displays information about a package
install Build and install a package
list-repos Lists information about the currently active repositories
search Searches for packages whose names contain a string
update Updates the local repository cache
x86 When set, this forces the downloading of 32 bit packages on a 64 bit system, even if 64 bit packages are available.
http When set, slackbuilds will use http downloads (where possible) instead of ftp.
version When set, slackbuilds will build $version of the package, instead of the version provided in the package.info file.