path: root/CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT

This file documents the instructions for upgrading to Slackware 13.37, the 
packages added, removed, renamed, and/or split during the development cycle 
from Slackware 13.1 through 13.37, and some potential "gotchas" that users 
can avoid by arming themselves with a little knowledge.


*** INSTRUCTIONS FOR UPGRADING FROM 13.1 ***

Follow the instructions detailed in the UPGRADE.TXT located in this
  directory.  

Note that upgrading from a Slackware version earlier than 13.1 is NOT 
  supported at all and will most likely not work.


*** PACKAGE ADDITIONS SINCE 13.1 ***

a/btrfs-progs
a/gdisk
a/libcgroup
a/lrzip
a/mcelog
a/util-linux (renamed from util-linux-ng)
ap/ddrescue
ap/lxc
ap/moc
d/slacktrack (moved from /extra)
d/yasm (moved from /extra)
kde/libktorrent
l/gdk-pixbuf2
l/libdbusmenu-qt
l/libelf
l/libmpc
l/liboggz
l/libpcap (split from tcpdump package)
l/libplist
l/libsndfile
l/phonon-mplayer
n/ca-certificates
n/idnkit
n/iptraf-ng (replaced iptraf)
n/iwlwifi-100-ucode
n/iwlwifi-6xxx-ucode
n/rfkill
x/radeon_ucode
x/xdg-user-dirs
x/xf86-video-nouveau
xap/xaos

extra/google-chrome/*
/testing/ includes the following:
  2.6.38.4 kernel
  mesa-7.10.2
  libdrm-2.4.25
  xf86-video-nouveau-git_20110417_8378443


*** PACKAGE REMOVALS SINCE 13.1 ***

a/util-linux-ng (renamed to util-linux)
kde/guidance-power-manager
l/eggdbus
n/iptraf (replaced by iptraf-ng)
x/libXTrap
x/libXprintAppUtil
x/libXprintUtil
x/libxkbui
x/rstart
x/trapproto
x/xf86rushproto
x/xfindproxy
x/xfwp
x/xplsprinters
x/xprehashprinterlist
x/xproxymanagementprotocol
x/xsetmode
x/xsetpointer
x/xtrap
extra/kde3-compat/


*** OTHER NOTABLE CHANGES AND HINTS ***

The Slackware installer uses udev to initialize your hardware, including the
  network interface card(s).  This has positive consequences for network 
  installations (using NFS, FTP, HTTP or SMB).  You no longer have to run the 
  'pcmcia' and 'network' scripts prior to running 'setup' - the network 
  interface will be created and intialized by udev.  If a DHCP server is 
  found on your local network, the setup program will let you choose between 
  automatic configuration of your network interface using DHCP or specifying 
  a static IP address.  Using udev, the commandline for fully unattended 
  configuration and startup of the dropbear SSH server has changed slightly. 
  Suppose you want to boot the 'hugesmp' kernel, use DHCP for interface eth0,
  and you have a us-english keyboard layout: the commandline to auto-start 
  the SSH daemon in the installer would become: 
      hugesmp.s kbd=us nic=auto:eth0:dhcp
  Note: if you do not want to use udev, the "auto" keyword in that example 
  commandline must be replaced with the actual name of the network module for 
  your card.  If you do not want to use udev, you must add the parameter 
  "noudev" to the command line that boots the Slackware installer, and the
  original ("old") Slackware hardware configuration scripts will be used.
  Also note that this is not supported...

Use one of the provided generic kernels for daily use.  Do not report
  bugs until/unless you have reproduced them using one of the stock 
  generic kernels.  You will need to create an initrd in order to boot
  the generic kernels - see /boot/README.initrd for instructions.
  The huge kernels are primarily intended as "installer" and "emergency" 
  kernels in case you forget to make an initrd.  For most systems, you 
  should use the generic SMP kernel if it will run, even if your system is 
  not SMP-capable.  Some newer hardware needs the local APIC enabled in the 
  SMP kernel, and theoretically there should not be a performance penalty 
  with using the SMP-capable kernel on a uniprocessor machine, as the SMP 
  kernel tests for this and makes necessary adjustments.  Furthermore, the 
  kernel sources shipped with Slackware are configured for SMP usage, so you 
  won't have to modify those to build external modules (such as NVidia or 
  ATI proprietary drivers) if you use the SMP kernel.

  If you decide to use one of the non-SMP kernels, you will need to follow the
  instructions in /extra/linux-2.6.37.6-nosmp-sdk/README.TXT to modify your
  kernel sources for non-SMP usage.  Note that this only applies if you are
  using the Slackware-provided non-SMP kernel - if you build a custom kernel,
  the symlinks at /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/{build,source} will point to the
  correct kernel source so long as you don't (re)move it.

As with 13.1, the system udev rules now reside in /lib/udev/rules.d/ instead
  of /etc/udev/rules.d/ in older versions.  There should never be a reason 
  to edit anything in /lib/udev/rules.d/, so if you think you have a case 
  where this is required, either you're wrong or it needs to be addressed in 
  the upstream source.  However, you can override default rules by placing 
  one with an identical name inside /etc/udev/rules.d/  The rules files in 
  /etc/udev/rules.d/ are still intended to (maybe) be edited as needed by 
  local system administrators, and as such, the rules for optical and network 
  devices will still be placed there.

Speaking of udev, pay particular attention to 70-persistent-net.rules and
  70-persistent-cd.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ -- these two are automatically
  generated by the system.  If you remove, add, and/or replace some hardware
  (specifically network cards and/or optical drives) in a machine, you will
  probably need to edit one or both of the rules files mentioned above.

HP multifunction printer/scanners require that your user account be a member 
  of the "lp" group for hp-toolbox to work properly, and to use the scanner
  portion of some (all?) units, you'll need to be a member of the "lp" group.
  This is because hplip's udev rules set the device with group "lp" ownership.

HAL is not new anymore, but here are a few notes related to it:
  1. User accounts with permission to mount removable devices and manipulate
     bluetooth devices must be in at least the "plugdev" group.
  2. User accounts with permission to do power-management tasks, such as 
     suspend, hibernate, reboot, and shutdown, via HAL methods should be in
     the "power" group.
  3. User accounts with permission to use network devices, such as with the
     wicd package in /extra, should be in the "netdev" group.
  4. User accounts with permission to use devices that "dial out" or connect
     over a serial port (serial console connections to plug computers, sync
     with a palm device, etcetera) will need to be in the "dialout" group.
  5. HAL will honor settings in /etc/fstab if a device is present there, so
     you could technically have removable devices defined in /etc/fstab, but 
     if the fstab settings do not allow normal users to mount them (with the
     "user" or "users" option), then HAL/dbus will not allow them to be 
     mounted either.  In other words, for example, if your fstab line for the
     cdrom/dvd drive includes the "owner" option, you will not be able to 
     mount it as a normal user.
  6. If you find a need for modified fdi files, those should be placed in the
     relevant directories in /etc/hal/fdi/ instead of /usr/share/hal/fdi/

The version of Xorg in Slackware 13.37 will not (in most cases) require an 
  /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.  Input hotplugging is no longer done using hal; 
  instead, it now uses udev for input device detection and keyboard mapping.

  /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ is the "packaged" configuration directory; all
  files ending with ".conf" in this directory are used by the X server 
  unless there is an identically-named file in the local sysadmin directory.
  The local sysadmin config directory is /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ - all files
  ending with ".conf" in this directory are parsed.  

  There are several default config files in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/:
    * 10-evdev.conf
        a "catchall" file for input devices using the evdev driver; this 
        should work for most hardware in the absence of a better driver
    * 50-synaptics.conf
        overrides the earlier 10-evdev.conf file and uses the synaptics 
        driver for all touchpads
    * 50-wacom.conf
        overrides the earlier 10-evdev.conf file and uses the wacom driver 
        for Wacom tablets
    * 90-keyboard-layout.conf
        this sample ("normal" en layout) keeps the "old" default of 
        allowing Zap'ing the Xserver.
  If you need to modify any of these defaults, then copy the relevant file
  from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and edit the
  copy.
 
  You can still create an xorg.conf file if you wish, or you can create some
  minimal xorg.conf snippets with only the specific contents that you wish
  to override (as an example, to use a binary-only video driver) as separate
  files in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory.

  Regardless of your chipset (though it seems more common with intel), if KDE
  crashes on startup, try disabling the Composite extension (which will also
  disable all of the fancy desktop effects).  Place the following content in
  a file at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/disable-composite.conf:
    Section "Extensions"
      Option "Composite" "Disable"
    EndSection

Now that KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) for graphics cards has (mostly) stabilized,
  it is enabled by default for intel, ati, and nvidia graphics chipsets.  It
  is possible to disable it use "nomodeset" as a kernel append in lilo.conf,
  but Xorg will not work at all on intel and ati chips if you do that.
  
  If you want to change the resolution of the KMS console, that can be done
  with something like this as a kernel append in lilo.conf:
    append="video=1024x768"

  Speaking of lilo.conf and KMS, make sure you use either vga=normal or 
  vga=extended -- some of the framebuffers don't like KMS very much...

The (formerly) patented bytecode interpreter is now enabled in the freetype
  package, so your fonts might look a bit different.  If this is undesirable,
  you can restore the previous default with this line:
   # ln -s ../conf.avail/10-autohint.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/

If you are using a KVM switch, you might experience problems with the mouse
  when switching from one system to another.  If so, you probably need to be
  using the imps protocol for the psmouse driver, and that's a simple edit:
  uncomment the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf:
    #options psmouse proto=imps
  Next, unload and reload the psmouse module (do this as root):
    modprobe -r psmouse ; modprobe psmouse

If you have set up an encrypted root partition, you will need to have access 
  to your keyboard in order to type the passphrase.  This may require you to 
  add the uhci-hcd and usbhid modules to your initrd image if you have a USB 
  keyboard.  Also note that if you are using a non-US keyboard, you can use the
  '-l' parameter to the 'mkinitrd' command in order to add support for this
  keyboard to your initrd.

If you have permission errors when attempting to burn a cdrom or dvd image,
  such as the following:
    /usr/bin/cdrecord: Operation not permitted. Cannot send SCSI cmd via ioctl
  then cdrecord almost certainly needs root privileges to work correctly.
  One potential solution is to make the cdrecord and cdrdao binaries suid root,
  but this has possible security implications.  The safest way to do that is 
  to make those binaries suid root, owned by a specific group, and executable
  by only root and members of that group.  For most people, the example below
  will be sufficient (but adjust as desired depending on your specific needs):
    chown root:cdrom /usr/bin/cdrecord /usr/bin/cdrdao
    chmod 4750 /usr/bin/cdrecord /usr/bin/cdrdao
  If you don't want all members of the 'cdrom' group to be able to execute the
  two suid binaries, then create a special group (such as 'burning' which is
  recommended by k3b), use it instead of 'cdrom' in the line above, and add
  to it only the users you wish to have access to cdrecord and cdrdao.

Input methods for complex characters (CJK, which is shorthand for Chinese,
  Japanese, Korean) and other non-latin character sets have been added. These
  input methods use the SCIM (Smart Common Input Method) platform.
  The environment variables for SCIM support are set in /etc/profile.d/scim.sh
  The requirements for getting SCIM input methods to work in your X session
  are as follows:
  (1) Use a UTF-8 locale. Look in /etc/profile.d/lang.sh for setting your
      language to (for instance) en_US.UTF-8. As a word of warning: maybe you
      should leave root with a non-UTF-8 locale because you don't want root's
      commands to be misinterpreted. You can add the following line to your
      ~/.profile file to enable UTF-8 just for yourself:
        export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
  (2) Make the scim profile scripts executable. These will setup your
      environment correctly for the use of scim with X applications. Run:
        chmod +x /etc/profile.d/scim.*
  (3) Start the scim daemon as soon as your X session starts. The scim daemon
      must be active before any of your X applications. In KDE, you can add a
      shell script to the ~/.kde/Autostart folder that runs the command
      "scim -d". In XFCE you can add "scim -d" to the Autostarted Applications.
      If you boot your computer in runlevel 4 (the graphical XDM/KDM login)
      you can simply add the line "scim -d" to your ~/.xprofile file.
      This gives you a Desktop Environment independent way of starting scim.
  When scim is running, you will see a small keyboard icon in your system tray.
  Right-click it to enter SCIM Setup. In 'Global Setup' select your keyboard
  layout, and you are ready to start entering just about any language
  characters you wish! Press the magical key combo <Control><Space>
  in order to activate or deactivate SCIM input. The SCIM taskbar in the
  desktop's corner allows you to select a language. As you type, SCIM will show
  an overview of applicable character glyphs (if you are inputting complex
  characters like Japanese).

If you have an older machine (with a BIOS released prior to 2001) and it will
  not power off on shutdown, try adding this to your kernel's lilo stanza:
    append = "acpi=force"

If you have a Thinkpad T400 or T500, you probably want to append "pci=reboot" 
  to the kernel boot parameters.  For more information about this issue, see
  https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=&q=t400+%22pci%3Dreboot%22