path: root/CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT

This file documents the instructions for upgrading to Slackware 14.0, the 
packages added, removed, renamed, and/or split during the development cycle 
from Slackware 13.37 through 14.0, and some potential "gotchas" that users 
can avoid by arming themselves with a little knowledge.


*** INSTRUCTIONS FOR UPGRADING FROM 13.37 ***

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

Note that upgrading from a Slackware version earlier than 13.37 is NOT 
  supported at all and will most likely not work.


*** PACKAGE ADDITIONS SINCE 13.37 ***

a/gptfdisk
a/kmod
a/udisks
a/udisks2
a/upower
ap/htop
ap/soma
d/gcc-go
d/llvm
kde/analitza
kde/ark
kde/blinken
kde/bluedevil
kde/calligra
kde/cantor
kde/filelight
kde/gwenview
kde/kaccessible
kde/kactivities
kde/kalgebra
kde/kalzium
kde/kamera
kde/kanagram
kde/kate
kde/kbruch
kde/kcalc
kde/kcharselect
kde/kcolorchooser
kde/kde-baseapps
kde/kde-runtime
kde/kde-wallpapers
kde/kde-workspace
kde/kdegraphics-mobipocket
kde/kdegraphics-strigi-analyzer
kde/kdegraphics-thumbnailers
kde/kdevelop-pg-qt
kde/kdf
kde/kfloppy
kde/kgamma
kde/kgeography
kde/kgpg
kde/khangman
kde/kig
kde/kiten
kde/klettres
kde/kmag
kde/kmousetool
kde/kmouth
kde/kmplot
kde/kolourpaint
kde/konsole
kde/korundum
kde/kplayer
kde/kremotecontrol
kde/kruler
kde/ksaneplugin
kde/ksecrets
kde/ksnapshot
kde/kstars
kde/ktimer
kde/ktouch
kde/kturtle
kde/kwallet
kde/kwebkitpart
kde/kwordquiz
kde/libkdcraw
kde/libkdeedu
kde/libkexiv2
kde/libkipi
kde/libksane
kde/marble
kde/networkmanagement
kde/okular
kde/oxygen-gtk2
kde/parley
kde/perlkde
kde/perlqt
kde/polkit-kde-agent-1
kde/polkit-kde-kcmodules
kde/printer-applet
kde/pykde4
kde/qtruby
kde/quanta
kde/rocs
kde/smokegen
kde/smokekde
kde/smokeqt
kde/step
kde/superkaramba
kde/svgpart
kde/sweeper
kde/wicd-kde
kdei/calligra-l10n-*
l/GConf
l/db48
l/gcr
l/glade3
l/glib-networking
l/gnome-keyring
l/gobject-introspection
l/grantlee
l/gsettings-desktop-schemas
l/gtk+3
l/gvfs
l/herqq
l/icu4c
l/js185
l/keybinder
l/keyutils
l/lcms2
l/libatasmart
l/libbluedevil
l/libcanberra
l/libcroco
l/libffi
l/libgnome-keyring
l/libnl3
l/libproxy
l/libsoup
l/libssh
l/libtasn1
l/libusb-compat
l/libyaml
l/media-player-info
l/mozilla-nss
l/phonon-gstreamer
l/phonon-xine
l/pycurl
l/raptor2
l/sg3_utils
l/sound-theme-freedesktop
n/ModemManager
n/NetworkManager
n/cifs-utils
n/iftop
n/mobile-broadband-provider-info
n/nettle
n/p11-kit
x/freeglut
x/libXaw3d
x/libXcm
x/mtdev
x/transset
x/xcb-util-image
x/xcb-util-keysyms
x/xcb-util-renderutil
x/xcb-util-wm
xap/network-manager-applet
xfce/*


*** PACKAGE REMOVALS SINCE 13.37 ***

a/gdisk - renamed to gptfdisk
a/module-init-tools - replaced by kmod
ap/ntfsprogs - merged into ntfs-3g

kde/kdeaccessibility      -\
kde/kdebase                 \
kde/kdebase-runtime          \
kde/kdebase-workspace         | kde packages have been split up - notice all 
kde/kdebindings               | of the new packages in the "Added" list...
kde/kdeedu                   /
kde/kdegraphics             /
kde/kdeutils               /
kde/konq-plugins          /
kde/koffice              /
kde/kopete-cryptography /
kde/polkit-kde-1      -/

l/hal-info - obsolete; replaced by various udev components
l/hal - obsolete; replaced by upower, udisks, various others

l/jre - removed due to licensing issues

l/wv2 - no longer used by anything in Slackware

l/raptor - no longer used (everything links raptor2 instead)

n/rt2860-firmware -
n/rt2870-firmware  \
n/rt61-firmware     \
n/rt71w-firmware     \
n/iwlwifi-100-ucode   \
n/iwlwifi-1000-ucode   \
n/iwlwifi-3945-ucode    | all of these firmwares (except some *old* ones are
n/iwlwifi-4965-ucode    | now included in the kernel-firmware package -- if 
n/iwlwifi-5000-ucode    | you need an older firmware, use an older Slackware
n/iwlwifi-5150-ucode   /
n/iwlwifi-6000-ucode  /
n/iwlwifi-6xxx-ucode /
x/radeon_ucode  -----

x/xf86-video-sisusb --\
x/xf86-video-tseng     \
x/xf86-video-xgi        | all of these are obsolete and/or will not
x/xf86-video-radeonhd   | build with recent Xorg and/or toolchains
x/scripts              /
x/xaw3d  -------------/

xap/thunar-volman -------\
xap/xfce4-notifyd         \  all of these are moved to the new xfce/ set
xap/xfce4-power-manager --/
xap/xfce - removed (split into component packages)

extra/ORBit2 - no longer needed by GConf
extra/jdk - removed due to licensing issues


*** OTHER NOTABLE CHANGES AND HINTS ***

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-3.2.29-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 13.37, 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 (or
  just remove them and reboot to create new ones).

If you are upgrading (as opposed to a new install), there are some stale files
  in /etc/modprobe.d/ that you will need to remove:   blacklist.conf, 
  bluetooth.conf, isapnp.conf, psmouse.conf, and usb-controller.conf
  See /etc/modprobe.d/README for a more detailed explanation.

Both printing and scanning require that your user account be a member of the 
  "lp" group (membership in the "scanner" group is no longer needed by any
  of the included scanner drivers, though some third party drivers may still
  need it); we had to configure sane to use the "lp" group or else
  multifunction devices (e.g. print/scan/copy units) would only do one or the
  other (depending on whether the group ownership was "lp" or "scanner").

Xorg no longer uses /etc/X11/xorg.conf by default (and in most cases, there
  is absolutely no need for it).   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
  video driver) as separate files in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory.

  /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.

  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 some 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...

If your cd/dvd drive is not visible inside a gtk-based desktop environment
  (e.g. Xfce), you may need to add "comment=x-gvfs-show" to the /etc/fstab 
  line for the device.  For more information, see this document:
  http://git.gnome.org/browse/gvfs/tree/monitor/udisks2/what-is-shown.txt

If you see some log messages like this:
    mdadm: sending ioctl 1261 to a partition!
  They're completely harmless - do not be alarmed.  Here's why: 
  http://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/2012/03/msg00446.html

The version of logrotate in Slackware 14.0 added an "su" option to define 
  user/group for rotation.  Logrotate now skips directories which are world 
  writable or writable by a group which is not "root" unless the "su" 
  directive is used.  This has ramifications for third party packages that
  installed e.g. /var/log/somedir owned by a non-root user and/or group.

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 fix:
  Copy /lib/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf, then
  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