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Linux Slackware 14.0 (64 bits) quick setup

Posted on 30/09/2012 by AgentOss
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Slackware 14.0 (XFCE desktop)

http://www.slackware.com/
System used for this howto :
VirtualBox 4.2 virtual machine, with
2 cpus
1024Mb RAM
20Gb Hard disk

Installation
Download the official (64 bit) DVD iso
http://www.slackware.com/torrents/slackware64-14.0-install-dvd.torrent
Boot the DVD
Select your keyboard map, login as root.
Create your partitions (I use cfdisk)
# cfdisk /dev/sda

First partition (/dev/sda1) : swap

(use at least the same size as your RAM for suspend-to-disk to work)
Second (bootable) partition (/dev/sda2) : Linux
Start the installer
# setup

Go to ADDSWAP and follow the steps. For my Linux root partition I use ext4 as filesystem.
Package selection
I choose Default, but personally deselect GNU Emacs, TeX and Games as I dont use them.
We will install KDE international language later.
Select prompting mode. I select terse which is faster.
Default choices are used for the rest of the installation steps.
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End of installation
# reboot

Post-installation configuration
Note : root login is permitted by ssh in the default Slackware installation.
First login on the system, login as root, then check your mail
# mail

or even better, use mutt

# mutt

Setup Slackpkg and update your freshly installed system

Select your mirror
# nano /etc/slackpkg/mirrors

Uncomment ONE mirror.

# slackpkg update
# slackpkg upgrade-all

Set the system locale

Show list of supported locales
# locale -a

Then set it (changes will be effective after a reboot)

# nano /etc/profile.d/lang.sh
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(here for french systems)

export LANG=fr_FR.utf8

(Do the same for /etc/profile.d/lang.csh if you use the tcsh shell)
Add your KDE international language (here french for me).
Note: installing the KDE environment will also install the Calligra office suite.
# slackpkg search l10n

then
# slackpkg install kde-l10n-fr calligra-l10n-fr

Note 1 : youll have to select the language to use in KDEs system settings (look under Locale).
Note 2 : the language pack in XFCE will be automatically detected after you set the systemwide locale.

Sendmail
Note : your system should have a valid DNS name otherwise email relaying will be refused ( Sender address rejected:
Domain not found ).
Use netconfig to reconfigure hostname and domain if needed
# netconfig

Configure the MTA so that the system can send outgoing mail to the internet.
We will use our ISPs SMTP smarthost. For this we need to generate a new sendmail.cf configuration file
# cd /usr/share/sendmail/cf/cf
# nano sendmail-slackware.mc

Uncomment the SMART_HOST define :

replace
dnl define(`SMART_HOST',`mailserver.example.com')
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by
define(`SMART_HOST',`smtp.yourisp.com')

Save changes and build the config file

# ./Build sendmail-slackware.mc

Copy the generated .cf file to sendmails directory

# cp sendmail-slackware.cf /etc/mail/sendmail.cf

Now start sendmail (also this way sendmail will be automatically started on boot, Slackware-style)
# chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.sendmail
# /etc/rc.d/rc.sendmail start

Send an email for testing

# echo 'from my Slackware box'| mail -s 'Hello' my@address.com

See the logs to see if everything goes well

# tail /var/log/maillog

Forward root mail

We create a .forward file in roots home so that emails sent to root@localhost will be forwarded to another address (useful for
cron jobs and daemons)
# echo >/root/.forward my@address.com

(several different addresses can be added to the file, one per line)
Test the forwarding
# echo 'from my Slackware box'| mail -s 'Forwarding' root@localhost

X.Org systemwide keyboard settings

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You can setup keyboard layout in KDE or XFCE settings. If you prefer to set it up systemwide, just create the file :
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
option "xkblayout"
"fr"
EndSection

Virtualbox guest additions (optional, only if running in a VM)

Its easy to do since Slackwares default install includes a standard development environment and the kernel source.
(First mount the VirtualBox Additions cdrom)
# mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/tmp
# sh /mnt/tmp/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

Create a regular user fred

# adduser fred

Additional groups (press the UP arrow key) : audio cdrom floppy plugdev video power netdev lp scanner

Graphical login
Edit the /etc/inittab
# nano /etc/inittab

change
id:3:initdefault:
to
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id:4:initdefault:
Comment out some ttys while we are at it (will save some memory)
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty noclear 38400 tty1 linux
c2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
#c4:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
#c5:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
#c6:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux
Save changes, reboot.
Now you should be presented to the default session manager (KDM or XDM if you did not install KDE)

Install additional software

Surprise! Theres an extra directory on the DVD! It contains some popular applications :
Chromium web browser, Java, Flash player plugin,
Just open a terminal and read the TXT file (README) for instructions.
Note: the flashplayer-plugin slackbuild found on the DVD does not work (outdated flash player version no more available for
download).
Or just copy extra/flashplayer-plugin/* files to /tmp, edit the .slackbuild file
# nano flashplayer-plugin.SlackBuild

replace
VERSION=${VERSION:-11.2.202.236}
by
VERSION=${VERSION:-11.2.202.238}
Save changes and run the slackbuild
# sh flashplayer-plugin.SlackBuild

Install the generated package

# installpkg /tmp/flashplayer-plugin-11.2.202.238-x86_64-1alien.txz
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Also, as an alternative, the slackbuild found on slackbuilds.org will work (

http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/multimedia/flash-player-plugin/ ).

Additional software from 3rd party packages

(versions are likely to change since the writing of this document)
VLC (from AlienBobs repository)
(as root)
# cd
# wget http://slackware.org.uk/people/alien/restricted_slackbuilds/vlc/pkg64/14.0/vlc-2.0.3-x86_64-1alien.txz
# installpkg vlc*

LibreOffice (from RlWorkmans repository)

# wget http://www.rlworkman.net/pkgs/14.0/x86_64/libreoffice-3.6.1_en_US-x86_64-1_rlw.txz
# installpkg libreoffice*

Note : the language packs are not included.

AlienBob also has LibreOffice packages (including the language packs), just wait for some days for the updated packages for
Slackware 14.0 to appear
http://www.slackware.org.uk/people/alien/slackbuilds/libreoffice/

Filesystem optimizations
# nano /etc/fstab

Add the noatime option for the rootfs.

/dev/sda2
/
ext4
defaults,noatime
1 1
Add /tmp in tmpfs
tmpfs
/tmp
tmpfs
defaults,nosuid,nodev 0

Generic Kernel, faster boot and resume from hibernation

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Generate an initramfs
# /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -r

Copy the result to your command prompt and execute it

(in my case)
# mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sda2 -m mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

Then update lilos (bootloader) configuration

# nano /etc/lilo.conf

- add the compact directive (will gain some boot speed) at the beginning
- decrease the timeout value to your liking (a value of 50 should be enough)
- add a default directive for our new kernel entry :
default=Linux-generic

then add a new kernel entry at the end

image= /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29
root=/dev/sda2
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
label = Linux-generic
read-only
append="quiet fastboot resume=/dev/sda1"

Save changes, make sure lilo is executed to update the bootloader code
# lilo -v

Then reboot. Less messages, (a little) faster boot times

Be sure to test suspend-to-disk (hibernate) and system resume.

Firewalling
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By default, no firewall is configured at all.

# iptables -L

We can generate a simple firewall configuration from this website : http://www.mista.nu/iptables/

Then copy and paste our generated firewall to /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall
(the generated config needs some adjustments, like the path to the iptables executable in the IPT variable)
#!/bin/sh
# iptables script generated 2012-09-30
# http://www.mista.nu/iptables
IPT="/usr/sbin/iptables"
# Flush old rules, old custom tables
$IPT --flush
$IPT --delete-chain
# Set default policies for all three default chains
$IPT -P INPUT DROP
$IPT -P FORWARD DROP
$IPT -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
# Enable free use of loopback interfaces
$IPT -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
$IPT -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
# All TCP sessions should begin with SYN
$IPT -A INPUT -p tcp ! --syn -m state --state NEW -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j DROP
# Accept inbound TCP packets
$IPT -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
# SMTP
#$IPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport smtp -m state --state NEW -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
# HTTP
#$IPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport http -m state --state NEW -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
# HTTPS
#$IPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport https -m state --state NEW -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
# SSH
$IPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -m state --state NEW -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
# Accept inbound ICMP messages
$IPT -A INPUT -p ICMP --icmp-type 8 -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
$IPT -A INPUT -p ICMP --icmp-type 11 -s 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT
# EOF

Start firewall at boot

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# chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall

If you want to disable the firewall

# iptables -F

To disable at boot time

# chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall

Thats it!
TIPS
Read the TXT files on the DVD! Lots of useful info for special setups (encrypted, lvm/raid, etc)
Need to boot in single user mode (useful for rescue)?
Append S to your kernel line at boot time.
Need to reconfigure your system?
# pkgtool

Want to change the default desktop environment?

# xwmconfig

Want to change the default X session manager?

# chmod -x /usr/bin/kdm

This will use XDM instead of KDM as the default session manager

Useful links
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Official Slackware wiki

http://docs.slackware.com
Packages list
http://packages.slackware.com/
SlackBuilds
http://slackbuilds.org/
AlienBobs packages
http://www.slackware.org.uk/people/alien/slackbuilds/
http://www.slackware.org.uk/people/alien/restricted_slackbuilds/
Rlworkmans packages
http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/
Great sendmail howto
http://www.wikihow.com/Configure-Sendmail
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Wireless Ad-hoc server script

7 thoughts on Linux Slackware 14.0 (64 bits) quick setup

1.

Bosstiger says:
02/10/2012 at 09:15
Reblogged this on Gigable Tech Blog.
Reply

2.

thisNameIsFalse says:
03/10/2012 at 16:43
Hi:
have you installed Oracle Java from extras/ directory?
Reply

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AgentOss says:
03/10/2012 at 21:35
Hi, no I havent tried it yet. Doesnt work?
Reply
3.

David says:
20/11/2012 at 12:54
Hi,
I have create new image in Amazon with custom kernel method
1. I have installed slackware14.0 (32bit) in my local machine.
2. I have created the 10 gb image space in slackware machine using below command.(dd if=/dev/zero of=slack14.img
bs=1M count=10075). and mount the image in slack14.img.mount -o loop slack14.img /mnt/slack1432bit.
3. I have format the image (slack14.img)
4. I have installed the custom package through ruby script. The custom package forinstalled without any error.
5. And past the content in /etc/fstab
/dev/xvda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
6. And I have created the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and store the file
default 0
timeout 3
title Ec2
root (hd0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz /root=/dev/sda1

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and bundle with amazon aki (aki-407d9529) and upload the amazon server
and register it,
7. While run the instance, I am unable to login the server, I am getting
below error.
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: Scanned 0 and added 0 devices.
md: autorun
md: autorun DONE.
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs (xvda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly on device 202:1.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 308k freed
md: stopping all md devices.
xenbus_dev_shutdown: device/console/0: Initialising != Connected, skipping
Restarting system.
I have already this method create new image in slackware13.1 & slackware13.37 it is working fine.
But I am getting below error in Slackware14.0 32bit.
Thanks for advance
BY
David
Reply
AgentOss says:
20/11/2012 at 18:27
Sorry, unable to help here.
The best thing to do is to ask your question in the (official) Slackware forum at Linuxquestions.com
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Reply
david says:
21/11/2012 at 03:57
Thanks your reply.

Soydaner says:
04/07/2013 at 13:10
Hi David,
I tried and achieved to build up a Slackware 14 (32 bit) amazon AMI. Here is the steps
From scratch:
http://kahverengi.com/EN/article/amazon-ec22/slackware-custom-amazon-ami-from-scratch.html
With Oracle Virtual-box:
http://kahverengi.com/EN/article/amazon-ec22/prepare-amazon-ami-from-oracle-virtualbox-vdi-slackware-14.html
And the end result: Public Amazon AMI:
https://aws.amazon.com/amis/slackami14-v2-0
Hope these help to you
Reply

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