What do you usually do to install software not available at Gslapt?

[libertas]

Hi,

The question almost says it all.
When some software that you want to install is not available through Gslapt, how do you proceed to install it?
Get a dev SFS?
Then install each of the dependencies by source and then the desired software?

Or is there any other way?

For example, to install gscan2pdf, that scans some paper, is able to perform some operations, and then can save the document to a PDF file.
This package is available through Slackbuilds.org: http://slackbuilds.org/repository/15.0/ ... =gscan2pdf
but it has dozens of dependencies, seventeen direct, two optional and some more indirect.

In Slackware I tried sbopkg and sboui, but there was something wrong regarding this packages and I couln't install it. Perhaps it was the current versions of these packages.

So, I would be glad to know how you proceed.

Thank you.

[wognath]

I have no general suggestions, but I can share 2 recent experiences with FD814 that might help.

I made an sfs with maxima math software using debs. It's suggested here that for best chance, match the vintage of the debs to that of FD814, so I used oldstable (Buster). I ran undeb -x on each deb, merged the resulting folders, then made an sfs. I suspect I was lucky not to have any library conflicts.

I got an appimage of Librewolf, from the link here, made it executable, and it worked just like that It's my first experience with appimages. (dogcat's sfs also works, but I don't know if he/she plans to keep updating it.)

[smokey01]

@libertas I always check what is currently available in the distro. Fatdog64 comes with a lot of software installed. It may not be the package you are looking for but there are usually many alternatives. Have you tried xsane? It's in the graphics menu. It will scan to pdf and much more.

[stemsee]

Try 'am' (application manager) install from gslapt then run in terminal for 2000+ appimages.

Otherwise install from .deb after right clicking package and convert to fatdog package.

[libertas]

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Just one additional question.
When trying the .deb solution, from where and how would you get the dependencies list?

I tried xsane some years ago and didn't find that it could save as pdf.
I'll try it again.

But for the sake of illustration only, for example, taking the package gscan2pdf, that is found at
https://pkginfo.devuan.org/cgi-bin/pack ... f=2.13.4-4

You would manually download all those *.deb files or is there a tool already developed for it?

[smokey01]

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Just one additional question.
When trying the .deb solution, from where and how would you get the dependencies list?

The link you provided below shows the dependency list.
If you're trying to determine what dependencies are missing from the binary then in a terminal type:

Code: Select all

ldd qscan2pdf

This will not work on perl scripts however.

I tried xsane some years ago and didn't find that it could save as pdf.
I'll try it again.

xsane can save to JPEG, PDF, PNG, PNM, Postscript, TEXT and TIFF and has done for many years.

But for the sake of illustration only, for example, taking the package gscan2pdf, that is found at
https://pkginfo.devuan.org/cgi-bin/pack ... f=2.13.4-4

You would manually download all those *.deb files or is there a tool already developed for it?

There may be tools available to do this but I can't think of any ATM. Slackbuilds is a good place to start as it usually provides links to all the deps. Finding the deps can be very difficult.

Cheers

[mikewalsh]

@libertas :-

I fully agree with wognath's summary, above.

I spent years building packages for Slacko Puppies, some time back. Of course, I found what many others before me had also found.....that the 'buntu Pups - which I was used to - had way more stuff in the closet than Slackware did.

Bearing in mind that .deb, .rpm, .tgz, etc, are largely conventions for the sake of the respective package management systems, it didn't take me long to discover that, by extracting the various packages and examining them, it was obvious that the actual functional components were largely the same, irrespective of distro involved.

The important thing to remember is to 'match' the vintage of the dependencies you're using to approximately the same as that of the actual app binary. There's no "guarantee" it'll work, of course, but there's equally a good chance that it will.

One good place to look for this stuff is https://pkgs.org. Another would be the main repositories for your OS's 'base' distro, or whatever the OS is built around.

Just passing on advice gained from years of package-building experience. Feel free to ignore it......that's entirely up to you, of course.

Mike.

[libertas]

@libertas :-

I fully agree with wognath's summary, above.

I spent years building packages for Slacko Puppies, some time back. Of course, I found what many others before me had also found.....that the 'buntu Pups - which I was used to - had way more stuff in the closet than Slackware did.

Bearing in mind that .deb, .rpm, .tgz, etc, are largely conventions for the sake of the respective package management systems, it didn't take me long to discover that, by extracting the various packages and examining them, it was obvious that the actual functional components were largely the same, irrespective of distro involved.

The important thing to remember is to 'match' the vintage of the dependencies you're using to approximately the same as that of the actual app binary. There's no "guarantee" it'll work, of course, but there's equally a good chance that it will.

One good place to look for this stuff is https://www.pkgs.org. Another would be the main repositories for your OS's 'base' distro, or whatever the OS is built around.

Just passing on advice gained from years of package-building experience. Feel free to ignore it......that's entirely up to you, of course.

Mike.

Thanks, Mike.
That address

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https://www.pkgs.org 

doesn't work. Any typo?

[rockedge]

That address

Code: Select all

https://www.pkgs.org

doesn't work. Any typo?

Yes, a typo it is.....try https://pkgs.org

[mikewalsh]

@libertas :-

Yup; my bad. @rockedge has got it right. I was typing it from memory.....forgot it was one of these with no "www" in the URL.

I've corrected it in my post, above. Sorry 'bout that!

Mike.

[smokey01]

@libertas Peasyscan will scan to PDF files as well. It worked OOTB here on my little Brother DCP J1200W.

viewtopic.php?t=5899

[libertas]

@libertas Peasyscan will scan to PDF files as well. It worked OOTB here on my little Brother DCP J1200W.

viewtopic.php?t=5899

Hi @smokey01,

I installed Peasyscan, when I press a scan button, the scanner moves, a small window opens saying that it is receiving RGB data, but no image is presented in the Xscanimage window.
The preview button action is able to show the scanned image, though.

I've been using Xsane to scan, but would love to have Peasyscan working fine. Don't know what is happening.

[dr__Dan]

I've been doing some scanning lately with xsane (also xscanimage, but I don't like it as well), so I thought I'd try peasyscan again to remind myself of the details, and to report in this discussion. It did work, but with one serious issue. Like with @libertas, it gave a preview, and indicated that it was doing a full scan, but the text in the "receiving RGB data" window listed a different filename and location than I had entered. I tried it again, and got the same result at the same location. The location was the last file I had scanned (with xscanimage if I remember correctly) in a recent batch, but not the most recent file I had scanned with xsane (and on the same device). Checking the named file, it was overwritten with the new scan.

@libertas, you might check to see whether this has happened in your case. I suppose there is some kind of shared file between xscanimage and peasyscan. I did a reset in peasyscan, and checked the file name and path. The scan it made was fine, once I had corrected the details.

I hope that helps.

Dan