Slackware package browser
It was not announced with a lot of brouhaha, but there is a significant change on this Slackware page: http://www.slackware.com/packages/. As you can see, the old (and seriously outdated) Slackware Package Browser (PB) has been replaced with a new one, developed by Mario of slackverse.org.
Please check out the new PB at http://packages.slackware.com/ and give your feedback. Robby Workman has been working hard behind the scenes to create a Slackware mirror infrastructure based on MirrorBrain and the new PB hooks directly into this new mirror infrastructure. A big hooray for both Robby and Mario!
On a related note: if you are willing to setup and maintain a Slackware mirror that should become part of the new mirror infrastructure, you should definitely check out the mirroring guidelines.
Eric
Posted: 3 August, 2012 in Slackware.
Tags: browser, packages, pb
Comments
Comment from Fish_Kungfu
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 12:41
Looks great!
Comment from Janis
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 13:25
As for me – User Vulgaris – i see no big difference comparing to simple ftp site browsing using FF/SM/etc.
Not clear, why under details mirror list is placed.
Comment from Janis
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 13:27
btw- ffplugin is void
Comment from alienbob
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 13:54
Hi Janis
Yes, the ffplugin has not yet been enabled apparently. The original site under Mario’s own domain name, http://packages.slackverse.org/ does have a working search plugin.
Mario and Robby are apparently working together to get the PB hosted on a Slackware-controlled server (none of has access to the backend, the code or the CSS) and I guess once we have a copy we will also address this kind of questions.
As for your other remark (no big difference comparing to simple ftp site) I guess you have not yet tried searching for individual filenames. Finding out what package contains “libflam3.a” is hard if you browse the ftp site using firefox…
Eric
Comment from Janis
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 18:38
as User Vulgaris, I even not suspected existence of such functionality.
It is great indeed! Good work!
Comment from mario
Posted: August 4, 2012 at 01:25
Hey guys, I was not expecting this would hit the news like this, but the two most obvious bugs are firefox plugin and I am going to link mirrors on the search engine with Robby’s mirrorbrain tommorow. Feel free to report any bugs, and do keep in mind its still kind of beta running from slackware.com domain :^)
Pingback from This Week in Linux: Debian, Fedora, & Slackware | PHP World
Posted: August 4, 2012 at 05:23
[...] their online package search engine. Alien BOB, also known as Eric Hameleers in some circles, posted today that the new browser has gone live. Developed by Mario from slackverse.org, the package [...]
Comment from matteo
Posted: August 4, 2012 at 12:04
Hi, your mirror is added in my Slackware package search engine
http://www.slackabduction.com/sse/
thx
Comment from Robby Workman
Posted: August 5, 2012 at 07:33
Matteo (slackabduction):
You should not need to use any other mirror than mirrors.slackware.com for official packages – it will transparently redirect clients to a nearby mirror.
If there are other mirrors that are not listed in my database, those mirror admins need to get in touch with me.
Comment from mario
Posted: August 5, 2012 at 12:53
The most obvious bugs have been attended to, firefox plugin, Robby’s mirrors, w3c and theme fixes, feel free to report any other that might be lurking around. Actually any sort of feedback is welcome. And, most importantly, do enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Comment from matteo
Posted: August 5, 2012 at 19:44
@Robby, ok i can leave only mirrors.slackware.com for official pkgs. just a question, when i try to donwload a file it seems always the same url source, where i can check if i’m downloading from a nearest mirror?
Comment from Robby Workman
Posted: August 5, 2012 at 22:43
Thanks, mario 
matteo: append “.mirrorlist” to any url and you will get a list of mirrors that have the file. If there are mirrors not listed there, then those mirror admins need to contact me and we will discuss what has to happen for them to be listed. Re always getting the same mirror, you probably *should* be – unless you’re moving around, the closest mirror to you won’t be changing
Comment from Ellendhel
Posted: August 6, 2012 at 14:01
> it’s possible to download packages, but what about .txt and .txz.asc files?
Just to be clear: I was talking about the search function, with package details result, not by browsing mirrored files of course.
Comment from chrisretusn
Posted: August 6, 2012 at 16:17
My hat is off to Robby and Mario. Nice Work and thanks for all the effort you have and still are putting in to this. It a lot nicer than the old package browser. A big BZ to all.
Pingback from Slackware Package Browser | mundo GNU
Posted: March 17, 2013 at 13:46
[...] http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/slackware-package-browser/ [...]
Comment from Ellendhel
Posted: August 3, 2012 at 11:38
Awsome!
Just a little idea: it’s possible to download packages, but what about .txt and .txz.asc files?