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Oh forgot.
Updating packages. Slack doesn't have a built-in product like SUSE Watcher for updating. There are several options in the "/extras" directory though. Most recommend slapt-get (supposed to be like apt-get for Debian) or slackpkg or swaret. You can google them for reviews etc. The one thing you MUST do, is ALWAYS read the CHANGELOG for the patches. Slack updates MUCH less frequently than other distros (mostly because it includes a lot less installed software), so reading the changelog is simple.
One of the most popular choices a Slackware user makes, is that they compile there own software/kernels, rather than relying on a distro or someone else. I mean, come on, is...
rpm -i --force file.rpm
...really that much more difficult than...
tar -zxvf file.src.gz
./config
make
make install
???
(OK, I am an unabashed Slackware bigot)
Anyways, while I always do the source compile, I also always use the "checkinstall" tool (also available under /extras). Change the last command like so...
tar -zxvf file.src.gz
./config
make
checkinstall
...and it will create a .tgz "package" (similar to an RPM) for use in the Slackware package manager. Then if for any reason you need to uninstall/reinstall, you can use an "rpm-like" command...
installpkg file.tgz
removepkg file.tgz
Also run "pkgtool" for a simple package manager utility.
Also, if you NEED to install an RPM (yes, I hate to admit that not all software people make source tarballs available, those bastage), you can use a simple utility to convert it to a .tgz package...
rpm2tgz file.rpm file.tgz
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