[Slapt-get-user] updated FAQ

[Jason Woodward]

I updated the FAQ (http://software.jaos.org/BUILD/slapt-get/FAQ.html) to reflect more of how
things are as well as take out some of the non-productive wording =].

The most significant update by far is the FAQ concerning dependencies:
http://software.jaos.org/BUILD/slapt-get/FAQ.html#slgFAQ10

10.  What about package dependencies?

 First of all, slapt-get does not provide dependency resolution for vanilla
 Slackware packages.

 However, slapt-get does provide a framework for dependency resolution for
 packages that follow the Slackware package format, while still being backwards
 compatible.  This information is stored in so called meta files within the
 package.  slapt-get does not parse packages themselves.  It uses the 
 PACKAGES.TXT package database that Patrick Volkerding provides along with his
 packages.  slapt-get uses this file by extending it with optional extra fields.
 This information is stored within the package simply as a means of easy
 transport.  For example, the entry for man within PACKAGES.TXT looks like:

   PACKAGE NAME:  man-1.5l-i386-1.tgz
   PACKAGE LOCATION:  ./slackware/ap
   PACKAGE SIZE (compressed):  166 K
   PACKAGE SIZE (uncompressed):  390 K
   PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
   man: man (format and display the on-line manual pages)

 It is extended like so:

   PACKAGE NAME:  man-1.5l-i386-1.tgz
   PACKAGE LOCATION:  ./slackware/ap
   PACKAGE SIZE (compressed):  166 K
   PACKAGE SIZE (uncompressed):  390 K
   PACKAGE REQUIRES: groff >= 1.56-noarch-1,man-pages | man-pages-de
   PACKAGE CONFLICTS:  
   PACKAGE SUGGESTS:  
   PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
   man: man (format and display the on-line manual pages)

 The REQUIRES line is an addition supported by slapt-get, along with CONFLICTS
 and SUGGESTS.  The meta files supporting dependencies, conflicts, and
 suggestions are within the packages inside the ./install/ directory.  The
 REQUIRES information is stored in the slack-required file.  The CONFLICTS
 information is stored within the slack-conflicts file.  The SUGGESTS
 information is stored in the slack-suggests file.  See FAQ #19 for a breakdown
 of the structure of REQUIRES, FAQ #31 for CONFLICTS, and FAQ #44 for SUGGESTS.

 This information is added to the PACKAGES.TXT file by extracting it from the
 meta files within the package.  This is normally done by the provider of the
 packages when they generate the PACKAGES.TXT support file for their package
 source.  See FAQ #17 for an example script to generate an extended PACKAGES.TXT
 file.

 The inclusion of this information within the Slackware package format does not
 inhibit the ability for Slackware pkgtools to install these packages.  This
 information is silently ignored and discarded after the package is installed.

 Packages supporting this framework can be found at linuxpackages.net, along
 with several Slackware derived distributions such as CollegeLinux (starting
 with 2.5) and VectorLinux (starting with 5.0).




take care,
jason

--
Jason Woodward
woodwardj at jaos.org

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