Less Typing with Silk...

Description

Silk is a practical front end to various Slackware package management tools, namely slackpkg, sbopkg, slapt-get and slapt-src. It implements the more common commands and simplifies the operation of multiple programs by unifying their syntax and execution. The idea is to handle all just as 'packages', independently if they are distributed as binary or source, and manage them through a simple and fast user interface.

You do not need to be root to run Silk, the program will ask the su password when needed.

command-line usage examples:

silk u         --> update and upgrade installed programs and
                   slackbuilds
silk s 'name'  --> search for a package or slackbuild 'name'
silk i 'name'  --> install 'name'
silk r 'name   --> remove name

A launcher is installed in the programs menu for silk-shell, which streamlines operations even more. In this case you can type the commands directly at the "Silk>" prompt, for example:

Silk> u

The silk-shell Main window:

An example of the search results, after the command "s ardour":

Each tool sub-shell is enabled by entering the corresponding tool number 1-4. Once inside the sub-shell the usage is similar to the main shell.

Notes:

• 'sl' and 'slapt' are symlinks to 'silk'. Use them as aliases for 'silk'.
• This program conflicts with the 'sl' package found in SlackBuilds.org, do not install both at the same time.

Silk is written in Python and is actually very simple. You can easily change it.

Installation

To install Silk please type:

sudo ./install.sh

Then please add your user to sudoers in order to use the program.

(Optional) changing the silkrc file

sbopkg is disabled by default, if you have it installed you can enable it in the config file ~/.config/silkrc:

[settings]
version = 1.0

slapt-get-colors = BOLD CYAN
slapt-src-colors = BOLD YELLOW
sbopkg-colors = BOLD GREEN
slackpkg-colors = BOLD BLUE

# order of execution (write 0 to prevent running):
slapt-get = 1
slapt-src = 2
sbopkg = 0
slackpkg = 4

The tool-colors are first, the mode NORMAL, BOLD, LIGHT, ... followed by the color, see the /usr/bin/silk program for the supported colors and modes.

The numbers in front of each tool refer to the execution priority, '0' when a tool in disabled. For example you could change the '0' to '3' to define that sbopkg is third in order.

version is the version of the silkrc file itself. Do not change it.

Uninstallation

To delete Silk from your system please type:

sudo ./uninstall.sh