Slacko 5.5 feedback and bug reports

Please post any bugs you have found
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npierce
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue 29 Dec 2009, 01:40

Re: Time Zone Trouble

#161 Post by npierce »

jon4t2 wrote:I had the same problem with Slacko 5.5 and the /America/New_York time zone. The fix was the same as for duck, replacing the /America/New_York file on the HD with the original from the CD. . . .

As to the origin of my problem, I ran "Updates Manager -latest from Slackware" on the Setup menu and updated tzdata.
Hi jon4t2,

Thanks for the clue. I looked into this today.

It turns out that the data files in the package are OK. But the installation script has bad manners. After the data files are installed, the script corrupts one of them. Just one. But of the hundreds of files in the package it is, of course, just the one you need. :)

What?! Just the America/New_York file? Gee, of all the darn luck!

Well, no, it's not always that specific file. It corrupts whatever file anyone needs, no matter what time zone they live in. For you it corrupted the America/New_York file; for duck@japan it corrupted the Asia/Tokyo file. It corrupts whichever file /etc/localtime links to.


You already know how to fix it after it is broken. Now I'll try to explain how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Before running Updates Manager, execute the following two commands:

Code: Select all

mv /etc/localtime /etc/localtime-copied-from
cp -p /etc/localtime-copied-from /etc/localtime
Then run the Updates Manager and install glibc-zoneinfo.

After running Updates Manager, execute the following command:

Code: Select all

mv /etc/localtime-copied-from /etc/localtime
That should do it.


Now, if you want any of the boring details of what the problem was, read on.

Puppy, like most distros I am familiar with, indicates the local time zone with a symbolic link at /etc/localtime which points to the appropriate data file in a subdirectory of /usr/share/zoneinfo. Alternatively, the same result can be achieved by actually copying the appropriate data file to /etc/localtime. I don't know which distros use the latter method, but judging by the installation script for this package, I am guessing that Slackware is one distro that does.

Not only is /etc/localtime a copy of the data file for the desired time zone, but there is also a symlink named /etc/localtime-copied-from, which points to the data file that was copied. The purpose of that file is to allow the installation script for the zoneinfo package to copy the new version of the desired file to /etc/localtime again, after the new data files are installed.

That may work fine on a Slackware installation, but Puppy doesn't usually have a file at /etc/localtime, just a symlink. Nor does Puppy set the /etc/localtime-copied-from symlink.

In Slacko, that symlink normally just stays at its original value, which points to /usr/share/zoneinfo/Factory (as in "factory settings"). That file contains no actual zone information, but sets the string normally used for the zone name (such as "GMT" or "BST") with the message "Local time zone must be set--see zic manual page", which is sometimes (depending upon your language settings) displayed when the date command is executed, like so:

Code: Select all

# date
Sun Jun 23 02:25:52 Local time zone must be set--see zic manual page 2013
# 
So, when the installation script copies the file pointed to by /etc/localtime-copied-from to /etc/localtime, you may start seeing that message, and Psync will no longer work right.

Worse, remember that /etc/localtime is a symlink on Puppy, so the Factory file doesn't get copied there; it actually follows the link to whatever file /etc/localtime points to, in your case /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York, overwriting that file. So now the file with the updated data you wanted has been destroyed.

Not good.

The sad thing is that it looks like the installation script was originally designed to handle the situation when it encountered a symlink instead of a file at /etc/localtime. If there is no /etc/localtime-copied-from symlink, the script will create it by renaming /etc/localtime to /etc/localtime-copied-from. Thus, it would be able to later copy the correct file to /etc/localtime instead of the Factory file.

So far, that's good. But the very next thing it does when it can't find a readable /etc/localtime (which it can't, since it just renamed it) is to blow away both /etc/localtime (which is already gone) and /etc/localtime-copied-from. Silly. Possibly the result of an untested patch to the script.

But even if the script did work properly, there could still be problems, since once /etc/localtime-copied-from was created, and the desired data file was copied to /etc/local time, if the user ran quickcountry, /etc/localtime-copied-from wouldn't be updated, and /etc/localtime would revert to a symlink.

jon4t2 wrote:. . . perhaps a Puppy specific tzdata set is needed.
That might be the best solution. Also it would be good if this package was filtered out of the list of packages found at the Slackware updates repository, so that users would not be temped to try and install it.


Anyway, thanks for reporting your experience with this, and especially what you did that caused it. It was the key to solving this mystery.

jeffy39
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed 04 Mar 2009, 14:29

libreoffice

#162 Post by jeffy39 »

Howdy All,
Would someone please show me how to get L-O to 'activate' when clicking on a .ppt
record?
I just installed (frugal) Slacko-5.5. From PPM got the L-O SFS and JRE 1.7.
I've a file of .PPT in another partition.
Would it be better to get L-O as a pet?
Any-all help appreciated.
Thanx much, jw

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jrb
Posts: 1536
Joined: Tue 11 Dec 2007, 19:56
Location: Smithers, BC, Canada

Re: libreoffice

#163 Post by jrb »

jeffy39 wrote:Howdy All,
Would someone please show me how to get L-O to 'activate' when clicking on a .ppt
record?
I just installed (frugal) Slacko-5.5. From PPM got the L-O SFS and JRE 1.7.
I've a file of .PPT in another partition.
Would it be better to get L-O as a pet?
Any-all help appreciated.
Thanx much, jw
The easiest way to associate a file type with a program is to right click on a file of the type you want and then choose "Set Run Action".

You will see a GUI with a box saying "Drop a suitable application here". Click on the show button and navigate to where your application is. In your case you want /opt/libreoffice4.0/program/simpress. Once you find it simply place your mouse cursor on it, hold down the left mouse button and drag it into the aforementioned box. Press the "Use Command" button and its a done deal.

Good Luck with this, J

Note: I use Softmaker Office, not LibreOffice, so there may be complications I have not forseen, :? but it should work.

jeffy39
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed 04 Mar 2009, 14:29

libreoffice

#164 Post by jeffy39 »

Hi JRB, Thanx for reply.
'Show' goes to root/.config/roxfiler--- that has vnd.ms-office or something like that. I'm not in Puppy right now. Didnt see a way to insert-add
something for L-O.
When I open L-O and get a .pps into it, the sound doesnt work.
Same old Puppy story of old. Guess I'll go with Mint-15.
Thank you, later, jw

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jrb
Posts: 1536
Joined: Tue 11 Dec 2007, 19:56
Location: Smithers, BC, Canada

Re: libreoffice

#165 Post by jrb »

jeffy39 wrote:Hi JRB, Thanx for reply.
'Show' goes to root/.config/roxfiler-
You're right.

Pardon me for falling into the old trap of assuming. :oops: I just assumed you knew how to use ROX.

OK here's an alternate to using the "Show" button. Go ahead and do the right click on a .ppt file, then:

1.)Open a terminal (click on the console button on the desktop).
2.)Type "rox /opt/libreoffice4.0/program". This should open up ROX where you want it.
3.)Drag simpress into the "Drop suitable application here" box.
4.)Click the Use Command button.

BTW - Just for your information, when you're in ROX if you keep clicking on the green up arrow in the upper left corner until nothing changes you will see "usr", "root", "etc", "opt" and so forth. Click on any of these and you will see the subfolders they contain. This is the basic method of navigating through your system with ROX.

jeffy39
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed 04 Mar 2009, 14:29

ROX

#166 Post by jeffy39 »

Howdy John, thanx for the additional info.
I really know very little about ROX.
Best regards, jw

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don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

#167 Post by don570 »

I was able to convert slacko 5.5 to Chinese

Instructions are HERE

Image

Rope
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed 20 Feb 2013, 16:30

#168 Post by Rope »

Hello. I have a series of problems. One is that I can't update Firefox from the menu help/update/check for updates it reads is updated but is version 19.

Also I have crashes. I do not know if it is FF related but I see it consumes resources.
Puppy Slacko 5.7 frugal
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ : 2109.87MHz
Total Memory : 967356 kB

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SFR
Posts: 1800
Joined: Wed 26 Oct 2011, 21:52

#169 Post by SFR »

Hey Rope
Also I have crashes. I do not know if it is FF related but I see it consumes resources.
Is it total crash or you're still able to, for instance, move the mouse cursor?
I just remembered that I used to have some rare, random freezes too while using FF, but IIRC it never happened again since I switched to Chromium.
During the crash ROX stopped responding and there were always 1-2 processes in "uninterruptable sleep", so only (usually hard) reboot was the only option in such case.
Try different browser and see what happend...

Greetings!
[color=red][size=75][O]bdurate [R]ules [D]estroy [E]nthusiastic [R]ebels => [C]reative [H]umans [A]lways [O]pen [S]ource[/size][/color]
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Rope
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed 20 Feb 2013, 16:30

#170 Post by Rope »

SFR wrote:Hey Rope
Also I have crashes. I do not know if it is FF related but I see it consumes resources.
Is it total crash or you're still able to, for instance, move the mouse cursor?
I just remembered that I used to have some rare, random freezes too while using FF, but IIRC it never happened again since I switched to Chromium.
During the crash ROX stopped responding and there were always 1-2 processes in "uninterruptable sleep", so only (usually hard) reboot was the only option in such case.
Try different browser and see what happend...

Greetings!
Yes total freeze sometimes. I had to restart x or reboot. I was using FF (not many tabs sometimes), attym, and a find for files or something, nothing demanding.

The problem is that I need some FF plugins, but maybe chromium is better. I could try in sfs form to not bloat the savefile.

Also, I don see why the personal space lowers.
Puppy Slacko 5.7 frugal
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ : 2109.87MHz
Total Memory : 967356 kB

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01micko
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#171 Post by 01micko »

Rope,

For space, clear the firefox cache, I didn't limit it.

As for the updates manager, I don't know why that fails. The update now is Firefox-17.0.7-ESR, which runs more stable I think. Maybe try it again? Or else switch to chrome/chromium. You will likely get the latest on the forum.

Be aware chrome cache is hungry too.

HTH
Puppy Linux Blog - contact me for access

npierce
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue 29 Dec 2009, 01:40

AbiWord doesn't load personal dictionary (Slacko only)

#172 Post by npierce »

In Slacko 5.5 (but not Precise 5.5 or 5.6) words saved to the personal dictionary (by clicking the Add button when checking spelling) are only available for documents in that session of AbiWord. When one exits and restarts Abiword, the new words are no longer recognised and are marked as misspelled. There appears to be a problem with the libenchant.so.1.5.0 library.

This bug was originally reported in its own thread by forum member don. For details and suggestions for a work-around, see the thread started by don: Spellchecker in ABIword

npierce
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue 29 Dec 2009, 01:40

Missing /etc/shells file

#173 Post by npierce »

See my post in the Precise 5.6.9 thread: Missing /etc/shells file

Slacko 5.5 is also missing this file. This results in the same pure-ftpd failure which can be fixed by creating the /etc/shells file.

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01micko
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#174 Post by 01micko »

Thanks npierce

I'll add /etc/shells to the next,

Attached is enchant-1.6 compiled in slacko. It does seem to fix the spell bug.

EDIT:


I'm removing the attachment as enchant-1.6 and abiword-2.9.4 are available from this post
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npierce
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue 29 Dec 2009, 01:40

Re: enchant-1.6 and /etc/shells

#175 Post by npierce »

Thanks, Mick, for compiling enchant-1.6 for Slacko. I am happy to confirm that it does eliminate the personal dictionary bug for me as well. And, unlike the build of enchant-1.6 in Precise, this Slacko build still supports the same ispell dictionary file format that has traditionally been used with AbiWord. That's good news.

And it's good to know that /etc/shells will be in future Slackos.

Thanks for all of the long hours you work to provide us with Slacko.

Norm

canin
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun 08 Apr 2012, 13:31

#176 Post by canin »

wrong thread, to be wiped...

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nubc
Posts: 2062
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Location: USA

#177 Post by nubc »

1. It's hard to understand why Slacko 5.5 would not include Asunder as a standard app in Multimedia.

2. It's hard to imagine that there is a better or easier program for ripping CDs than Asunder.

I tried to install Asunder with PPM. There were two packages available, one from Salix repo and one from Slacky repo. Neither of these worked, nor could be called from terminal once installed. Please make a PET for Asunder. It's an essential program.
Last edited by nubc on Mon 08 Sep 2014, 06:18, edited 1 time in total.

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Semme
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#178 Post by Semme »

Either should execute. They're probably not missing much..

Code: Select all

ldd /usr/bin/asunder
Ah! It would likely run with the devx loaded.

IMHumbleO, Pup's not complete without it.
>>> Living with the immediacy of death helps you sort out your priorities. It helps you live a life less trivial <<<

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nubc
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Location: USA

#179 Post by nubc »

I see now that Pmusic has a "Rip CD" button, but I haven't tried it yet. So if I have devx installed on my Slacko 5.5, then Asunder will be available and functional? Is it possible to install devx after I have full-installed Slacko 5.5? Or does the devx option have to be selected during original installation? I don't see "devx" in PPM.

Pmusic has a "Rip CD" button. Is this an independent ripping program, or has the developer of Pmusic merely integrated Asunder into Pmusic?

Okay, I downloaded devx_slacko_5.5.sfs from here. Now what do I do with it?
Last edited by nubc on Fri 03 Oct 2014, 13:19, edited 1 time in total.

watchdog
Posts: 2021
Joined: Fri 28 Sep 2012, 18:04
Location: Italy

#180 Post by watchdog »

Use sfs2pet and install the pet of devx:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=81316

I never used it: I use manual way to change a sfs in a pet. You can test if it works.
You can also use sfs_load to load the devx sfs in a full install:

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HowtoAddSFStoFullInstall

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