Something new to try.

[Joe1962]

"location field"...

[rbistolfi]

Sorry, I meant the "PACKAGE LOCATION:" entry in a PACKAGES.TXT file, which points to a subdir in the repository where the package is located. We currently use that for a general classification, as in "n" for "networking" or "l" for libraries.

[Joe1962]

Oh, I see...

Well, when I don't have a clean system for packaging, I make my own working packages (with  "1vl70jj" at the end) and set them up on a local repo which I subdivide as follows:

vector://home/repo/vl70jj
joe1962:$ find . -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 | sort
./base
./base-dev
./base-libs
./base-utils
./codecs
./dev
./games
./gnome-base
./gnome-bindings
./gnome-libs
./gnome-utils
./kde3-compat
./kde4
./libs
./multimedia
./multimedia-base
./net
./office
./publishing
./science
./security
./server
./system
./toys
./utils
./virt
./web
./x
./xfce4

Something like this would take us away from the Slackware repo structure, but also makes classification easier. However, you could only classify packages within a single category, whereas with a slack-categ file, you could do multi-categorization.

[stretchedthin]

Anyone trying this out should now be noticing that since version 0.30, the program will inform you if updates are available.
Latest version is 0.60. (available in gslapt.)
Tried to make as many changes as I could to keep up the the suggestions you have been giving.
Some highlights.
Included a "more app" type entry
Enables testing and extra if they are not enabled already.
Updates repositories if new source enabled.
Offers to disable testing on shutdown, but leaves choice up the the user.
When nothing is chosen for install vl-Quikpicks will offer to open gslapt for the user.
Addition of many new packages to the various quickpick menus.