How do I write to my files

[TC]

I have tried on several occasions to write to specific files for example; I downloaded a package gtkpod-0.99.12.tar.gz and tried to add it to usr/local/packages using KGet but was unable because it would not allow me to do so.  How can I download packages and put them where they need to go so I can use GSlapt to unpackage and load them onto my computer?  TC.

[toothandnail]

I have tried on several occasions to write to specific files for example; I downloaded a package gtkpod-0.99.12.tar.gz and tried to add it to usr/local/packages using KGet but was unable because it would not allow me to do so.  How can I download packages and put them where they need to go so I can use GSlapt to unpackage and load them onto my computer?  TC.

  There are really a couple of questions there...

First, other than your home directory, you will find that you do not have permission to write files in many other places unless you give yourself root (superuser) access. For downloading, the easiest is to make a directory under your home directory and download files to that directory. They can then be moved later using root access, if necessary. Downloading using root access is not a good idea.

Second, I think you are making an assumption. The example you give looks more like a source file than an application, so there is little chance that Gslapt will be able to do anything with it at all.

For packages, use Gslapt (make sure you have all the repositories that you need enabled) and let it download and install applications. If you can't find an application that you want in the Vector repositories, at least some Slackware packages will work. For packages that do not seem to have a Vector or Slackware version, you will either need to compile and install  them yourself, or request someone to build a package for you - there is a section on the forum for that purpose.

Hope that helps a bit...

paul.

[The Headacher]

What you have there is sourcecode. it does not contain anything the computer can work with yet, it's just code as it was written by programmers (probably in C or C++). it will first have to be converted to code that the computer can work with (compiled). Some programs can be compiled with lot's of functions enabled/disabled, depending on what other software is available on the system. A package usually contains compiled code, and information on what packages it needs to work.

The files in /var/log/packages are used by pkgtools (slapt-get and gslapt use pkgtools) to determine what is installed, and what files are in it. so just extracting files to there is not going to work. Instead, the software will have to be compiled. You can do this manually, here's a howto on building packages from source: http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1701.0 . It's a rather long HOWTO, but you don't have to do everything in there unless you want to build packages that comply to VL standards. It's probably easier to use vpackager. it can make packages in a more easy way:  http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4259.0