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-Chapter 1.  Building Slackermedia
-Table of Contents
-Which Dependencies Should You Install?
-Structure of Slackermedia Queue Files
-huge set
-'a' Set
-'v' Set
-'g' Set
-Coffee Break
-Now that everything is installed and configured, it's time to build your
-Slackermedia studio.
-There are a number of small programmes, libraries, and applications that a
-typical multimedia system, regardless of what you intend to do on it, should
-have installed, simply because they are so ubiquitous that the major media apps
-you install probably require them anyway.
-These dependencies and libraries are usually small pieces of software that you
-will not use directly, but that are important for the larger applications to be
-able to function properly. In some cases, these dependencies are also
-fully-featured applications in themselves, and are also used by other
-applications. In any case, they are good to have as a common base from which
-you can build upon; think of it as the missing "base install" components that
-you didn't get with stock Slackware.
-Determining what your system will need in order to process all the different
-kinds of media that a multimedia artist typically encounters can be confusing
-and overwhelming. This is burden is alleviated in this chapter.
-Which Dependencies Should You Install?
-Slackware is a nice all-purpose distribution, so many of the dependencies,
-libraries, and backend apps required for a Slackermedia system are already
-installed by default, and many others can be obtained easily and quickly via
-slackbuilds.org and other resources outlined in ???.
-As such, Slackermedia offers a list of the common multimedia-related libraries
-that you should install so that time spent manually installing dependencies is
-minimised. This list of Slackermedia dependencies can be installed manually, or
-you can pipe it into sport or loaded into sbopkg for automated processing.
-Note
-This is technically very inefficient, at least in terms of systems design but
-it's the fastest and easiest way to get a lot of common dependencies installed
-and out of the way. The theory in the design of the GNU Linux OS is that a user
-should only need to install what the user actually intends to use, and this is
-entirely possible because of the extreme modularity of the system.
-However, artists rarely only do one kind of art. Even if a musician feels that
-libraries for graphic art are not necessary, the chances are pretty good that
-an album cover design eventually is going to be required, and suddenly the
-musician realises that a few good graphic tools might not be such a bad idea
-after all. Furthermore, Slackware itself approaches the problem with a
-monolithic solution; a recommended full install of Slackware inevitably
-includes software that you will never use, but for the sake of a quick and
-reliable installation, everything is installed regardless of your plans for
-your computer.
-To sum up: install all the dependencies that Slackermedia recommends and you
-won't regret it.
-Conversely, the Slackermedia dependency list is not literally all-inclusive.
-You may have to install more than those listed here, depending on what you
-intend to install for your multimedia work. But if you performed the default,
-full Slackware install and do a complete Slackermedia dependency install, then
-most everything you'll need will be ready for you when you need it.
-Important
-Mind the order in which you install libraries and dependencies; if you attempt
-to install, for instance, Inkscape before you install libsigc++ then the
-install will certainly fail since Inkscape depends on libsig++ to compile from
-source code. The sequence of install is important.
-Structure of Slackermedia Queue Files
-To use the Slackermedia lists of dependencies and libraries, you may download
-queue files from slackermedia.info/downloads.
-To use the queue file with sport:
-$su -
-#sport install $( < /path/to/slackermedia-huge.sqf )
-To use it with sbopkg:
-$su -
-#sbopkg -i /path/to/slackermedia-huge.sqf
-Slackermedia originally provided four queue files, dividing installable
-libraries into groups like av for audio and video producers, vg for video and
-graphic artists, and so on, plus a huge queue file containing everything from
-all of those groups. This proved to be confusing and arbitrary, and most people
-just used the -huge file anyway.
-As of 2015, Slackermedia provides three queue files solely in the interest of
-letting the user opt for a pontentially faster install by excluding some large
-programmes that are probably only useful within a different discipline.
-It is strongly recommended that you just install the slackermedia-huge.sqf
-file. Chances are that as an artist, you do not only do one artistic thing, so
-the -huge support will almost certainly be useful either as an artist or simply
-just as a modern computer user (the added codecs, for example, will impact you
-every time you attempt to play non-open media types).
-Tip
-The directory on the Slackermedia server also contains the master file from
-which the other queue files are generated, as well as the shell script that
-generates them. You are free to download these resources, but they will not
-work as a queue file, since they are not queue files.
-Download the queue files from http://slackermedia.info/downloads/queues and
-process with sport or the installer of your choice.
-Warning
-If you are unable or unwilling to to install the -huge set for whatever reason,
-but you do wish to combine two queue files, you should prune out duplicate
-entries. For instance, to combine the audio set with the video set:
-    # sport -i $( < sort slackermedia-a.sqf slackermedia-v.sqf ?
-  uniq )
-Of course, by the time you have combined two sets, you are probably only
-excluding one or two packages from being installed, so it would be easier to do
-the recommended -huge install.
-Sometimes an automated install fails due to the loss of network connectivity,
-or a source code package having been moved from its known location on the
-internet, or an md5 checksum failure, or some other error.
-Should this happen, you should note what package caused the failure. Attempt a
-manual install (using the Slackbuild script, but with a manual download of the
-source code from the location listed in the .info file in the SlackBuild tree.
-If that install works (it usually does), then you can resume the automated
-install by skipping all installed packages:
-  # for i in $( <
-  slackermedia-huge.sqf ) ; do if [ ! -e
-  /var/log/packages/"$i"* ];
-  then sport install $i "hello" ; fi ; done
-Or open the queue file in a text editor and manually delete the entries leading
-up to and including the failed package.
-Do not proceed with more installs without resolving any issue that prevents an
-install. At best, some of the following installs will fail because they relied
-upon the package that you skipped. At worst, everything will appear to have
-succeeded, and then you will experience failures later because the package that
-got skipped is being requested by some other application during runtime and is
-not being found.
-If something fails to install and you do not know why, post a question about it
-in the Slackware forums at linuxquestions.org (you may send a private message
-to user notklaatu if you wish) detailing what happened during your manual
-attempt to install the SlackBuild. It is vital that you make an attempt to
-install the SlackBuild manually before asking for help! Slackbuilds.org itself
-does not support frontends like sport or sbopkg, nor does Slackware; and they
-shouldn't, because the SlackBuild system is well-designed and mostly flawless.
-It's usually the assistance of an automated frontend that tempts a user to
-forego reading how to install something correctly and thereby introduces a
-problem (or a change in the source code location). An attempt at a manual
-install will most likely reveal the exact stage at which the install process
-fails, and that's vital information.
-huge set
-huge installs all Slackermedia deps and libs, and a few important applications
-for good measure. Highly recommended.
-Without going into specifics due to additions and subtractions and other
-changes that the list is inevitably subject to, this set contains:
-  * GUI frontends like fltk and wxGTK, which are the GUI basis for many other
-    applications.
-  * Over 20 freely-available codecs and graphic libraries so that no matter
-    what kind of file a client delivers to you, your system will most likely be
-    able to play [decode] it.
-    Many of these codecs support an "everything and the kitchen sink" build of
-    ffmpeg, which is a video and audio encoding and decoding engine, and tends
-    to be important to serious multimedia work.
-  * Essential multimedia tools like the system-wide patchbay JACK, some of the
-    most versatile soft synths available, the video effect library frei0r,
-    audio effects plugins, several GIMP plugins, Inkscape (the entire
-    application, which is not included with Slackware), the MediaInfo analytic
-    tool so that you can get specs on video and audio files, and much more.
-  * System-level tools and libraries that you may or may not use directly but
-    which will be needed by one or more of the applications that you will, as a
-    multimedia artist, certainly install at some point in the future. This
-    includes XML parsers, libdvdcss for commercial DVD playback, SDL, GNOME
-    components that many GTK multimedia applications need, EXIF tools, ID3
-    libraries, Cython, and more.
-Install this one no matter what your artistic discipline.
-'a' Set
-Set a installs the Slackermedia dependencies and libraries that primarily
-relate to audio work, but also those that support ffmpeg, which is primarily a
-video tool but is also useful for audio conversion.
-Warning
-If you install the Huge set, then you get everything in this set plus a lot
-more. It is recommended that you install the Huge set.
-Without going into specifics due to additions and subtractions and other
-changes that the list is inevitably subject to, this set contains:
-  * GUI frontends like fltk and wxGTK, which are the GUI basis for many other
-    applications.
-  * Over 20 freely-available codecs and graphic libraries so that no matter
-    what kind of file a client delivers to you, your system will most likely be
-    able to play [decode] it.
-  * Essential multimedia tools like the system-wide patchbay JACK, some of the
-    most versatile soft synths available, including Zyn, Alsa Modular Synth,
-    AmSynth, and Fluidsynth, audio effects plugin sets such as Steve Harris,
-    CALF, TAP, and Invada, Rakarrack, the MediaInfo analytic tool so that you
-    can get specs on video and audio files, and much more.
-  * System-level tools and libraries that you may or may not use directly but
-    which will be needed by one or more of the applications that you will, as a
-    multimedia artist, certainly install at some point in the future. This
-    includes XML parsers, libdvdcss for commercial DVD playback, SDL, GNOME
-    components that many GTK multimedia applications need, EXIF tools, ID3
-    libraries, Cython, and more.
-Do not install this if you have already installed the Huge set, and you should
-not combine this with another set (if you want to do that, just install Huge.
-'v' Set
-Set v installs the Slackermedia dependencies and libraries that primarily
-relate to motion and stop-motion (animated) visual work, including those that
-support ffmpeg (the most ubiquitous video engine on Linux) but not ffmpeg
-itself. Since there are so many ways to build ffmpeg, Slackermedia offers a
-custom-built ffmpeg package that includes nearly all available codecs listed as
-the ffmpeg config option, which you will install later.
-Warning
-If you install the Huge set, then you get everything in this set plus a lot
-more. It is recommended that you install the Huge set.
-Without going into specifics due to additions and subtractions and other
-changes that the list is inevitably subject to, this set contains:
-  * GUI frontends like fltk and wxGTK, which are the GUI basis for many other
-    applications.
-  * Over 20 freely-available codecs and graphic libraries so that no matter
-    what kind of file a client delivers to you, your system will most likely be
-    able to play [decode] it.
-  * Essential multimedia tools like the system-wide patchbay JACK, the frei0r
-    video effect set some basic audio effects, Inkscape and a number of GIMP
-    plugins (meant for titling and animation), the POVray renderer, the
-    MediaInfo analytic tool so that you can get specs on video and audio files,
-    and much more.
-  * System-level tools and libraries that you may or may not use directly but
-    which will be needed by one or more of the applications that you will, as a
-    multimedia artist, certainly install at some point in the future. This
-    includes XML parsers, libdvdcss for commercial DVD playback, SDL, GNOME
-    components that many GTK multimedia applications need, EXIF tools, ID3
-    libraries, Cython, and more.
-Do not install this if you have already installed the Huge set, and you should
-not combine this with another set (if you want to do that, just install Huge.
-'g' Set
-Set g installs the Slackermedia dependencies and libraries that primarily
-relate to graphic and non-motion visual work, including those that support
-ffmpeg (the most ubiquitous video engine on Linux) but not ffmpeg itself. Since
-there are so many ways to build ffmpeg, Slackermedia offers a custom-built
-ffmpeg package that includes nearly all available codecs listed as the ffmpeg
-config option, which you will install later.
-Warning
-If you install the Huge set, then you get everything in this set plus a lot
-more. It is recommended that you install the Huge set.
-Without going into specifics due to additions and subtractions and other
-changes that the list is inevitably subject to, this set contains:
-  * RAW image tools, including raw-thumbnailer, dcraw, and the luminanceHDR
-    application. It does not install Darktable or DigiKam, but these can be
-    installed later.
-  * Over 20 freely-available codecs and graphic libraries so that no matter
-    what kind of file a client delivers to you, your system will most likely be
-    able to play [decode] it.
-  * SDL tools, used in video games and other works of art that may involve
-    non-traditional use of graphical elements.
-  * System-level tools and libraries that you may or may not use directly but
-    which will be needed by one or more of the applications that you will, as a
-    multimedia artist, certainly install at some point in the future. This
-    includes XML parsers, libdvdcss for commercial DVD playback, the POVray
-    renderer, some GNOME components that many GTK multimedia applications need,
-    EXIF tools, ID3 libraries, Cython, and more.
-Do not install this if you have already installed the Huge set, and you should
-not combine this with another set (if you want to do that, just install Huge.
-Coffee Break
-A very robust Slackermedia install will involve over 100 packages from
-slackbuilds.org and more to be built from source. The huge queue file can be
-downloaded at slackermedia.info/downloads/queues/slackermedia-huge.sqf. This
-gives you a solid foundation for a wide variety of more discipline-specific
-applications. Feel free to customise and maintain your own base install list as
-you see fit; you may not need so many video codecs, or you may opt for a
-different id3 tag editor, and so on. However, installing the huge set of
-dependencies and libraries prepares your system quite well for a more
-discipline-specific set of applications.
-The full huge install may take a while, so you may find this to be a good time
-for a coffee break. Next, we will look at a number of important multimedia
-components that you can install to get your artwork done, different options you
-have while installing them, as well as how many of them work together.