compat32ctl

Install, update and remove AlienBOB's -compat32 package collection on a Slackware64 -current system.

On -current the multilib capability is built into Slackware's own gcc and glibc packages (added 2024-08-30), so no third-party toolchain replacement is needed. What is still required is the layer of 32-bit compatibility packages, which this script manages from https://slackware.nl/people/alien/multilib/current.

Requirements

• Slackware64 -current
• lftp (mirroring), md5sum (verification)
• Slackware pkgtools (upgradepkg, removepkg) for install/update/remove
• root for any command that modifies the system (sync also writes to the default cache directory, so run it as root too; --dry-run works unprivileged)

Usage

compat32ctl sync      # download/refresh the package tree and verify checksums
compat32ctl install   # sync, then install compat32-tools and all -compat32 packages
compat32ctl update    # same as install (upgradepkg --install-new upgrades existing)
compat32ctl remove    # remove every installed compat32 package

compat32ctl <command> -n   # dry run: print the commands without executing them
compat32ctl help

install and update are the same idempotent flow: upgradepkg --install-new upgrades packages that are already installed and adds any new ones, so the same command serves both first-time setup and later refreshes.

Configuration

Overridable via environment variables:

Example: mirror to a staging directory instead of the system cache:

MIRROR_DIR=/srv/compat32 compat32ctl sync

How it works

• sync mirrors the remote tree with lftp ... mirror -c -e -v (incremental, resumable, prunes locally deleted/stale files) into MIRROR_DIR, then verifies the packages against the repository's CHECKSUMS.md5 with md5sum -c --ignore-missing.
• install/update run sync, then upgradepkg --install-new over compat32-tools-*.tgz and slackware64-compat32/*-compat32/*.t?z.
• remove deletes every installed package whose name contains compat32 (the -compat32 libraries plus compat32-tools). No gcc/glibc rollback is needed on -current, since those are Slackware's own packages.

Download progress

When run on a terminal, lftp shows a live status line for the file being transferred (bytes, percentage, rate, ETA), and mirror -v prints a Transferring file line per file. Progress is only shown when the output is a terminal; under cron or a non-interactive pipe the transfer is silent.

Note for slackpkg users

If you use slackpkg, add these lines to /etc/slackpkg/blacklist so it does not remove or replace the multilib packages:

[0-9]+alien
[0-9]+compat32

Man page

compat32ctl.8 documents the script. Install it into section 8 with:

install -Dm644 compat32ctl.8 /usr/man/man8/compat32ctl.8

Then read it with man compat32ctl.

Testing

test_compat32ctl.sh runs unprivileged and exercises argument handling and the --dry-run previews, including the remove-discovery logic against a temporary package database:

./test_compat32ctl.sh

License

GPL v2.0 (see LICENSE).

Development Approach

This project is developed using AI-assisted tools. Code is generated with the help of AI based on human-provided specifications, design decisions, and iterative feedback.

All contributions are reviewed, tested, and curated by the maintainer before being included in the codebase. AI is used as a productivity and exploration tool, while human oversight remains central to all decisions.

The goal is to combine the flexibility of AI-assisted development with standard open-source practices such as transparency, review, and accountability.