mkhint

mkhint is a single Bash script that takes the tedium out of maintaining slackrepo hint files. A hint file overrides build details for an SBo package: which version to build, where to download the source, and the checksums to verify it. Keeping those in sync by hand, across dozens of packages, is exactly the kind of repetitive work a script should own.

// What it does

• Update a hint -f package -v 2.0.1: bump the version everywhere in the file, re-download the source from DOWNLOAD / DOWNLOAD_x86_64, and recompute MD5SUM / MD5SUM_x86_64. The old file is backed up to .bak first.
• Create a hint -n package: generate a new hint from the matching repository .info file, stripping the fields slackrepo does not want and defaulting ARCH to x86_64. With no .info, it writes an empty skeleton.
• List -l: print every hint with its HintVer (version in the hint) next to the SBOVer (version in the repo .info), highlighting the rows where the two are byte-equal so you can spot hints that have become redundant with upstream. Passing names (-l foo bar) skips the table and shows each named hint side by side with its .info instead.
• Review -R: walk only those matched hints, showing each hint side by side with its .info (git diff --no-index, falling back to diff -y), and prompt to keep, delete, or skip. Passing names (-R foo bar) reviews the named hints regardless of version match.
• Fix -current -F: sweep the whole repository and, for every package whose REQUIRES names a phantom dep (one unneeded on slackware-current, listed once in ~/.config/mkhint/phantom-deps), ensure the hint carries the matching DELREQUIRES. Idempotent, so run it after each weekly repo regeneration. -n applies the same list when creating a hint.
• Check -C [package...]: query nvchecker for the latest upstream version of one, several, or all hints; report what is outdated; update accepted packages with nvtake; and finish with a single slackrepo update prompt for everything that changed.
• Housekeeping -d package / -c: delete a hint and its backup, or clean every .bak from the hint directory in one go.

// Command reference

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mkhint - Manage hint files for slackrepo scripts

Usage:
  ./mkhint --version VERSION --hintfile FILE    Update existing hint file
  ./mkhint --version VERSION --new FILE         Create new hint file
  ./mkhint --new FILE                           Create new hint file (no version)
  ./mkhint --hintfile FILE                      Update hint, suggest latest version via nvchecker
  ./mkhint --check [FILE...]                     Check all (or named) hints for upstream updates
  ./mkhint --fix-current                        Sweep repo, add DELREQUIRES for -current phantom deps
  ./mkhint --list                               List hint files
  ./mkhint --review                             Review hints matching SBo version, keep/delete each
  ./mkhint --review FILE...                      Review named hints (any version), keep/delete each
  ./mkhint --clean                              Remove .bak files from HINT_DIR
  ./mkhint --no-dl --hintfile FILE              Update hint, skip downloads, add NODOWNLOAD=yes
  ./mkhint --no-dl --new FILE                   Create hint with NODOWNLOAD=yes
  ./mkhint --help                               Show this help

Options:
  --version, -v VERSION    New version string (required for --hintfile)
  --hintfile, -f FILE      Path to existing hint file (required with --version)
  --new, -n FILE           Create new hint file (required with --version or standalone)
  --list, -l [FILE...]     List all hint files; FILE... = side-by-side hint vs .info
  --review, -R [FILE...]   Review hints; no args = matched only, FILE... = named hints (any version)
  --clean, -c              Remove all .bak files from HINT_DIR
  --check, -C [FILE...]    Check hints for upstream updates via nvchecker, update interactively
  --fix-current, -F        Add/merge DELREQUIRES for -current phantom deps across the whole repo
  --delete, -d FILE        Delete a hint file (and .bak if present)
  --no-dl, -N              Skip downloads; add NODOWNLOAD=yes to hint file (use with -f or -n)
  --help, -h               Show this help message

// How it works

mkhint is plain Bash with three small dependencies, each doing one job:

• wget downloads archives so their MD5 can be computed,
• nvchecker (and its companion nvtake) tracks upstream versions,
• jq parses nvchecker’s JSON output.

Everything else is shell. Paths to the repository and the hint directory are two variables at the top of the script. The bash-completion file mirrors them, so -f, -n, -d, and -C autocomplete package names from the right directory, and -v even suggests the current version pulled straight from the named hint file.

Multiline DOWNLOAD entries (a package with several source URLs) are handled carefully: the first URL is always re-fetched because the version changed, while each continuation URL is offered interactively so unchanged sources keep their existing checksum instead of being downloaded again for nothing.

A SlackBuild version string cannot contain - (it would break PRGNAM parsing), so an upstream release like 2026-06-02 is packaged as 2026_06_02. mkhint normalizes upstream versions (- becomes _) before comparing, so these read as the same version and no spurious up- or downgrade is offered; the underscore form is what gets written to the hint.

The -F / --fix-current sweep and the phantom-dep handling in -n both read ~/.config/mkhint/phantom-deps, one dep per line (# comments allowed). This covers deps that SBo SlackBuilds need on Slackware stable but not on slackware-current, where the system already ships them, for example rust-opt or google-go-lang. slackrepo strips such a dep with DELREQUIRES in the hint; mkhint writes and merges that line for you. A missing list makes both features no-ops.

// Why it exists

Maintaining a personal SBo overlay means a steady trickle of version bumps. Each one is the same dance: edit the version string, fetch the new tarball, recompute the checksum, hope you did not fat-finger a digit. mkhint turns that dance into one command, and the --check / --list / --review trio turns “which of my hints are now stale or pointless?” from a manual audit into a glance. It is the kind of small, sharp tool Slackware encourages: no daemon, no database, no framework, just a script that does one annoying job well.

// Quick start

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sudo cp mkhint /usr/local/bin/mkhint
sudo cp mkhint.bash-completion /etc/bash-completion.d/mkhint

# update an existing hint to a known version
mkhint -f mypackage -v 2.0.1

# create a new hint from the repo .info
mkhint -n mypackage

# see what upstream has moved on
mkhint --check

Edit the REPO_DIR and HINT_DIR paths at the top of the script (and in the completion file) to match your setup before first use.