7 ms·

Slackware Linux 15.0 RC3

95 points by akoster 5y ago

Koshkin 5y ago
> Patched to fix crash without systemd. This is only a beginning, I’m afraid… The last bastion of the glorious BSDness in the Linux world, I applaud you! And I wish good luck.
- Teknoman117 5y ago
  There's also Gentoo (my distro of choice) and Alpine which use OpenRC rather than systemd.
  - IntelMiner 5y ago
    Gentoo offers both systemd or OpenRC depending on preference systemd in Gentoo has come a long way and generally has parity with OpenRC now.
  - Shared404 5y ago
    +1 for Alpine. One of my favorite distro's.
  - russnes 5y ago
    And don't forget Void Linux!
    - Teknoman117 5y ago
      Void Linux is runit right?
- mrlonglong 5y ago
  It doesn't use systemd.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    That's the parent's point, welcoming Slackware to the fun game of patching other programs that can't deal with systemd being missing.
    - mrlonglong 5y ago
      If it can't live without systemd, find something else that can.
      - nix23 5y ago
        Please read!
trevithick 5y ago
Congrats Patrick and Slackware. I started with Slackware 9.0, which I think was the last release to fit on a single CD-ROM. Like others I learned a lot about Linux, I wrote lots of simple shell scripts and did a lot of ./configure; make; make install. Slackware lets you do things your way.
mrlonglong 5y ago
Excellent, that's another distribution that doesn't use systemd.
- tarkin2 5y ago
  Rather than being systemd hate, the diversity is good for the ecosystem.
  - nomorecommas 5y ago
    I haven't yet found any reason to hate systemd. If I ever do I'll be happy to have options.
    - IntelMiner 5y ago
      There was a great talk by a FreeBSD developer about systemd, and specifically the (in his eyes, somewhat unwarranted) hatred it has attracted and why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AIw9bGogo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AIw9bGogo
d1str0 5y ago
Gosh, its been ages since I’ve used Slackware. I remember doing a distro shootout back in high school and coming across Slax Kill Bill edition thinking it was the weirdest choice of Live CD. (Slax is now based on debian I think, used to be based on Slackware)
swamp_cypress 5y ago
From the Slackbook (http://www.slackbook.org/html/book.html#PACKAGE-MANAGEMENT http://www.slackbook.org/html/book.html#PACKAGE-MANAGEMENT): "The truth about pkgtool is not that it doesn't exist, but that it doesn't do any dependency checking." So, how onerous is package management in Slackware if there is no dependency checking?
- melissalobos 5y ago
  > So, how onerous is package management in Slackware if there is no dependency checking? I can't say that I have used Slackware ever, so I don't know. But I have used a Linux distro where every package was statically linked by default. In that case they didn't use any dependency management since every package was just a tarball of some fully statically linked executables or libraries. The only real dependency was the Linux kernel.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    That sounds sweet; what distro?
- ajosh 5y ago
  Back when I ran slackware, it was pretty easy. You installed packages from the disk sets and the packages had the files they needed. It kept track of which packages wrote out which file in some text file so on removing a package it would know if removing the file was safe. If I found software that didn't have a package, I would compile it. When I got more advanced, I'd create slack packages for the software. Since I'd compiled it on my system, dependencies were already met. I don't remember for sure, but I believe that the tools to build autoconf software were something in the core package set.
- Koshkin 5y ago
  Slackware’s built-in set of packages is pretty small by today’s standards, and the preferred way to install Slackware has always been to include everything that comes on the distribution media. That alone would go a long way in making sure that you will not get unresolved dependencies when you try to install a third-party package. On the other hand, I found that, often, not having to install all the dependencies, and not having the installation of a package fail because of some missing little optional dependency, is a blessing in disguise. A couple of things that make installing software and keeping it up to date a breeze are slackpkg (built-in) and sbopkg (third-party).
throw7 5y ago
Slackware was the first linux distro I tried back when you would write it to 3.5" disks for installing. I remember it fondly, but soon after is when I then tried red hat and rpm; I was pretty much sold at that point. Slackware has the better name though. ;)
- tarkin2 5y ago
  Slackware was the first linux distribution I used, and it taught me everything I know about Linux; and, thanks to how low-level it is, I'd say it's taught me a lot. I think it was the last linux system I enjoyed using, too, the last system I felt like I had control over.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago
    Likewise, I moved to gentoo for about 10 years after that, but have since given into systemd (mostly for pulseaudio, which was for Bluetooth audio) and moved to Ubuntu. Edit: and a thank you to the slack team of the early 2000’s. I’d tried many linux distros but could never fully migrate to desktop use, Slackware finally helped me achieve that. Almost 20 years on and I owe my entire career to an early interest in linux and software dev
  - chasil 5y ago
    I named the gateway that I built for our QA network darkstar. Currently, it runs Oracle Linux, but it's on the 3rd generation now. Everybody at work uses the name, but I'm the only one who knows where it came from, hat tip to Slackware and the Greatful Dead. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xic-CHInek https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xic-CHInek I hadn't listened to that in years. Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes. Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis. Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion. Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds? Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter. Glass hand dissolving in ice, petal flowers revolving. Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of good-bye. Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
    - 5y ago
anshul 5y ago
Thank you Patrick Volkerding. Slackware was my first real distro. Almost exactly 20 years ago, I was a kid who spent a week downloading a slackware iso. I sat and read through everything in the slackware installation and that taught me so much! Your philosophy of simplicity and purity in software and systems design has left a deep imprint on me. Thank you so much.
- daitangio 5y ago
  Me too :) I was one of the young student in 1995 downloading Linux in plenty of 1.44M floppy disks (7 for GCC, I remember). Nice to Know Slackware is still here with us in 2022!
Celebros 5y ago
Fond memories of being in high school and wiping the family computer trying to install Slackware. Fall ‘96 so probably 3.1 or something. Very cool it’s still around.
lordgroff 5y ago
My first Linux distribution, circa 97 I believe? Oh the fun of setting monitor with the warning that if I screw the timings I might fry it... I quickly decamped off to Debian as soon as apt came into the picture because "install everything or do your own dependencies" was not palatable, but I'm amazed there's still this very independent distribution out there. I never expected it to last so long.
vmlinuz 5y ago
While technically my first Linux was a generic boot/root floppy pair in late 1995, my first distro was Slackware in 1996. I've used Red Hat, SuSE, OSX, Solaris, Unixware and (rarely) Windows since then - but last night I updated my home PC to Slack 15RC3...
m0ngr31 5y ago
I used to use Slackware back in maybe 2003-2005. It was great. Eventually migrated to Ubuntu but I always appreciated that it got me hooked on Linux. Now that I think about it I think Unraid uses Slackware, so I guess I'm still running it.
dang 5y ago
Past related thread: Slackware 15.0 release candidate one - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28201197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28201197 - Aug 2021 (56 comments)
jaxn 5y ago
Slackware was my first too. I think it was version 3.5 with a bunch of floppies. Now that so much of my work is in containers, it might be time to go back to slack for the main OS.
sshine 5y ago
Red Hat was my first Linux (1997), and I had it for three years. But Slackware was the first Linux I installed myself (2001). And it was my entrypoint into using the command-line for everything. This was back when I knew what was inside my Linux installation.
pjmlp 5y ago
After Xenix and DG/UX, only available at the campus, getting Slackware 2.0 as cover CD on the Linux Unleashed first edition was the workaround of having a UNIX at home given that NT POSIX wasn't going to cut it. I had to copy the files into the disk and do an installation from hard disk to hard disk via boot floppy as my SATA-IDE CD-ROM wasn't reckognised by it at the time. Nice to see it still going on.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  SATA-IDE CD-ROM? SATA is from 2000 and onward, and Slackware 2.0 is from 1993. I had a Plextor SCSI CD writer (bought in ~1998), it worked very well on Linux. Slackware was the distribution I used for quite some time, and which got me into the BSDs, as well as into Debian (I grew fond of the package management, but the release cycle was still slow). Systemd isn't my cup of tea, but I have a feeling that people who never grew accustomed to its predecessors like it more. Baggage I guess.
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    IDE CD-ROM then, it is not like I always check the dates before commenting and rather rely on fuzzy memories. Yes Slackware 2.0 with the first version of ELF support on the kernel, summer of 1995 that is when I got my Linux Unleashed book with it. SCSI always worked very well with Linux in terms of CD-ROM suppport.
glandium 5y ago
Slackware was my first distro too. Painstakingly downloaded 40 disk images onto floppies at university, brought them to a friend's house to test on his PC, and it turned out the very last disk ended up corrupted. It was the last of the X11 set, so that first install couldn't run X11. Fortunately, there was Doom on svgalib.

95 points by akoster 5y ago

> Patched to fix crash without systemd. This is only a beginning, I’m afraid… The last bastion of the glorious BSDness in the Linux world, I applaud you! And I wish good luck.

Teknoman117 5y ago
There's also Gentoo (my distro of choice) and Alpine which use OpenRC rather than systemd.
- IntelMiner 5y ago
  Gentoo offers both systemd or OpenRC depending on preference systemd in Gentoo has come a long way and generally has parity with OpenRC now.
- Shared404 5y ago
  +1 for Alpine. One of my favorite distro's.
- russnes 5y ago
  And don't forget Void Linux!
  - Teknoman117 5y ago
    Void Linux is runit right?
mrlonglong 5y ago
It doesn't use systemd.
- kelnos 5y ago
  That's the parent's point, welcoming Slackware to the fun game of patching other programs that can't deal with systemd being missing.
  - mrlonglong 5y ago
    If it can't live without systemd, find something else that can.
    - nix23 5y ago
      Please read!

trevithick 5y ago

Congrats Patrick and Slackware. I started with Slackware 9.0, which I think was the last release to fit on a single CD-ROM. Like others I learned a lot about Linux, I wrote lots of simple shell scripts and did a lot of ./configure; make; make install. Slackware lets you do things your way.

mrlonglong 5y ago

Excellent, that's another distribution that doesn't use systemd.

tarkin2 5y ago
Rather than being systemd hate, the diversity is good for the ecosystem.
- nomorecommas 5y ago
  I haven't yet found any reason to hate systemd. If I ever do I'll be happy to have options.
  - IntelMiner 5y ago
    There was a great talk by a FreeBSD developer about systemd, and specifically the (in his eyes, somewhat unwarranted) hatred it has attracted and why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AIw9bGogo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_AIw9bGogo

d1str0 5y ago

Gosh, its been ages since I’ve used Slackware. I remember doing a distro shootout back in high school and coming across Slax Kill Bill edition thinking it was the weirdest choice of Live CD. (Slax is now based on debian I think, used to be based on Slackware)

swamp_cypress 5y ago

From the Slackbook (http://www.slackbook.org/html/book.html#PACKAGE-MANAGEMENT http://www.slackbook.org/html/book.html#PACKAGE-MANAGEMENT): "The truth about pkgtool is not that it doesn't exist, but that it doesn't do any dependency checking." So, how onerous is package management in Slackware if there is no dependency checking?

melissalobos 5y ago
> So, how onerous is package management in Slackware if there is no dependency checking? I can't say that I have used Slackware ever, so I don't know. But I have used a Linux distro where every package was statically linked by default. In that case they didn't use any dependency management since every package was just a tarball of some fully statically linked executables or libraries. The only real dependency was the Linux kernel.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  That sounds sweet; what distro?
ajosh 5y ago
Back when I ran slackware, it was pretty easy. You installed packages from the disk sets and the packages had the files they needed. It kept track of which packages wrote out which file in some text file so on removing a package it would know if removing the file was safe. If I found software that didn't have a package, I would compile it. When I got more advanced, I'd create slack packages for the software. Since I'd compiled it on my system, dependencies were already met. I don't remember for sure, but I believe that the tools to build autoconf software were something in the core package set.
Koshkin 5y ago
Slackware’s built-in set of packages is pretty small by today’s standards, and the preferred way to install Slackware has always been to include everything that comes on the distribution media. That alone would go a long way in making sure that you will not get unresolved dependencies when you try to install a third-party package. On the other hand, I found that, often, not having to install all the dependencies, and not having the installation of a package fail because of some missing little optional dependency, is a blessing in disguise. A couple of things that make installing software and keeping it up to date a breeze are slackpkg (built-in) and sbopkg (third-party).

throw7 5y ago

Slackware was the first linux distro I tried back when you would write it to 3.5" disks for installing. I remember it fondly, but soon after is when I then tried red hat and rpm; I was pretty much sold at that point. Slackware has the better name though. ;)

tarkin2 5y ago
Slackware was the first linux distribution I used, and it taught me everything I know about Linux; and, thanks to how low-level it is, I'd say it's taught me a lot. I think it was the last linux system I enjoyed using, too, the last system I felt like I had control over.
- hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago
  Likewise, I moved to gentoo for about 10 years after that, but have since given into systemd (mostly for pulseaudio, which was for Bluetooth audio) and moved to Ubuntu. Edit: and a thank you to the slack team of the early 2000’s. I’d tried many linux distros but could never fully migrate to desktop use, Slackware finally helped me achieve that. Almost 20 years on and I owe my entire career to an early interest in linux and software dev
- chasil 5y ago
  I named the gateway that I built for our QA network darkstar. Currently, it runs Oracle Linux, but it's on the 3rd generation now. Everybody at work uses the name, but I'm the only one who knows where it came from, hat tip to Slackware and the Greatful Dead. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xic-CHInek https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xic-CHInek I hadn't listened to that in years. Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes. Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis. Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion. Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds? Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter. Glass hand dissolving in ice, petal flowers revolving. Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of good-bye. Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
  - 5y ago

anshul 5y ago

Thank you Patrick Volkerding. Slackware was my first real distro. Almost exactly 20 years ago, I was a kid who spent a week downloading a slackware iso. I sat and read through everything in the slackware installation and that taught me so much! Your philosophy of simplicity and purity in software and systems design has left a deep imprint on me. Thank you so much.

daitangio 5y ago
Me too :) I was one of the young student in 1995 downloading Linux in plenty of 1.44M floppy disks (7 for GCC, I remember). Nice to Know Slackware is still here with us in 2022!

Celebros 5y ago

Fond memories of being in high school and wiping the family computer trying to install Slackware. Fall ‘96 so probably 3.1 or something. Very cool it’s still around.

lordgroff 5y ago

My first Linux distribution, circa 97 I believe? Oh the fun of setting monitor with the warning that if I screw the timings I might fry it... I quickly decamped off to Debian as soon as apt came into the picture because "install everything or do your own dependencies" was not palatable, but I'm amazed there's still this very independent distribution out there. I never expected it to last so long.

vmlinuz 5y ago

While technically my first Linux was a generic boot/root floppy pair in late 1995, my first distro was Slackware in 1996. I've used Red Hat, SuSE, OSX, Solaris, Unixware and (rarely) Windows since then - but last night I updated my home PC to Slack 15RC3...

m0ngr31 5y ago

I used to use Slackware back in maybe 2003-2005. It was great. Eventually migrated to Ubuntu but I always appreciated that it got me hooked on Linux. Now that I think about it I think Unraid uses Slackware, so I guess I'm still running it.

dang 5y ago

Past related thread: Slackware 15.0 release candidate one - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28201197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28201197 - Aug 2021 (56 comments)

jaxn 5y ago

Slackware was my first too. I think it was version 3.5 with a bunch of floppies. Now that so much of my work is in containers, it might be time to go back to slack for the main OS.

sshine 5y ago

Red Hat was my first Linux (1997), and I had it for three years. But Slackware was the first Linux I installed myself (2001). And it was my entrypoint into using the command-line for everything. This was back when I knew what was inside my Linux installation.

pjmlp 5y ago

After Xenix and DG/UX, only available at the campus, getting Slackware 2.0 as cover CD on the Linux Unleashed first edition was the workaround of having a UNIX at home given that NT POSIX wasn't going to cut it. I had to copy the files into the disk and do an installation from hard disk to hard disk via boot floppy as my SATA-IDE CD-ROM wasn't reckognised by it at the time. Nice to see it still going on.

Fnoord 5y ago
SATA-IDE CD-ROM? SATA is from 2000 and onward, and Slackware 2.0 is from 1993. I had a Plextor SCSI CD writer (bought in ~1998), it worked very well on Linux. Slackware was the distribution I used for quite some time, and which got me into the BSDs, as well as into Debian (I grew fond of the package management, but the release cycle was still slow). Systemd isn't my cup of tea, but I have a feeling that people who never grew accustomed to its predecessors like it more. Baggage I guess.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  IDE CD-ROM then, it is not like I always check the dates before commenting and rather rely on fuzzy memories. Yes Slackware 2.0 with the first version of ELF support on the kernel, summer of 1995 that is when I got my Linux Unleashed book with it. SCSI always worked very well with Linux in terms of CD-ROM suppport.

glandium 5y ago

Slackware was my first distro too. Painstakingly downloaded 40 disk images onto floppies at university, brought them to a friend's house to test on his PC, and it turned out the very last disk ended up corrupted. It was the last of the X11 set, so that first install couldn't run X11. Fortunately, there was Doom on svgalib.