Slackware 15 Beta Process Begins

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Slackware 15 Beta Process Begins

Back in February Slackware 15.0 went into beta, nine years since Slackware 14.0 made its debut or even five years since Slackware 14.2. Now Slackware 15.0 is up to its beta phase...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Slackware-15-Beta

[tildearrow]

Used to run Slackware on my server until late 2019...

[scottishduck]

I’m not sure I understand the niche that Slackware fills these days. It seems like a user who wants Slackware would probably get more out of using gentoo or Debian.

[alvinde]

Michael, "Back in February Slackware 15.0 went into beta" should read "Back in February Slackware 15.0 went into alpha".

[higuita]

I’m not sure I understand the niche that Slackware fills these days. It seems like a user who wants Slackware would probably get more out of using gentoo or Debian.

Still exactly the same:
- It is the most unix like linux distro, where everything is as simple as possible and with less layers. Only on this 15 release slackware will finally add pam support, not because it really needs it, but more software requires it. Gentoo and debian have many layers to allow then to be flexible, but that also makes everything more complex
- it just works! either server or desktop, everything included works and was well tested. If i need to compile anything, everything i need is already there. Gentoo is too complex and with too many software combinations that makes things fail. Debian also works well, but if you want to compile something, you will need to hunt for many packages to be able to get everything ready to compile things
- small , fast and clean. As no extra layers are added and do not aim to have all packages, slackware installs are small and simply enough to understand
- KISS! keep it simple, stupid! Neither debian or even worse, gentoo are simple. Try to understand how everything works on those systems and you will have a hard time
- excellent disto to learn about linux as you can follow how things are connected and very few "black magic" is needed, unlike gentoo and debian. Even packages are simple tar.gz. No dependency check, if you fail to install a dependency, you will learn that package X needs package Y too. Not to say that learning is simple, but on each failure you will learn lot more than using other distros. For learning, the only distro that surprass slackware is LFS (linux from scratch)
- while 14.2 is old already due to the age, 15 have up to date packages... that work!. No need to choose a stable but outdated software distro (debian) or a unstable bleeding edge distro (gentoo)

in recent years you also get this one:
- systemd free! slackware uses still simple BSD scripts to boot and session management and likes use elogind
- pure arch or multilib. officially slackware is either 32bit or 64bit, but you can make it multilib by replacing the glibc... so you choose if you want a pure system or a multilib one
- while many people want other software not included in the distro, external slackbuilds allow one to quickly compile most of those software, similar with gentoo... but you also have external repos, namely the biggest one, Alienbob, with most of those packages already build. Yes, steam and games work perfectly in slackware

[andyprough]

I’m not sure I understand the niche that Slackware fills these days. It seems like a user who wants Slackware would probably get more out of using gentoo or Debian.

I've never tried gentoo. But the fact that Slack is not tied to a completely insane community like Debian makes it a very attractive option.

[stiiixy]

Slack's definately on my wishlist. I have been checking their site for news twice yearly for yonks, but forgot the last couple due to mishaps. This has all been pleasant news! I went for Arch for the KISS element, then Manjaro (errrr...not the same but anyway), so a dip back in to Slack just to see if shit just works would be nice. I dont hace niche requirements, so fingers crossed.

[Vistaus]

Used to run Slackware on my server until late 2019...

What is this: a server that doesn't run Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat or something similar???

[swagg_boi]

Used to run Slackware on my server until late 2019...

Similar story here... Was running 14.2 until late last year, I finally got the point where I couldn't wait for 15.0 anymore which seemed to be eternally "coming soon". Even now I'll be surprised if it's really as "coming soon" as we're talking about here. I do hope I'm wrong though and that it ends up being a great release (ideally with another one coming in < 5 years) because Slackware is a joy to use in all its simplicity

[willbprog177]

Used to use Slackware for quite some time, but the nonexistent next release, coupled with the fact that you have to use Slackbuilds for a lot of stuff pushed me elsewhere. I *do* have a special place in my heart for Slackware, just can't use it right now. antiX is getting me by -- systemd-free!

Also Michael, not everyone uses twitter, so maybe a different poll system (or a bolt-on to your current system) would be better. I've ditched Facebook and Twitter for years due to their dumb drama and constant leaks.