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Ask Patrick Volkerding, Slackware Founder
Ask him what? About the Walnut Creek/BSDI merger? Sure. About what's happening with Slackware in general? Go ahead! Boxers or briefs? The moderators probably aren't going to let that one through, but almost anything else is fair game. Questions will be selected (as usual) slightly after 12 noon EST Tuesday; Patricks's answers are scheduled to appear Friday.
Will you support the LSB? If not, why not?
Do you think the LSB is important to insure future compatibility and vendor support for all the Linux distributions?
kfort
RPM is the most-used, and often, most-hated of the options, with Debian's dpkg/dselect and BSD Ports vying for the "most-loved" status.
The Ports use of what amount to "just plain makefiles" gives it the merit of being the most "traditionally-UNIX-like" packaging scheme.
Is there likely to be any "convergence" of the sort where libraries are added/modified so as to maximize the ability to use something like Ports?
I left Slackware in about '95 in favor of what I saw then as improved manageability of Red Hat's RPMs. I have since migrated to Debian, which provides better answers than RPM. It would be interesting to see the tide turn back due to Ports providing more deeply improved system manageability...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
What will be the featureset (and projected date) of the next Slackware release? XFree86 4.0.x, Linux 2.4.x?
-- adraken
While Slackware certainly is not new, once it was. What was it about distributions at that time that caused you to create a new one? What did you think that they lacked?
Sam TH
Sam TH
AbiWord Developer
Patrick:
... but since Red Hat makes fewer big-picture demands re. dependencies, etc, I wonder if it'd be the (currently) obvious pick for such applications.
For the past few years, Slackware has steadfastly remained modular rather than go in for an idiot-savant installer package. (I'm not knocking either approach, so please, no flames!).
Does this make Slackware better suited than, say, Red Hat, for the creation of site- or institution-specific distro packages? I believe that CAEN Linux at the U of Michigan Engineering school is based on Red Hat, and obviously any open source OS *could* be made site-specific
Thanks for doing this interview!
timothy
p.s. Like many others, Slackware (from a CD in the back of some book) was the first experience I had with Linux, and though it took me much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I eventually got it going and was happy at how much smoother and cooler a Linux system with X Window was than the Win3.1 which had come on the machine. Thanks.
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
If you look around right now, you'll notice that of the Linux distributions out there, most are either Red Hattish (as in, gone commercial, trying to become easier to use, etc.), really small and relatively insignificant (nothing against Linux Mandrake but....), or, well... Slackware! I'm just wondering what you see for the future. Slackware is the only distro that is relatively "major", yet hasn't given in to the commercial rush and zillion dollar IPOs (although feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Do you know if the user base of Slackware is going up or down? And what do you see for the future of Slackware and Linux in general?
Patrick,
In your opinion, how do you see the BSDi and Walnut Creek merger affecting Linux in the next few months? year?
David Hill
Slackware is my distribution of choice for two main reasons, it's powerful, and it hasn't been poisoned by 'userfriendliness'.
Why hasn't it been? Seems every Linux distro (slackware aside) that's making money has made their distribution as brain-dead as possible. Where slackware users are expected to have an idea of what they're doing. Is it laziness, or is it out of respect for those who want a no-BS distro?
---
script-fu: hash bang slash bin bash
[ approaching AI ]
Hi, I don't have a question really (unless the one below counts), I just wanna say keep up the good work lad(s).
I wouldn't trade slack for any other dist in the world.
BTW, X-Files, Simpsons or Buffy?
cheers, Per Rydström, a happy slack-user
[www.vvv.tf]
C'mon... lets see if moderation REALLY decides what gets asked of Patrick... or if Roblimo just does it himself...
If you had one wave of the wand and could change only one thing about the Linux community (in the traditional and/or the new, more business-oriented sense), what would it be?
How did you come to the name Slackware? DId it hit you during a long nights of smoking from the holy frop with bob? Did stang climb in your window and wisper it in your ear while you were asleep? Was it the Xists?
Hi Patrick!
I was an avid Slackware user in the mid-nineties, but after a few years I moved over to other distributions due to the lack of easy upgradability and package management. How upgradable will future versions of Slackware be? Are there any plans for Slack to move to FreeBSD style packagement management (which rocks imho)?
EraseMe
I have been a loyal user of Slackware for many years. I have always wondered why isn't the development process more open. For example, Debian has a very open process in which volunteers can contribute to the packaging of the distribution. Slackware does not seem to allow for that, that is, you seem to be in complete control of what goes out the door. Do you plan to allow for users to assist in development or do you wish for things to remain the same?
Now that "Slackware Linux Inc." is being spun off, are there any plans to honor J. Robert "Bob" Dobbs by designating him Chairman Emeritus? What kind of poison-pill-defenses are going to be included in the corporate bylaws to prevent being taken over by X-ists, or for that matter, anyone from Cupermond or Redtino?
This is my opinion and my opinion only. Incidentally, IANAL.
MOO;IANAL.
There used to be a picture linked here.
I've always viewed Slackware as the all purpose workhorse of the Linux distributions. It's always done things better and faster in the server role. Now as everyone is pushing to get Linux on the desktop, I'd like to know what Slackware's Direction in this area. Will it remain focused on playing the server role, or will the distribution splinter into different job roles, or will it follow the crowd and push for the desktop?
Thanks and Regards,
- Nick
I've been a Slackware user since 3.4 and absolutly love it. I don't like most package management systems out there and am glad that Slack doesn't use one (well, if you don't count pkgtool). Unfortunately this seems to be a bit of a problem when it comes to upgrading, seeing as you usually have to just reinstall from scratch and hope you have a good backup of your config files. How do you plan on addressing the issue of upgradability in future releases of Slackware, and do you think a better solution can be achieved through the install scripts without having to revert to an rpm-style package management system.
-Lee
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GIT d? s: a-- C++++ UL++++ P++ L+++ E- W++ N o-- K- w--- O- M+ V PS+ P
Are you considering any packaging and dependency system, or do you consider tarballs as all a true hacker needs?
Now that you are a separate company (spinning merrily off...), what will your distribution channel be? Will it still be handled by Walnut Creek? What about the Slackware-by-subscription option?
OTOH, keep up the good work, and good luck - from a _very_ satisfied Slack user.
With the formation of your company, will this give you the resources to port Slackware to the PPC and Alpha? Are there any plans for this?
Hey Rob, Thanks for that tarball!
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin
I was wondering if Slackware would include an ftp install method in some future version similar to FreeBSD, NetBSD, Redhat. I realize ftp has some serious drawbacks compared to NFS or CD install but I found it quite handy when I wanted to give FreeBSD and NetBSD a try. If not ftp, what about the possibility of opening up an public NFS server that will export the latest stable version of Slackware since many of us may not have an extra machine to set up NFS on. It could just run off the same machine as the ftp server for Slackware, right? Just a couple of thoughts.
Thanks Patrick
Ken J.
Hi Pat,
I've been using slackware for years now, it was my first distribution back in the 2.x era and other then my little stint with debian for about a month I've been running it ever since.
It's been my observation that slackware has been the most "download friendly" distribution, by that I mean it's segmented into disk sets and you only need to download the ones you want to install it. Other distributions seem to obfuscate this process (redhat complains during install if it cannot absolutely find every package, as do many others).
The reason behind this I think is that they want people to buy it, so they obfuscate and make it difficult to download the distribution.
Now wil Slackware apparently getting spun off into a seperate company, will there be more pressure to sell more units, and will this "download friendliness" change?
-- iCEBaLM
Hi, Partick,
I understand that you have chosen
not to participate in the LSB. The reasons
mentioned were:
a) That you prefer the old "unix" way of
doing things.
b) You feel that these ways should be
THE standard.
There must be good technical and marketing
reasons behind your preferences. Could you please
elaborate on both? Thanks.
Hari.
Most (all?) of the other "major" distributions have gone the way of commercial and public acceptance (meaning ease of installation, and ease of use). Slackware, on the other hand, is still very much geared towards the linux user that already knows what they're doing. Do you plan on making Slackware "pretty", like the others, or do you plan on honing it into a development environment for power users? Or perhaps something else entirely?
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