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Why Slackware Still Matters
An anonymous reader writes "In a rebuttal to the recent opinion column "Does Slackware still matter?" at Linux Watch, cRaig Forrester provides insight into Why Slackware DOES still matter--and not just to "hard-core group of hobbyists" or "highly professional" Linux server administrators--but desktop users and newcomers too."
Slackware was the first distro I was successful using (had trouble making SLS work) and despite trying 'the big three' (Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake) over the years, I'm still a dedicated Slackware user. Why? It's simply the best. Straightforward, secure, easy to customize using vim, with helpful comments from Patrick everywhere one what to do. Not some flakey graphical 'wizard' which removes all the comments you put it!
Go, go Slackware, keep up the good work!
As an admin of a dozen of boxes that handle almost anything from webserver, Tomcat/SQL Server to mail/OpenXchange Server and since last weekend a Samba Domaincontroller to name a few, I must say I am the most happy Slackware User in the world.
;)
Stability, flexibility and sanity are the main reasons for me to use Slack.
Personally I like my uptime in the three digits and a straightforward configuration. This is where Slack delivers for me. Combined with Dropline Gnome it also makes the most lovely Desktop box.
Keep slackin, Pat!
I could go on.
I agree. I started out using Red Hat, but then decided to switch to Slackware. It was as easy as partition hard drive, boot to cd, choose packages, run.
Maybe yes, maybe no. Most "total newbie" users will not go for Slackware. It has a low profile. Chances are they will start with SuSE (available at CompUSA) or RedHat. And, if they get bit by the bug, maybe they will learn to actually use the command line, then decide to try something different.
I have been unhappy with my latest distro. When I boot it, it sets the time to a random time in the past. I may just wipe it out and go back to Slackware. It was what I started on.
Personally, I don't think forcing people to actually learn about their O/S is a bad thing. The biggest problem with computing and the Internet these days is that people don't know anything about their computers. It's like the old saying "Make something even a fool can use, and only fools will use it"
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Great experience for serious newbies who want a richer "Linux" experience without going to extreme of the LFS (linux from scratch) experience.
AFAIK, He seems to think that, because he is some sort of entrepreneur, Patrick Volkerding should abase himself in front of his intelligence and follow his every advice. Since Patrick Volkerding avoids this Usenet newsgroup like the plague, Alan Canton is very unhappy and disses him, and his distro, every chance he gets. In short, he behaves in a very unprofessional and immature manner, criticizing and belittling everyone who disagrees with him.
As an aside, if you haven't tried Slackware, give it a spin. Its simplicity and power are enough to shame many other well-established distribution...
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
http://www.slackware.com/~fizban/ftpinstall.php
I use Slackware tarballs to extract libs needed for Linux compatibility on NetBSD. This way I don't need to install a full-blown Linux tree including rpm tools when I just need some library.
.tar.gz!
Yay for
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
Quote from Arch's wiki:
which is based on slackware.
Not really...check this http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ArchLinux out.
The author makes some really good points that apply not just to Slackware, but to distros in general, and I wish more people would realize them.
``What Slackware advocates are telling you is that in order to truely appreciate Slackware for what it is, you must learn how Linux works first, because Slackware is just unadulterated Linux.''
Right! Slackware is a very good distribution to learn how GNU/Linux really works. Very little is automated, so you have to figure out how to do it yourself. This is useful even if you later switch to a different distro, as you may be able to understand and fix problems better, because you've already been in similar situations.
``I would assert that a distribution's viability is based on its usefulness to a user-base, regardless of the size of that user-base.''
Indeed. Just because something isn't your cup of tea, doesn't mean it's not anyone's. Multiple paths lead to enlightenment.
`` Canton: I think Slackware has a lot going for it... but not enough for it to sustain itself should Linux become as popular as the pundits say it will. To those who run and who love Slackware, that's fine. To the rest of us, well, it doesn't matter.
That may be true, but then, that could be said of any other distribution as well. SUSE makes no bit of difference to me... or Mandriva, or Linspire, or.... but this is what makes Linux so great! CHOICE!''
Right again. It's all about choice. Some people feel it's bad that not all distros are compatible, so that binary software can be easily installed on all of them. Well, who cares? If you want a distro on which binary software X works, then use such a distro. If you don't care about software X, but you like a feature of some distro that happens not to work with software X, then you can pick that distro. To each their own. It's through the many choices that Linux can be all things to all people - everyone can adapt it to suit their needs, with no regard for anyone else's need.
``I chose Slackware because I disliked other distributions' bloated installs.''
That tops it off. Here's a great example of why Slackware still matters. Where all other distros in the DistroWatch.com top 10 try to attract users by adding ever friendlier features, creating ever larger installers and base installs, Slackware stays slim. And guess what? People appreciate that. That's why Slackware still matters.
This post brought to you by a long-ago Slackware user, who has since switched to Debian to get quick and easy package installation.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
You do realize that you can use rdev to set the root filesystem on your kernel, don't you? That way, you can copy your "root" floppy contents to a hard drive partition, stick your boot disk in the drive, and "rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/hda1". Now, next time you boot from that floppy, it will mount your hard drive partition as it's root filesystem. :-)
(ok, I'm really showing my age here
I will always feel that Slackware (and others like Gentoo, or home-rolled linux) will matter because installing and using these sorts of distros really do give you an understanding into how Linux works(tm)
I'm using Gentoo for almost a year now, and I'm not so sure I would put it into this group. When it's already installed, emerge teaches you more or less the same things you would learn with apt. The installation and initial configuration used to force people into learning something, but now there are some efforts for graphical automagic installer, so even this will eventualy become untrue.
Always put off dealing with time-wasting morons. If you would like to know how... I'll get back to you
Generally, anyone who uses the phrase "RPM Hell" has not used a modern RPM based system with yum/apt. A common attitude of Slackware fans is that Slackware is a real man's Linux distro. Me Grog, me no need RPM. Build from source, satify own dependency! So fast, only need 3 days! Raahhh!
Slackware may have it's strenghts, but since I haven't used it in 8 or 9 years, I am ignorant of what those strenghts are, besides maybe a good learning tool. I can say with a fair amount of confidence, that package management is not a major strength of Slackware. I have met Slackers that have said "I don't want to use RPM, I prefer to compile from source." But this statement shows a complete ignorance of how RPM works. In fact, if you like compiling your own stuff, an RPM based distro is certainly superior to slackware. With the source rpm, you can simply tweak and build off of someone else's work, rather than doing it over from scratch. Just, edit the spec and rebuild it. In general, Slackers complaints about RPM are simply unfounded.
Slackware was my first distribution and using it certainly taught me how to build software from source. But shortly after that, I found RPM and learned how to build RPMs. Since then, I've never looked back, even when "RPM Hell" was a reality.
-- Knowledge shared is power lost. -- Aleister Crowley
I've gotten by with installpkg/removepkg for the last 9 years on slackware. I think I should check out some of those other tools...there must be an easier way then:
/libtiff #to find what directory the package name will sit in /var/adm/packages/<package> #to see if I have a prior version installed
less MANIFEST.BZ
q
ncftp <slackware mirror> #I like how ncftp preserves date stamps
cd <path to package>
get <package>
quit
d
# that I should remove first
installpkg <package>
mv <packages> <packagebackupdirectory>
I install only what I need, and am happy with that. I still have remnants on my system that are 9 years old, simply because there has been no reason to update it. Occassionally, the philosphy of "upgrade when I need to" backfires, when an app doesn't work for some reason, and them I'm forced to figure out what dependencies are missing through either a "ld" command or a google search.
You can use pkgsrc from NetBSD on a linux kernel.
I learned on Slackware and occasionally try new distros. When I tried Gentoo, it was alright except that (at that time) I had no way of "emerging" software where I wanted it. And configuration? It wanted to do that for me as well.
The thing is, Gentoo is very configurable, but it still tries to do things in its own way. With Slackware, I usually just do it my way. Plus, I like the BSD init scheme.
Slackware's had package management in the form of pkgtools at least since I started in the late 2.x. Dependency checking, OTOH, is a different matter.
Oh, sorry, I should have said:
As the creator of MfxLinux , which I built for Crowell Systems... with an installed base of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5,000 users...based upon Slackware.
Sure, it doesn't have millions of users, but was not aimed at the general desktop market. If you want to learn more, click on the link above, and read the short article I wrote about it.
ttyl
Farrell
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