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Slackware 14.2 Released, Still Systemd-Free (slackware.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the take-a-licking-and-keep-on-ticking dept.

sombragris writes: Slackware, the oldest GNU/Linux distribution still in active maintenance, was released just minutes ago. Slackware is noted for being the most Unix-like of all Linux distributions. While sporting kernel 4.4.14 and GCC 5.3, other goodies include Perl 5.22.2, Python 2.7.11, Ruby 2.2.5, Subversion 1.9.4, git-2.9.0, mercurial-3.8.2, KDE 4.14.21 (KDE 4.14.3 with kdelibs-4.14.21) Xfce 4.12.1... and no systemd!

According to the ChangeLog: "The long development cycle (the Linux community has lately been living in "interesting times," as they say) is finally behind us, and we're proud to announce the release of Slackware 14.2. The new release brings many updates and modern tools, has switched from udev to eudev (no systemd), and adds well over a hundred new packages to the system. Thanks to the team, the upstream developers, the dedicated Slackware community, and everyone else who pitched in to help make this release a reality." Grab the ISOs at a mirror near you. Enjoy! The torrents page can be found here.

5 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. There's a very cool live version also by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Informative

    Now with Plasma 5! You can plug the stick into any machine, and it runs perfectly right out of the box, two monitors, weird audio, doesn't matter, everything works.

    Once you go Slack, you never look back!

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:There's a very cool live version also by yithar7153 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well one of the main reasons Volkerding was/is considering systemd is boot time, and udev being phased out in favor of systemd. Slackware's init has been tested so it works, but it's a bit slower than the competition.

      "Concerning systemd, I do like the idea of a faster boot time (obviously), but I also like controlling the startup of the system with shell scripts that are readable, and I'm guessing that's what most Slackware users prefer too. I don't spend all day rebooting my machine, and having looked at systemd config files it seems to me a very foreign way of controlling a system to me, and attempting to control services, sockets, devices, mounts, etc., all within one daemon flies in the face of the UNIX concept of doing one thing and doing it well. To the typical end user, if this results in a faster boot then mission accomplished."

      Although I think he should really consider runit over systemd, because Void Linux uses it and it boots really fast. It's probably the fastest booting binary distribution. Of course a customized Gentoo install could probably beat it. IMO Void sort of embodies that same ideals that Slackware does (i.e. a simple and effective system that puts the administrator in control rather than the corporation) but it uses modern tools that do that and it's rolling release, while Slackware is more focused stability.

  2. Re:Systemd-free by somenickname · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They might be opposed to systemd on a moral level but, they may not be able to avoid it on a technical level. As systemd absorbs more and more things, and more things start to depend on systemd, it's a simple problem of manpower: Unless your distro is run by a multi-billion dollar company that has the resources to undo the damage caused by systemd, you may have no choice but to adopt it.

    It's interesting to think of systemd in terms of The Cathedral and Bazaar. RedHat built a really nice stall in the middle of the bazaar. Initially everyone loved it and it was very healthy for the bazaar. Then one day they looked around and realized that they owned considerable interests in all the surrounding stalls in the bazaar and decided, "You know what? We should just build a cathedral right here in the middle of the bazaar and bring all these stalls inside".

  3. Re:Great news by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Informative

    Couldn't be simpler:

    open /etc/inittab

    # These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
    # 0 = halt
    # 1 = single user mode
    # 2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
    # 3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
    # 4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
    # 5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
    # 6 = reboot

    # Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
    id:4:initdefault:

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. Re:systemd rocks! by yithar7153 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My main problem with systemd is the philosophy. If it was fully decouplable, then IMO it would be a fine piece of software.

    It's also kind of suspicious that the only service manager that D-Bus talks to when it comes to D-Bus activation is systemd, leading to a malformed state in every other system that doesn't use systemd, because it starts services outside the service manager. That gentle push.