Is Distrowatch's Description of Slackware Fair?
I was browsing Distrowatch and reading the various distro descriptions. Of course it mentions the text installer (although I really think it can be called graphical, just not X) and the vanilla packages, etc. But then I got to the last paragraph which says:
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Now to be fair, I'm new to linux (9 months) and started using Slackware with 13 after first using Mandriva and Ubuntu for a few months, so maybe I'm missing some history. But I was wondering if people that actually use Slackware find the quoted bit to be fair. |
Distrowatch doesn't have to be fair: http://ubuntusatanic.org/news/banned-from-distrowatch/
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I enjoy Slackware and happily use it because it functions perfectly on my PCs. If a reviewer on Distrowatch doesn't like Slackware because it takes them outside of their comfort zone then so be it. I don't give a rats ass what they think. I've used most of the distros out there and Slackware meets my needs.
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Screw distrowatch. What they say doesn't matter. Anyone who uses them as their primary means of choosing a distribution would probably not like Slackware anyway.
People who do not choose to use Slackware (or FreeBSD, or Solaris, I guess . . .) will never understand people who do. In the same way, I suppose, I will never truly understand people who choose to run Ubuntu. I've used it and, to me, it's clunky and lame, but, hey, that's just me. I'm sure that an Ubuntu fan would say that Slackware is unwieldy and lacks polish. To each his own. |
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Source:http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?res...view-slackware Quote:
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The complex upgrade procedure is manual and reduces potential problems that can completely break your system because you are doing each step manually, yourself -- and in theory anything you bork should be reversable. However I get their point. I do believe the next point is out of date though. It is true that there wasn't (in the recent past) an official automated tool for security updates, but slackpkg has been in extra/ for quite a long time and is now (and has been for a while) part of the base system. I don't see how you can get any more automated than slackpkg for security updates when it is setup... More work post-install? It's subjective. Not including installing additional software, I spend less time...and if you use KDE it's the same across most distros. Setting up the network and X I suppose are what they would refer to here, as well as installing additional software. I would say perhaps that article reflects the situation a few releases ago (though obviously through the eyes of someone who doesn't agree with Slackware's philosophies). It is perhaps out of date but it doesn't send me screaming to the hills either. It's par for the course in terms of people who don't use nor like Slackware trying to summarize the distro. If every Linux user used Slackware...there would be a lot fewer Linux users. So though I like Slackware and seeing its propagation is always nice, you also can't just promote it as the perfect distro for everyone. |
Slackware is the only distribution that didn't give me a trouble in updating. The patches to stable releases are trivial to apply. When there is a version upgrade, you follow the UPGRADES.txt file and everything works afterwards.
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The blurb in the OP is the result of comparing the slackware to other distributions, rather than judging it on its own merrits.
Slackware has slackpkg, and even without that it is not at all difficult to update and apply security patches. The package managment is very simple. I agree Slackware is a core system, and I like it for that. I have my base install, and choose to add on additional software, rather than having my distro include and manage everything for me. Slackware is what you make it, the flaws the reviewer percieved to exist, don't. |
Sometimes I wonder if these writers are rehashing old reviews/articles, maybe from when they checked out Slackware 8.1, rather than actually testing a new release.
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Ladislav Bodnar.
I use distowatch.com and have over the years found Ladislav to be reasonable and fair...
All operating systems are difficult if you are really trying to understand them... ! |
I've never really taken much notice of Distrowatch IMO it's not a brilliant website to be honest.
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You think if we send him an e-mail each, he will change it ? Well, I will later today, why not. He probably won't, but at least it's worth a try in the name of truth and justice.
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Ok, I found where that quote is from:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070416 It looks like "A weekly opinion column", so this kind of stuff is allowed. The real summary is here: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackware Quote:
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So, it's a quote from a 3 year old article (thanks for the full link h_tex). Damgar just quoted the most negative paragraph. Read the one directly before it (or better yet the full review) and you'll get a very different view.
It's age also explains why slackpkg isn't mentioned. The only issue I'd take with it is that I don't think the upgrade process is all that 'complex'. |
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