In answer to the thread's main question: No

According to distrowatch's statistics Slack consistently scores in or near the Top 10 most frequently downloaded distros, and scores significantly higher than other well-known and admired distros. So it seems unlikely that Slack is withering away, or somehow fading into the mists of time.

While Slack remains for all intents and purposes Patrick's baby, there is a small team maintaining it now, and if Patrick were to call it quits tomorrow. although I'm sure it would cause a momentary flurry of predictions that "Slack is dead" or some other nonsense, the fact remains that it's simply too widely installed and too solid a distro to just evaporate -- people would keep using it, period. (OT - if Linus Torvalds were to call it quits tomorrow, you can be sure there'd be a similar flurry of predictions that "Linux is dead" which likewise is nonsense)

I'm running Slack v10.2, and even if it were the last version of Slack ever released, I'd bet it would easily carry me for the next 5 to 10 years. Seriously. You see, because I use Slackware, I'm not dependent on waiting on the distro maintainers to release another upgrade if there's a particular package or suite of packages (eg, KDE) or new kernel that I want to use, because I've learned how to install those things myself. All because of Slackware (thanks Patrick!)

As the old saying goes, "If you want to learn how to use <a particular distro>, then install <that particular distro>. If you want to learn how to use Linux, then install Slackware". Excellent advice, and very true in my experience. Just my 2 cents

Very true.


Now giving my two cents...
Im realy happy for what the other distros become, very stable, very full of admin tools and with nice (some not so nice) eye candy... but this is what makes slackware different from the others... not eyecandy to be honest I think most people who use slack are not using KDE or Gnome the most use fluxbox, blackbox, windowmaker, xfce, etc... the other good point is that slack users have the same will that makes them continue using slackware, learning, learning, and control. The impression I have when install Fedora, Suse, Mandriva, is that Im loosing control, and sometimes looks like Im using something like windows( "click next, next, finish"), but in the other hand Is very good this easy tools and eyecandy because helps to makes people look different to Linux, not like a very hard OS but like a full OS, that satisfy Admins and Users.

And I dont think slackware is going to die, at least not so son, look at the past and you will see that Slackware is the most old surviving distro in the market.

to prove tha complexity of what slack user come to be you can use this forum like example, a lot of people from other distros comes here trying to get a answer to their problem, why? Well, for what they say because Slackware forum is where they get the fast, best answer and the slack community is strongly well connected with one another...

So, Slack rox, and will keep rox in the future...

Thats all for now...

regards

Thanks everyone
For taking your time to post.

Well that calms some fear

Many of you have also taken time to point out other advantages of Slackware; and yeah I basically agree with all of them.

But still what about the new generation, I mean I don't mind that Slackware is not the most popular distro, but do you guys really think there is enough newcomers to the distro??; cos as per my understanding, regardless of how less popular a (truly free) distro is, as long as there will be significant users, the future will probably be guaranteed.

Please let me know what you guys think & whether my understanding is correct or not.

and If I may, then can I ...PLEASE PLEASE... request everyone to refrain from passionately reemphasizing that "YES, SLACKWARE IS HERE TO STAY". Trust me I really want to believe that it is the truth. But do we actually have any practical way to figure it out?? or is there anyone out there keeping track of the Slackware user base, whether it is expanding or shrinking or stuffs like that??

Thanks

Slacking since 13. 16 now. Just look at the yearly Member's Choice Awards if you want some statistical data.

I don't think there are any really dependable figures that you can use. The Distrowatch numbers can be distorted and manipulated, it also tends to favor the newest, hottest distro, the one with the most buzz. I mean does anyone really believe that Ubuntu has more boxes installed than Redhat, SuSe, Debian. When users can freely download, pass along CDs, etc. there is really no way to know. As to this concern about how much longer Slackware has, really why worry about it. You don't know that either. There have been many commercial distros that have gone out of business so that isn't a way to judge how long it will last. It is best to pick the one you like and use it. If Slackware dies in a few years for whatever reason, life will go on.

Let's not forget: if there is an issue with a distro, it can be forked off. So even if Patrick said "this is it, there is no more Slackware ever", someone else can take the last release and carry on working on it.

You're incorrect.

I'm a hard-core slackware user, but using Slack only since 2003. So I'm the "new generation" which there is many more of. You may say, why do I think I'm hard core if I'm only on it for 2 years or so?

The answer is: because if Patrick dies or something (as you had put it), I'd be one of many who would grab latest Slackware release, and start updating CD 3 & 4 (source code) to ensure that Slackware exist. Anotherwords, I'd keep it going, as I'm sure many others would do too..

So in all your assumptions you're incorrect. But no offense taken, you're entitled to your opinion, and questions of any sort.

Slackware will continue, even if PV would stop his work for whatever reason.
the Slackware packaging- and setup- tools won't disappear and neither will the set of system scripts.
also there's a pile of build-scripts that will serve as a basis to continue
and, most important, there are many Slack-users ( young and not so young ) that have the knowledge to continue.
also there are new Slackware users on this forum all the time.

btw.: Slackware was the most popular distro here on LQ. last year.

i wouldn't know a way to estimate the amount of Slackware users.
but is that important ?
example : there are many ubuntu users at the moment, but if the ubuntu developers quit the job tomorrow,
those users will skip to another distro the day after that.
just because they wouldn't know how to continue.
that will not happen to Slackware.
there might even be "Slack-from-scratch " and " Slacktoo ", all based on the same.

as i said, no facts & figures, only my estimation based on what i read from the many Slack-users
all around the world.
you can't kill Slackware...


egag

No,it's not dying don't worry about it....

I think I see what you're saying; as Linux breaks into the personal computing world, it'll be aimed more and more towards the general user, and thus distro's like Slack, which stick to the original roots of Linux, will end up having a significantly smaller userbase than all of the other, lazier-to-use distro's.


But even if this happens, I don't think it'll make much diference. Patrick and his team, I suspect, would probably still work on Slackware if they were the only ones who would use it. And there's still a large number of people who do. Even if new Slackware users such as myself aren't coming in as fast as we used to, we're still coming in faster than all of you are dying or becoming luddites .

jadukor

You brought up two important concepts.

(1) Slackware userbase, and (2) Average Joe users. <-sector you identified
yourself with.

Average users don't care what happens to a distro. If one cease to exist today,
they just move along to another. (And there is nothing wrong with that, as long
as you acheive what you need out of your distro, well, good for you, move along)

So if Slack is to stop developing, I'm pretty sure you won't mind moving to another
distro without any sense of lost.

But take on the other hand the - Slackware userbase. I have count amongst them,
a lot of people more then qualified to keep Slackware going for a looooong time.
Its way less likely that a slack user change it as its distro of choice than a user
of any other distro.

Slackware userbase is more than willing to keep slack going the same way Pat has
done it for so much time. Do you really beleive Pat hasn't considered this ..... He knows
he isn't eternal and some day he'll have to relay development to some one else.

I have seen good products go down the hill because a philosophy change. New
people bring new ideas and thats good as long as you bring business to actual
competence.

In the future I really hope people in charge of the ongoing development of Slackware
keep the philosophy of Slackware the way it is because it has helped a lot of people undersand this universe all this years no matter who gets afraid of whats going to
happen next.

We should not be posting concerns about Slack leaving or staying in realtion to
newcomers benefit or not, but rather post about how good for them is starting with
Slack regardless of the future, wich in most peoples opinion (inculiding me), si so
uncertain. Reason why I find your concern more of an undermining statement than
a real issue.

-W

well, havent read all last posts but I have to say is that you are with somekind of stress I dont know, you are to worry about slackware, to be honest I think you are overwellming a litle bit, I see a lot of people using slackware, I have 20 years old and I use slackware about 2 years, I think this is new generation enought, my friend mirroring in me started 1 year ago to use slackware and already said "slackware is the greatest distro, never want to use that f*#$%@ conect..." well you know the rest

slackware is not going to die, not so sun and like was said if it dies today it can be up tomorrow by somepeople else, like when RedHat closed his doors to the free community but Fedora is in the market today strong them ever and like interbase and closed to open source after 6.x and now is firebird better them ever.... so i think you dont need to worry so soon and realy, there are a lot of slack users and they are going to take a good time to die... ;D

my


ps1: I didnt know about this twocents emoticom

ps2: I'd spoke with John Maddog Hall yesterday, big honor.

Hi, i'm still a newbie to linux and to slackware. Although Slack wasn't my first distro it is my favourit and my answer to 'Will slackware survive if Patrick stops developing it?' is a definitely YES.
Slack has something that keeps you using it, I find it challenging and it makes me think on how to solve the problems unlike windows witch the first solution is CTRL + ALT + Del.
I know some users don't like to think (not trying offending anyone ) or don't have the time to and just want things to work but slackware needs some time and attention.
It is a bit hard to learn and to make things work sometimes but thats all part of the learning process, but there's always two sides on the same coin.

Well, if every one just trashed every thing that doesn't works as they wanted for the first time we would still be living in the stone age.

Slackware will live on with more or less people using it... but still be there.

i am 13 and have been slacking since i was 7.

In other words in another 5-10 years i would be willing to help out with keeping slackware alive

With slackware, the idea of it's "vanishing" like many other distro's, while not a welcome thought, isn't a fear of mine either.

I started with slack around '98 as my first distro (primarily because everyone else i knew wanted to try redhat or mandrake), and i never left it. I stuck with it because it let me learn - and learn fast... and being a guy who was born and bred in DOS, the default interface felt like home to me.

The best thing (as many other people have noted) about slack is that can be what you make of it. If PV suddenly drops slack for any reason whatsoever, and whatever it is your left with, you can go and roll on by yourself, and probably wind up with slackware being nothing more than the name it carried originally, but everything else in it being something you made yourself.

slackwares demise? it might happen, sooner or later... but we can all carry on.