It's not about "calling it 15.0", it's about it being a stable version that allows all manner of customization without the need to constantly build and rebuild packages. Even on my own system, I can't tell you how many times I've had to rebuild the utsushi scanning software for my Epson DS-410 scanner all due to boost updates in -current. And that's not even deep customization. I'm waiting on stable so that I can properly JACK-ify my audio system and have it play nicely with alsa & pulseaudio. I want to create my own SSO server with OpenLDAP and krb5. Stuff of this nature, where a constantly moving OS target makes it impossible to redo all the time on the limited free time that I have.

This seems to be a straw-man argument. We're simply saying it seems to be pretty damn stable at this point, and as we're not privy to the information about what our BDFL is waiting on, it makes it a bit difficult for us to understand why what appears to us as a rather polished system is still in limbo. (And yes, there's always a possibility that there are edge cases out there that we are unaware of, but looking at the threads on this forum, I would expect a lot more bug reports were the system not already polished.)

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Bug reports are really some minor issues only. They are the same as one may expect for stable release. My impression is that people instead of try to deal with problem themselves came here. But in most cases these are exceptional cases. So it is difficult to help. I mean one may think that issue is related to fact that person is using current. Which can be completely false lead.

Perhaps it might be wise for the impatient to consider that Patrick is demonstrably the best person who actually has overview. There are Slackware users right her on LQN who still openly advocate dropping KDE which is patently absurd, regardless of your personal favorite. That view is entirely myopic and we all have it to some degree. It's difficult to walk in anothers' shoes. Patrick has proven he is quite capable in that regard. Few others, including Alien Bob, have that wide, accommodating POV.

I don't revere Patrick, but I do respect and trust him as Slackware is his manifestation and it has worked best for me for 20+ years. I see no reason to stop now.

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This guy is pretty funny and I suspect he likes Slackware Linux. Start at about 7:40 for proof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOrSwH0so-U&t=13s

prefer national lampoons what are you doing now im f my sister more more what describes more adequately our situation?

• I am not asking for Mr. Volkerding to listen to random people on the internet - like you and me.
• I am not asking for a time table when Slackware 15.0 may be released.

But - Mr. Volkerding should make a statement on his website about what his goals are for Slackware 15.0.

Why? So that each of us can make up his own damn mind where to go from here. Right now I feel like I am in Mobil Ave.

This causes Frustration. Which is what we're seeing here on LQ for the past two months. Frustration causes Anger.

Mr. Volkerding obviously refuses to communicate even with the Slackware team members about what his remaining to do items are.

Final post by Alien BOB:
What Mr. Volkerding does not seem to understand is that his obvious refusal to communicate is damaging his reputation and Slackware's reputation in general.

I do sincerely hope he does have a check list of what remains to be done. If he does not - then we have bigger problems. Or if he wants to turn Slackware into a rolling release, then he should say so.

Positive Communication is Key to Success.

-----

PS: I think AlienBOB meant to write:
Mr. Volkerding is obviously stuck in time. And if he doesn't communicate, him being stuck will only get worse.

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Nice!

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I also launched this hypothesis with rolling release some time ago.
It was not very well received by the community, but I got used to it.
In my case and maybe others the hard question is what will we do when Slackware 15.x appears we will jump in his boat for another 5 years or we will stay at Slackware64-current and again we will be called beta testers (I use Slackware64-current only for servers and only for production).
When I used Slackware-stable my only problem was Security Advisories but since I use Slackware-current I was forced to learn something besides the almost daily update activity.

Hi,

Getting closer.
Slackware is a big project to maintain and I am sure PV has a organized approached to maintenance of the distribution. And no, Slackware is not a rolling release!

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Even though there are some, like myself, that like to treat it as such. In my experience, Current compares pretty favorably to Arch and far less likely to break.

2 members found this post helpful.

I find it all highly frustrating as well; because like mishehu I have some software that isn't in the distribution and every time big changes to current roll out I'd have to rebuild some of it or at least test it all and I need this stuff for work. I don't always have time to rebuild it and play why is the broken right now. So keeping up with current is not really an option for me. Neither is 14.2 at this point its just too old to cope with world around it; so much stuff just won't build on it any more..

BUT BUT BUT

As much as I wish the underlying Slackware platform did not have to be a moving target. There is no rule that says you have to 'keep up with current' to run current. I am probably 5 months behind or so here and my system works just fine! Are there some security implications - yes - but its my PC behind a firewall and I am not exposing services to the Internet, with a little due care and selective patching the risks are low. What it does mean though is I can't contribute much to the community. I can't help people troubleshoot current here, I can't really send bugs to Pat, etc.

So what I would say to people who can't run 14.2 anymore but don't want to play keep up with current, is upgrade and than just update when you have the hours to deal with the fallout. It is shame because its fragmenting the community. Slackware will be poorer for it. I am just going to come right out and say it! 15 should have been released a very long time ago!

REAL THOUGHTS

There are no shortage of identifiable points in the Changelog where major components were updated, and major platform changes were implemented where it would have made perfect sense to do freeze, rc, release cycle! Slackware is still my distro of choice but that is more about how bad the experience on Debian and Ubuntu is and the constant rug pulls that seem to happen in the rpm world than it is about Slackware being especially good in 2021 here.

A PLEA

Please Pat for your own sake just get the following done some how! Fix the store, so we can support you by buying a release! Release something as 15.0 that we can live with even if it needs a few non-invasive fix patches after! Figure out what you have to do so that it won't be 5+ years between releases again and either do it or be honest about this maybe being the end of the line!

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One of the benefits of this protracted cycle is that we have some new packages which would not have made it otherwise. A maintained AT&T Korn shell, for example, which was added just last week. How many other Linux distributions have this?

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There is always going to be a new wizbang version of something released no matter what. I am not suggesting Pat should rigidly embrace some every six months release schedule or anything of the kind. If there is a major release of an important system component on the horizon with a realistic time frame attached by all means wait so it can get integrated but there is a balance to be struck and I don't think that has been manged well.

I would argue we don't have the latest ksh either because its not in any Slackware RELEASE and I am not about roll forward 5 months of package updates to current (at least not in my primary btrfs subvolume ) anytime soon just to get it. I suspect at least a few other Slackers are in a similar position.

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Everyone assumes that technical issues are causing the delay.

I have a simpler explanation - Pat may be waiting for the contract with his publisher to expire. Of course, we can only guess.
Ed