Some previous Slackware reviews that I have seen in the past have suffered from a reviewer who did not read the included documentation (namely CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT) and then complained when things did not work properly.
Based upon the initial reactions to this article, and some out-of-context quotes, I had assumed that this article was similar to past reviews like this.
However, after I read some of the comments from Caitlyn Martin and others on the O'Reilly site I felt that it was a good idea to read through the article (twice) to really see what all fuss was about.
If you haven't already done so, I recommend you read through the entire article.
While there are certainly some points I disagree with, I think the review overall is very good and balanced.
In fact,
Ms. Martin had quite a few good things to say about the newest Slackware. Here are some quotes from the review.
** Slackware Praises **
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Slackware has a well earned reputation for reliability, stability, and performance.
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The main strength of the Slackware installation process is flexibility.
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If you don't mind the work needed to configure Slackware it is an outstanding choice for older hardware and systems with limited resources.
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My favorite two quotes praising Slackware are:
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During my first three weeks running Slackware I have yet to find a single bug. That is something I've never been able to write in a review of a Linux distribution before and it is truly impressive.
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Slackware clearly has some very strong points. It is stable and reliable, offers good performance, and gives the user absolute control over what goes onto his or her system and how things are configured.
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However, this is not a one-sided review so there are some criticisms of Slackware as well.
** Some Statements I Disagree With **
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It may also be the least user friendly major Linux distribution on the planet short of building Linux From Scratch.
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By itself, that statement sounds very harsh, but when taken in context the effect is lessened.
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Slackware has a well earned reputation for reliability, stability, and performance. It may also be the least user friendly major Linux distribution on the planet short of building Linux From Scratch.
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The real problem I have with this statement is that the common term "user friendly" is somewhat ambiguous. Slackware can be indeed harder to setup the first time than many other distros that walk you through everything. However, once it is setup, I don't see how Slackware is possibly the "least user friendly major Linux distribution on the planet". It may not "just work" out of the box before you do all of the normal installation tasks (including the ones not taken care of by the initial setup program), but after the installation is complete Slackware typically "just works" very well. In that sense it is very "user friendly".
A new user armed with something like the SlackBook in addition to CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT could very well go through all the steps needed to do the installation on their own. If they run into trouble, the LQ community is almost always very helpful.
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Slackware 12.1 is the first release to include HAL support.
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As Ms. Martin mentioned this was an honest mistake. The Slackware 12.1 Announcement clearly had some sections that were copied over from the 12.0 Announcement.
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Originally Posted by ANNOUNCE.12_1
We have added to Slackware support for HAL
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However, the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT, which is a
must-read guide for every Slackware version says:
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Originally Posted by CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT
HAL is not new anymore, but here are a few notes related to it:
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I am not pointing my finger at Ms. Martin and saying she did not read the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT. She very well might have read it. However,
this misunderstanding on HAL underscores the fact that very few reviews (including this one) mention the importance of reading CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT.
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There is only a tiny repository called "Extra" which contains things like international aspell libraries. There are no additional applications to speak of.
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Even though /extra has almost no applications (around 20) when compared to some other distros repositories, I think "no additional applications to speak of" is not the best choice of words. Grub, jdk, parted, slackpkg, and the various bit torrent software are very useful to many people.
At the very least I would have mentioned grub and slackpkg.
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The lack of a package management system with proper dependency checking is pretty much inexcusable in 2008.
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Again, I think this is a harsh choice of words. It's like saying
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The lack of a motor in a bicycle is pretty much inexcusable in today's fast paced world.
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The point is that this lack of dependency checking is considered a feature of the OS. If someone doesn't like this they can add the feature through third party sources (some of which Ms. Martin graciously mentioned including Stefano Stabellini's modified PACKAGES.TXT and RequiredBuilder).
That being said, most people probably do want dependency checking, so I understand (particularly from a consultant's point of view) why Ms. Martin complained about the lack of it in Slackware. Still,
I would have rather seen it stated in big bold letters that Slackware has no dependency resolution than have it called "inexcusable".
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The alternative, building everything you need that isn't included from source, is time consuming even with the third party tools available and requires a fairly high level of knowledge on the part of the user.
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Honestly I do not see what "high level of knowledge" is required of the user to use a slackBuild script from slackBuilds.org. The user simply downloads the slackBuild and unpacks it. They then download the source (linked from the slackBuild page) and put it in the slackBuild folder. Finally, they run the slackBuild script and run 'installpkg' on the created package under /tmp.
With the exception of running 'installpkg', this is all basic file management stuff that can be done in the GUI as well as command line.
The user doesn't have to modify the script of use any run time environment variables if they do not want to. There's a detailed HowTo on the site for all of this as well.
Using slackBuilds.org to build your third party packages also has the advantage that it can help you keep your software up to date. Simply subscribe to the RSS feed for the Changelog or join the mailing list. This is easier than subscribing to the various upstream sources' mailing lists (or manually checking for updates). In addition, there's a tool called SBo_pkg that helps automate slackBuilds and keeping them up to date.
** Some Supposedly Controversial Statements **
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The fact that Slackware is largely developed and maintained by one person and offers no commercial support makes it inappropriate for the corporate or institutional server room.
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I understand where Ms. Martin is coming from and she already explained herself just fine on this one. Say you have Slackware boxes nicely setup and deployed across a network and everything is hunky-dory. If one day your main Slackware Admin leaves the job and problems arise, what do you do? Most companies would rather pay up the nose for official corporate support rather than have to lean upon a few knowledgeable people. Slackware obviously does not have a large company to provide this kind of corporate support. Rather, Pat refers people to LQ and a list of private consulting companies to help you when you are in need. If nothing else, IT departments can blame their corporate support for their continued problems instead of the one admin who decided Slackware should be installed everywhere.
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The only newcomers to Linux who should consider Slackware are those who wish to really learn how Linux works under the hood and are ready to roll up their sleeves.
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I think this depends on what role the user will play with the OS. The thing to realize is that many, many new Linux users don't install their own OS. They have a friend, relative, or fellow peer do it for them. In these cases the "hard part" of Slackware is already done, and the user can enjoy a wonderful system. For other Linux newcomers, I think the above statement is fair. Linux newcomers who don't want to learn really should use something else or have someone nice set it up for them.
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To me Slackware is a fantastic base on which to build a first rate distribution. It is not what I consider to be a good distribution in its own right.
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I don't see why people have a problem with this statement as it is very clearly a personal opinion. I think Slackware is a fantastic base on which to build first rate distros as well. However, I think Slackware is great on its own as well. That being said, the people who really come to love Slackware are the ones who take advantage of its great flexibility to tweak things to exactly how they want it. In a way, they
have made their own distro. It is no wonder that many of these same people (myself included at times) can quickly become offended when someone criticizes Slackware! You should expect the same reaction you would get from a mother who had her baby called "ugly" by a stranger. That, at least, is my theory of why Slackware users (again, including myself) can often become over-zealous of their personal distro.
** Conclusions **
In conclusion, the O'Reilly review of Slackware 12.1 by Ms. Caitlyn Martin is what I believe to be, overall, a good well-balanced review. She praised many of Slackware's strong features, but also pointed out many things she saw as flaws.
Unlike some past reviews, none of her criticisms that I could see were due to ignorance of how to manage Slackware. She does have a different view of what "user friendly" means, and this does seem to go against some Slackware philosophies. This brought about many of her criticisms, but she offered some advice on third party solutions to make Slackware more in line with what I imagine many of her clients consider "user friendly". My main complaint with this article is that it did not mention the importance of using CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT and did not stress the support of the LinuxQuestions.org community. Other than that, I think it is a fine review.