Don't get me wrong but Slackware is kinda "bloated"
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On the subject of "bloated" Slackware, i like that it has almost everything you will ever need.
The problem is that the only easy-and-safe way to intall Slackware is installing everything.
Since there is no dependecy check most users don't risk removing packages in the install menu.
It would be so nice to have in the install script a set of choices of preset menu selections according to profiles like
"users desktop", "server", "developement", "worstation", "everything" ...
It would be so nice to have in the install script a set of choices of preset menu selections according to profiles like
"users desktop", "server", "developement", "worstation", "everything" ...
Well, there's no need to modify an installation script for that as the installer has been able to deal with custom tag files for ages (and your favorite search engine can lead you to some existing ones proposed by users lying on the web).
But the real problem would be to make people agree on what each preset menu selection should include...
Just start (anew?) a thread on LQ proposing a content for "users desktop" for instance and see what happens
It would be so nice to have in the install script a set of choices of preset menu selections according to profiles like "users desktop", "server", "developement", "worstation", "everything" ...
This is work in progress. When it's finished (probably next weekend, maybe one week more), you'll have the choice to select "KDE-based desktop" or "Xfce-based desktop". On a server, just leave out KDE, KDEI, XAP and XFCE.
Distribution: Fedora, CentOS, and would like to get back to Gentoo
Posts: 332
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelslack
After tinkering with some other systems I've recently developed a deeper appreciation for slackware, which is a big deal because it was pretty deep already. The main reason is that while many other distributions have massive repositories of applications, they are of varying quality. The slackware system on the other hand is near perfect. I can't remember the last time any application in the supported release broke at all. The only things that have ever misbehaved have been third party stuff.
Your comment resonates powerfully in my mind.
I've used Gentoo (also donated $$ to the foundation) and CentOS and Arch on servers over the years.
I've learned many ways to accomplish tasks and configurations under different package management paradigms.
I've had some very stressful moments with each of those previously mentioned distros when I've misunderstood a particular upgrade process or mishandled dependencies with the particular package manager. I've rendered installations unusable and completely f.u.b.a.r. with small mistakes that had large consequences. Of course, it's possible I'm a careless and unskilled linux user.
BUT - every time I feel stressed about whether I can understand and execute a new deployment, I turn to Slackware and somehow I can get it done with less critical errors. Each release is functional and cohesive in such a way that I'm better able to install and configure third-party software on top of it. Additionally, I've had success with multiple in-production server upgrades dating back to 2009. These are not re-installs; rather, full-on "UPGRADE.TXT" Ver. X ---> to Ver. Y with a subsequent reboot and sometimes a custom kernel compile for a specific need. I have not been able to accomplish this with other distributions.
I'm beginning to experiment with debian and freebsd in virtual machines; but, I suspect I'll be relying on slackware until there's no more electricity.
What I love about Slackware is how easy it is to recompile system packages or compile your own packages. Eveything comes ready for it, the package manager doesn't stand on your way, etc.
EDIT: And how simple is the way to (re)build them: a simple bash script and a source code tarball.
HAHAHAHAHAH I actually remember that!!! I started using slackware right around that time. As to Pedro's comments... a person can select what packages they want installed when they are installing it, this requires a more manual install but thats the fun of linux! This isn't windows or ios....
I've used Gentoo (also donated $$ to the foundation) and CentOS and Arch on servers over the years.
I've learned many ways to accomplish tasks and configurations under different package management paradigms.
I've had some very stressful moments with each of those previously mentioned distros when I've misunderstood a particular upgrade process or mishandled dependencies with the particular package manager. I've rendered installations unusable and completely f.u.b.a.r. with small mistakes that had large consequences. Of course, it's possible I'm a careless and unskilled linux user.
Welcome to the club. I've recently been bitten by Ubuntu, quite badly so. Over the last few months, orders for Linux training were increasingly Ubuntu-specific, so I tried to "adapt to the market" and moved to Ubuntu on servers and a mix of Ubuntu and Elementary OS (an Ubuntu derivative) on desktops. Thus our local school's network migrated from Slackware 14.0 on servers and desktops to a 100 % *buntu setup, with centralized authentication and everything.
The last couple of weeks were a sheer nightmare. I had daily reports about odd dysfunctions. Desktops freezing, printers working randomly, mysterious authentication failures, server eating gigabytes of RAM, and so on. I never had to babysit a system so much. Last week I spoke with the director, and we decided to move everything - two servers and 16 desktops - back to Slackware, upgrading it to 14.1. I reinstalled the whole network in a 3-day-marathon, and now everything is back to normal.
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