Is Slackware dying?
 

There's only been 1 release in almost 5 years.

Um, wat? Last release was 2 years ago per slackware.com and there is plenty activity in --current for 32 and 64bit.

This looks like a troll...
Check the official ChangeLogs (http://www.slackware.com/changelog/) and you will notice that it's not dying.

Last release was almost 2 1/2 years ago and before that it was 2 1/2 years before the release of 14.1, so, close to 5 years with only 1 release. Slackware seems to be in permanent development now like Duke Nukem Forever.

You look like a [removed] when you jump to conclusions.

Obviously its not dying but I have to say after the whole fiasco with the store and Pat's general comments about how to monetize it so he can eat I thought some more might happen. I understand there are challenges updating the legacy site etc. Given the situation taking a week away from Slackware 15 development to stand up a wordpress site would have made sense to me. At the very least post something to the existing front page; just so the latest content there does not say 2016. Anyone who does follow Slackware Closely does not know to check change logs.

Seriously a post dated 2018 like "Slackware 15 On the Way" expect {blah blah changes include {some already updated major libs etc}}". Would help a lot.

hey, if you live under a bridge and eats goats then what do you expect! ;)

I was more concerned a few years ago when visible progress on current actually stopped for several months.

I don't know what Pat's reasons are for not having cut a release for so long, 'current' has certainly felt "good enough" at serveral points to me, but I guess he has his reasons. To my mind anything over 18 months is too long between releases, but my thoughts on the subject don't count for anything.

Ah yes, it's the annual "Is <Slackware> <Gentoo> <dying> <dead>?" thread! :rolleyes:

If you can't answer the question, keep your opinion to yourself.

Let's see, you respond to someone giving you the correct answer to your question by calling him a "dumb ass." Definitely a troll.

Whatever.

Darth_Vader alternate account detected.

You're just an [removed] with nothiong to add to the discussion.

Darth was more intelligent that this.

This is purely a trollpost. 800 posts and hardly any reputation says a lot about this poster's contributions to the forums.

Go on, OP, rail one at me. I've been dealing with people like you online for years. Give it your best.

Threads like this come up every once in awhile. It is understandable, considering how close Pat keeps everything to the chest, the fact that the release cycle has lengthened over the last few releases, and some outdated information on the website. When asked in good faith by someone just trying to get information, the responses don't look like this:

In other words, your question has already been answered. You are clearly not looking for a real discussion.

You have a very strange method to calculate durations...
From my point of view, all you can state today is that it took 2 1/2 years to release 14.2. You cannot state anything regarding the next release because it would lead to very fragile/unstable results (and it would be denying the hard work done by the maintainers to make the next release happen). Let's see:

• today: you say that it took 2 1/2 years + 2 1/2 years for 1 release -> 1 release in 5 years
• suppose the next release is tomorrow: then it would have taken 2 1/2 years + 2 1/2 years + 1 day -> ~ 2 releases in 5 years -> =twice the 1st result

Do you see the big variation and then the reasoning weakness due to the fact that we cannot know what will happen tomorrow?

That was not opinion, that was a statement. What is the purpose of this thread? As someone who supposedly uses Slackware (based on your info, despite the Windows logo), you should know the answer already, based on the ChangeLogs. Is Slackware not serving your needs? If not, move on. Go install Ubuntu, Mint, Manjaro, or something. These threads serve no real purpose.

If you can't contribute, stay out of the thread. I'm pretty sure there are no rewards for white-knighting for Pat.

Well Red Hat 6 was released in 2010 and Red Hat 7 in 2014. So by your reckoning that's one release in 8 years. And nobody would suggest Red Hat is dying.

:hattip:

They suggested I was a troll for asking a question, that's why they're a [removed] in my opinion.

AHAHAHAHAHAH :D (this is my contribution to the thread)

Red Hat also does a [removed] ton more development than slackware.

You really are just an idiot.

The literal definition of 'idiot', coming from the Greek 'idiotes', means someone who lives in their own private world. Seeing as you fail to heed the answers given thus far, the term would more accurately apply to yourself rather than me.

Still, on the minuscule off-chance that you are incapable of getting the rather large hints shunted your way...

An OS is looked on as 'dead' or 'dying' when it stops receiving updates for a prolonged period. Slackware receives frequent updates. In fact, the most recent updates for 14.2 were just on Saturday [and that goes for the third party Slackbuilds too].

Latest updates for -current were on Monday.

You can see this all at the following link:

http://www.slackware.com/changelog/

but if you've been using Slackware for years surely you must know where to find this information.

The wait between 14.1 and 14.2 was slightly longer [2y 7m], thus far, than between 14.2 and 15.0 [currently 2y 5m].

Your posts are rude and unnecessary, but you know this. You have been told repeatedly, yet you persist since you either enjoy it or you have a very insecure nature [or a mixture of both]. Additionally, you have already been provided with the information you requested. This is why your posts are looked on as trolling.

A word of advice - people will be much more likely to work with you [or even for you], if they like you. You're not currying much favour here.

Adding beta software to their enterprise operating system?

Besides, that wasn't the point you made in your OP, which was about the number of releases over so many years, not the amount of development done.

Have you donated to Slackware recently? If you were worried about Slackware "dying", then why not donate to it?

Your whole question was "There's only been 1 release in almost 5 years.", which implies that it means that it's dead, because of that.

A simple search of this forum would have found you this post. Where not only does Slackware's main developer want to continue developing Slackware, but where you had a significant outpouring of support for Slackware from even people that rarely post here.

I had no issues opening Slackware's website, and therefore could have downloaded it. Even the date on the home page of it's website is 2016-07-01, which is just over 2 years ago - not 5 years ago.

I'd think if Slackware was actually "dead", it's website would probably be offline, along with any download servers for it, and more to the point: PV would have the decency to inform it's users of that beforehand.

That's no wonder considering the fact that OP answers every each post to say how silly his correspondent is (I won't name all the exact terms)...

My thoughts exactly. As the Gate Keeper our BDFL always gets it right when he decides that the code is fit for the next stable release. I suspect we're a lot closer to a beta version.

That's 5 years with 3 releases.

The magnitude of the version numbers doesn't have any significance. There's a post where Pat clarifies that.

Actually, quietguy47, it is YOU who is dying not Slackware, first because this thread is "wilting on the vine" and most importantly because you have obviously bought into the fals equation "NEW == IMPROVED". You do realize wheels are still round and haven't been updated in some 10,000 years, right? When one gets the fundamentals right, all that's left to do is just minor refinements.

I have no reason to white-knight for Pat. I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm a Gentoo user (the OTHER dying Linux, haha). And my contribution was to call out the general uselessness of your thread. I ask again, what's the point of this thread? Do you know what a ChangeLog is?

Same BS, different year. :hattip:

Calm down, folks. The OP has won 2/3 of his reputation points answering a similar question. So to hopefully give him a definitive answer:No.

The OP is probably only frustrated that Slackware 15 was not released yet. Maybe he/she wants to put some pressure on the release date... The Logic is - if the new version will not be released immediately = Slackware is dying. And this should scare us and the developers :) nice try!

To be fair, I also had the impression that the release was very close already 6 months ago (due to some other threads...). So I can understand the reason for this question (if it was meant sincerely .. of course).

But I can also remember about discussions of Plasma 5 integration. I think some open questions regarding this were not decided yet (but it's possible I've just missed them...).
Anyway. There is no point to urge the new release. In fact premature releases are always causing more troubles opposed to benefits. It's ready when it's ready..

All I know is, Slackware 14.2 is perfectly satisfying my needs ;)

I think Pat mentioned that, PAM and Kerberos, and maybe one more major addition that I'm not recalling, were in the works. It will be worth waiting for.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post5451830

Absolutely no-one and nothing is stopping you from moving to a distro like Ubuntu, which has regular, planned point releases. You could then go and wage war on the Ubuntu forums whenever you experience disgruntlement - and the Ubuntu forums are a lot less tolerant than this one.

Yet he was banned.

I don't see the rush, neither has OP given any reason for one. 14.2 is well-seasoned and marinated. The experience is highly enjoyable.

I actually find it really interesting that it started this thread in the middle of the night (assuming its location is accurate), was very aggressive for one and a half hours, and then suddenly stopped.

Feeling the nostalgia... reminds me of the similar threads in between the 13.37, 14.0 and 14.1 releases (and I note that old gem of updating the website got a mention as well).

Yes, in that case OP started the thread at 4.17am his time. I sense issues.

Just noticed that quote in your signature... Slackware is actually very easy to use and administer, is a "complete system", pre-configured with "sensible defaults", has simple package management and is relatively trouble free, so I would have to disagree with that statement. Not to mention that "ease of use" is subjective.

Yeah... the way I've heard it put several times, is that Slackware's focus is to not get in your way?

Yes, it is good policy not to post after spending the night in the pub.
:D

[[digression begins]]

We are rather going off-road here [the OP's contributions are next to worthless anyway], but I take your point. I wish that dasein [aka Curmudgeon on the Debian User Forums] were able to retort but that's extremely unlikely. So I will try to address both perspectives as best I can.

There can be a difference between pre-Slackware appearance and post-initiation usage. Coming from Windows 7 via Ubuntu and Debian like I did, learning Slackware was a real feat. I don't have a *nix background and I had to really want to learn it in order to succeed with it. It took a long while for the learning curve to level out and to get into a place whereby I was fully comfortable [I recall this as being about four months into usage, as opposed to just two weeks with Debian]. I don't think I would have learned as much as I did without dasein's help.

To the uninitiated, and even to some seasoned *nixers, Slackware and its manual dependency management can seem unappealing. It's far easier to go for something like apt which will take care of that work for you. It's only when one gets stuck in and gets one's hands dirty with Slackware that one sees that it's really not that bad. Now I can do most things in Slackware with my eyes closed; in January of this year I was struggling to comprehend the basics.

I suppose, to fully qualify the quote, I should mention the whole thing:

So, if one is coming from the perspective of a new Linux user, Slackware wouldn't really be a good first choice [I have seen it recommended as a first choice, but then I have also seen LFS recommended as a first choice too]. Its 'focus' of being the most Unix-like OS, as well as its dedication to user control, means it operates in certain ways which makes it difficult for 'newbies' [as much as I hate the term].

Indeed, this "ease-of-use" is subjective to who the user is. Some *nixers might find it easy, some would find it horrendously hard. For me, the quote has technical and personal sides to it. I can see it from the point of view of a pre-Slackware user, an ongoing Slackware user, and it also has personal associations. You're the only one who's ever mentioned it and that's kind of interesting, since, from my time lurking on DUF, and my scant reading of your blog, I'd always put the two of you on similar levels of intellectualism [though different levels of experience].

[[digression ends]]

lol... a long post always slows the drama :)

quietguy47, swearing and personal attacks aren't acceptable here at LQ. Please contact me if you'd like your posting privileges reinstated.

--jeremy

Netcraft confirms it.

Is Slackware dying?
 

@Lysander666
I must fully disagree with your statement. I started to use Slackware quite long time ago as my first Linux distribution.
I learned (I intended to).
Several years later, I tried other distributions. Very difficult to do things on my own, automatic stuff making unwanted things and so on : in one word, hell.
Slackware needs learning, true.
Thankfully, Slackware is easy to learn : basically, rtfm.

I'm very pleased that you found it easy. When you say you must fully disagree with my statement, you can't disagree with the part where I said I found it hard, I did. I don't know what your background is in computing - or if you had any - but I can only say you must be predisposed with a mathematical/scientifically logical mentality which makes learning these things slightly easier than I. I imagine many users would not be so fortunate as to start off with Slackware and do as well for themselves, especially if they are used to a couple of decades of Windows usage.

And that's the best way to be a good Linux user. I was taught that when I came to Debian, they pretty much threw the manual at me. But I'd come from a place [i.e. Windows] where everything "just worked"™ and if something didn't, one tended to go on the internet and whine or call up MS, rather than spend a while reading around. Windows doesn't teach people to RTFM, it teaches people to pass the buck, sometimes literally.

:shake: