This might be reasonable but not always practical. When people want to install Slackware on newish hardware, they might be better of to use current (with its newer kernels) because of compatibility issues.

From what Pat's indicated on previous threads, it sounds like he's looking at adding something controversial (like PAM/kerberos), and he might be trying to find the best way to integrate it with the least number of problems (much like how when pulse was added, it was *mostly* problem free for most users).

It is a little frustrating not knowing what the specific blockers are, but I also understand that Pat doesn't want to get people riled up or excited for something that may never happen. Just because he might be working on a bunch of potentially disruptive changes doesn't mean they'll ever actually see the light of day. And he may have a lot of checkboxes that he needs to check before he's willing to push it out publicly.

I don't think Slackware releases are dead, but once we see whatever he's brewing hit the changelogs, I imagine the betas/RCs/stable releases will be coming in short order after that (based on community testing and feedback, obviously).

Whatever this potential future shift is, when it's made, hopefully it will allow Pat to shorten the release cycle to something a bit more reasonable like every year or two.

In my tiny 8 years old netbook i am running 14.2 Xfce (or openbox, depends on my mood). In my new main pc (bought it 2 years and 2 ago), i am running current (Xfce sometimes, but most of the time Plasma 5 from ktown).
I have Slackware installed in another machines. Owners (friends of mine) are not interested in doing much technical staff, their boxes are rather old, so 14.2 was the obvious solution for me to install there.
My biggest concern for the future is about KDE. Even current, offers the almost obsolete KDE 4 series. I am afraid there is a possibility that 1)Pat will decide (for his own valid reasons) to drop KDE from the coming Slackware 15 and 2)Alienbob decides to stop offering us his ktown repository.
So, this is a scenario that worries me. If it happens, i understand that the call is mind to examine any viable solution.

Which is a very good reason for holding off the 15.0 release but less so for a 14.3 release

I'm the OP. I wrote my first code
in 1970, or 71, and I dumped win3.1
for OS/2 when I needed a more robust
system. About 1999 my teen-aged son
gave me be grief about not using
linux. I wrote code at work (basic)
that helped to mind a number of pat-
ient statistical records (God praise
SQL) Anyway, I jumped into Linux
with RH 6 or 7, and kept RH-9 chug-
ging along until the system crapped
out in 2005. I never liked Fedora,
so in rapid succession I checked out
a number of distros, and settled on
Slackware for obvious reasons. I
started with SW-10 from downloaded
code, and after that, I've maintained
a subscription for new releases.

Little things like meson and ninja
work just fine in current, but they
do not easily install in plain 14.2,
and at this point in my life I don't
want to f**k around with beating on
the 14.2 system until I get things to
work. That's lots of fun when we're
still learning how things work, but
it's big pain in my butt, when all
I want to do is put gimp-2.99 to
work in the 14.2 system.

It's not so simple.

John.

to install meson and ninja in a 14.2 system, if this is the main point of this topic, is just the matter of building/installing three packages from SlackBuilds.org

https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/python/python3/
https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1...lopment/ninja/
https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1...lopment/meson/

Huh? Yes they do. They are both available on SlackBuilds.org, and they both build and install with no trouble at all.

What it is about is running gimp-2.99
on my 14.2 system with no issues. There
is more than meson and ninja to get
it going. As I said, is runs fine on
the bleeding-edge -current, but it's a
non-starter on 14.2. A new release
would really be handy. It's been about
three years, right?

John.

Regardless of what challenges Pat is facing with 15.0, my SWAG is after Slackware 15 Pat will return to a familiar release schedule of about 9 months to 1 year.

My two cents is Pat knows operating systems better than the significant majority. Unlike so many distro spinoff maintainers, Pat has a clue. Whatever challenges he is resolving will benefit himself and users. We'll all get through this. :)

Meanwhile, 200 miles to the east yet another mechanized division had been rolled over by the Red Army. „Wir vertrauen dem Fuehrer“ was still the word, but by then only the fanatics believed it.

I take offense at your remark. You've been added to my ignore list.

Interesting reply. There was no fanaticism in the post. I accept the possibilities that after 15 is released Pat could abruptly resign and disappear or that 15 might never be released.

My guess is Pat is more aware of the time lapse than any of us. Whatever reason for the 15 delay is known only to Pat and perhaps the dev team.

Yeah, waiting is a challenge. Screaming for a release or cynicism will change little. One way or another life goes on and we'll all get through this because we have no choice.

These types of posts have come up multiple times in my short time here on these forums and I'm sure there will be more. I'm also sure Pat has seen them too since he participates regularly here but what do you expect him to do? Say sorry and push a new release just because a few people like to complain about 14.2? It's his project and agenda and he can do what he sees fit with it. Most of us have been happy with the system he's built and will continue using it as such.

If 14.2 isn't for you then current is always an option. You can install it, tweak it, and leave it if you don't want to follow the continued updates. It's a very stable system already and the only problems I've encountered running current for the last two years have been caused by my own stupidity like forgetting to update initrd when I do opt to update my system.

And no I didn't drink the "kool-aid" and follow it blindly like some people like to hyperbolize about slackware users. I use slackware because I like the system and I understand enough of it to get by. If I didn't like it then there's plenty of other linux distros out there to use and I would find one. The complainers have that same option.

Now enough ranting for me. I'll go back to not bothering with these types of posts and stick to the more useful topics around here.

I guess that was a hyperbole, you could of course argue there is a cult following here, be it for the good or bad, the main point though is that many people get more and more irritated because of the "missing release."

It's like a treadmill, we may get a great product, it just won't last very long anyway. But there could be other reasons, what do I know... wishing all devs well.

A bit of an understatement :-)
Can you seriously think of anyone else who would be close? After almost singlehandedly putting out Slackware for 25+ years?