I installed Slackware 14.1, 64-bit.

I noticed that slackware64-current has a more recent hplip package (available at http://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwa...lackware64/ap/)

Can I install that package to my 14.1 version? How?

I did that on my 14.1 system (my printer needed a newer hplip). I just took the -current source directory for hplip, ran the SlackBuild, and did an upgradepkg on the package that it generates. Works nicely. You can get all the files to do that from the Slackware64-current source tree (any mirror, it's under source/ap/hplip). Btw, just installing the -current package on 14.1 didn't work for me, and I think it's better to just compile it for your system anyway.

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Yes, need to recompile : there're huge differences between 14.1 and actual current. Packages are build against libs that might not be included or other versions. Installing those might even break your system.

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Yes, I made that mistake too :-)

Did you think 14.1 was the latest stable release, or something like that?

No, no, no. 14.1 is 2.5 years old -- my 2015 laptop couldn't run it. The latest normal version is -current. I believe it will simply get renamed to 14.2 --- soon.

That your recent laptop can't run 14.1 doesn't make it obsolete for everyone. All depends on the target machine and the intended usage by the original poster, of which we know very few.

Furthermore there are cases where just upgrading the kernel or some components of the system suffice: your mileage may vary.

14.1 is the latest stable release and will stay so until 14.2 be released.

Oh, and while I am in a picky mood and before moving to do something more constructive that these comments: I don't know what is a normal version, only that -current is by definition not a stable one. Actually it is not a version at all.

Have a good day.

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I totally agree with Didier. What follows is additional clarification on the quoted text below.

The issue is the label. Current is technically an unstable branch. It can (and occasionally does) break things and cause a ruckus. However, Pat and team do a ton of work to minimize those types of problems to their users, so most of those wrinkles are ironed out long before it ever reaches the mirrors. This causes a lot of users to throw the "stable" label around regarding -current. And most of the time, they're right. It tends to be stable... until it isn't.

The official stable releases with Slackware (currently the latest being 14.1) prevent changing things that will impact the whole OS, like upgrading a library that has it fingers in a lot of programs, like the switch from libjpeg-v8a to libjpeg-turbo. When things like that are updated, Pat and team need to recompile a lot of packages that rely on that. Then, when all of those are pushed out to the mirrors, it will break all your 3rd party packages that rely on that. Those types of things happen semi-frequently on -current (until you get towards the end of the development cycle, like we are right now). They won't happen in an actual stable release.

Unfortunately, with the long period between 14.1 and the soon to be released 14.2, many users have needed to go to -current to properly support their hardware, me included. But, even if -current usually runs without issues, it should NOT be considered a stable release. Once it has been put through enough checks and passes them, Pat will release it as the next stable, 14.2. Until then, -current should be considered potentially unstable, even if it runs well right now.

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