Just wondering what is going on with Slackware. It seems to be a long time between updates of any kind. How can we find out what is in work? I check the changelogs daily, but they really give no clue of things in work.

Mainstream updates take time to thoroughly test outside the mainline of the -current channels. Because of this, you might not see updates all too often. However, be assured that Patrick and the others who are maintaining Slackware actively are thoroughly testing packages, writing build scripts, retesting, recompiling, and doing all sorts of stuff before it goes live.

As much as we'd all like to think Slackware's -current channel is a very raw bleeding edge batch of patches, it actually isn't. Current is more or less a public general build mainline collection of packages Patrick and the few others who work on Slackware have found to be stable for general release and roll out into not just -current but into all the actively maintained distributions.

Now if you look at distributions like Ubuntu and such who have development, and unstable channels, they sometimes use very raw bleeding edge code that often is still in beta or release candidate stages. Often this causes a lot of instabilities in the distribution and if enough testing isn't done and the packages get rolled out to general public release, all kinds of crap can hit the fan.

However, don't worry about when and if Slackware is going to get a new package for XYZ or ABC. Patrick knows well enough that to maintain a stable distribution of GNU/Linux means you have to test, test, and test before things go live. However, Slackware does offer you the user another path to take if you so choose to. If you find a package and you can update it yourself, go right ahead. Slackware like the distribution I use is a heavily modified -current x64 release. I use a lot of stuff from SlackBuilds and even then I use a lot of packages and updates Patrick hasn't gotten out yet. Example:

I use -current with Mesa 7.11, Linux Kernel 3.0.4 (and I use a MEGA kernel that is about 5.7MB in size seriously dwarfing Patrick's Huge kernel and contains a module package of well over 2500 modules and firmware files), XFce 4.8 (which isn't as stable as we'd all like it to be), Firefox Nightly 10.0a1 (installed to /opt directory for auto updates), as well as X.org's current tree of X11R7.6 (which is soon to be 7.7), along with a lot of other custom compiled and built software.

You don't have to limit yourself just to what Patrick rolls out. Compile and use stuff yourself, and if you find a good update to an existing package, spread the word and make some attempt to let Patrick know the package works and is stable. He does post here sometimes, he has a Twitter account, and there's the mailing list on the Slackware site. Send him a message, tweet, email, or something and let him know things. Like any other human being who puts time and effort into something, he probably likes feedback into things because it helps... even if he is the Dictator for Life of Slackware he can't be everywhere at once doing everything possible.

Slackware updates something when it's update is deemed ready, and not a moment sooner, as such it can occasionally take a while for all the necessary testing to be completed, so a bit of quiet time is to be expected on occasion, ReaperX7 put it very well, updates take time to test and even -current is a stable, tested release schedule.

If something is updating too slowly for your tastes, you are free to get it from the source and do what you need to to make it work.
If you're just concerned that slackware has stopped updating, then most likely it's nothing to worry about - we slackers may not be among the first to see an update to <software> but we keep up well enough, with a relatively low number of stability issues.

Oh and not everything on Slackbuilds is always up to date either.

I've learned to keep source packages stored for safe keeping in my /usr/src/ directory. This way if I need to compile and build a package outside of the mainstream I can always install it and uninstall it using make rather than the package tools.

to keep track of what you have installed on the host, I would advise to try to use packages made from slackbuilds only: if the build script is not there, investing time in writing one will save you hassles later.

For my own part, when I need stuff outside of what SlackBuilds.org provides I either roll my own or if I am feeling really lazy I just let paco track it.

Slackware development happens behind closed doors. It is only when Pat thinks things are about ready and wants to expose things to a wider audience for testing that we'll see anything. Until then we'll see little more than station-keeping going on in 'current'.

I must admit that the 5 months since 13.37 without anything significant going on in 'current' does seem slower than has happened in the past and it has got me quite curious as to what (if anything) they're up to. However, my curiosity aside, there's nothing I'm desperate to have in my system that I don't already have, so no rush.

This mode of operation works for me. Patrick and the core team thoroughly test packages before they are uploaded to the mirrors. I fully appreciate the fact that Patrick releases updates when he feels they are ready.
All is well.

It's just the calm before the storm......I have a premonition that -current is going to get walloped quite soon

This release I've decided to stay with stable. Not that I had any problems with -current, but recently I haven't had much time to test things so I thought I might as well use the stable version. If there are some interesting changes in -current, though, I'll make time to play with it.

I used to look forward to XFCE 4.8 hitting the -current branch, but I've got used to i3wm (especially with the recent release) so much that I don't really start any other wm/de.

Regular day at the office : you open up a thread that seems to be mildly interesting and find a real gem un-connected with the thread. Many thanks for the link to paco above - looks like a really useful utility for those moments when you just have to compile-from-source. Thanks.

Careful what you wish for. A tremor is recorded here.
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Progr...ack-4649.shtml

Rush no more, patience is the key, stable is the point. Slackware is the distro.

i am also curious about when XFCE 4.8 will enter -current

With Xfce 4.10 due for release in a couple of months (and the sheer number of people complaining about 4.8 in the Xfce thread and instead choosing to stay with 4.6), I wouldn't be surprised if Pat holds out a while for 4.10. Complete speculation though.