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Slackware Live Edition

alien.slackbook.org

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Re: Slackware Live Edition

#21

Post by jqm »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #10
jqm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simple so it's somewhat easy to take apart and re-purpose. I was able to use it to build an internet enabled kiosk for instance without a lot of extra weight. It's super stable also so it make a good server. Lack of package management means you won't find it in the standard VM distro line up though. As for other uses... using it to reply to this comment right now.

Lack of package management There is no lack of package management. There is a lack of automatic dependency resolution without third-party additions. This is nowhere near as debilitating as often presented by outside observers who have never tried the distribution. YMMV, but I've ran into circular dependencies and conflicts in addition to configuration updates rendering systems unbootable multiple times on distros lik…

So it does... I mispoke. But it isn't the same as yum or apt-get. (which is ok w/ me).

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#22

Post by komaromy »

coherentpony wrote: post #14
komaromy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Arch docs are superior (best that I've encountered in the Linux world) but Slackware is worth it to me to stay away from systemd.

Out of curiosity, why don't you like systemd?

It felt too restrictive to me. Things were changing without me asking for them and that was preventing me from learning. One of the most egregious problems was forcing the change from text logs to journalctl binary logs.

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#23

Post by kozukumi »

Slackware was my first experience with Linux. So long ago now, I am 31 now but was 12 when I was first shown Linux and I was hooked from there. Like most I have been around the block with many different Linux distros over the years, even a scary few years doing stage 1 Gentoo. I will always be fond of Slack though. Patrick and his work will always have a very special place in my life, I do not doubt I would have gone into technology anyway (seems to be in my DNA) but Patrick and Slackware was such a huge part of what I first remember of truly learning.

Sorry this post is a little off-topic, it is Sunday afternoon and I guess I am feeling sentimental or something ;)

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#24

Post by toast0 »

coherentpony wrote: post #14
komaromy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Arch docs are superior (best that I've encountered in the Linux world) but Slackware is worth it to me to stay away from systemd.

Out of curiosity, why don't you like systemd?

I recently put together a systemd system, here's a list of grievances compared to the previous setup:

On boot, systems waits for two minutes or so for dhcp on an Ethernet interface with no cable, and it's not cancelable if I happen to be at the console

On shutdown, it turns off swap before shutting down daemons; not an issue for my system because I don't expect swapping, but in what world does this make sense?

Closing the lid sleeps the computer without configuration; some people might find this to be a good thing, but in my experience in the last 15 years, Linux only slept on lid closure if i was running software to handle that (acpid and/or something from a desktop environment), if i have apache running on an old laptop with no GUI, i expect it to stay on. (yes, there's a config, but its still annoying)

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#25

Post by igravious »

deelowe wrote: post #16
jqm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simple so it's somewhat easy to take apart and re-purpose. I was able to use it to build an internet enabled kiosk for instance without a lot of extra weight. It's super stable also so it make a good server. Lack of package management means you won't find it in the standard VM distro line up though. As for other uses... using it to reply to this comment right now.

Slack has package management. It doesn't do automatic dependency management. That said, Slack's packages are built in such a way to make dependency resolution relatively painless to the point where it's almost a non-issue.

Really? How so? How is dependency resolution managed to the point that it's relatively painless without resorting to automatic dependency management? I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just curious. Slackware was the first distribution I ever used oh so many moons ago that I've forgotten how it all worked. Ah sweet nostalgia as someone else mentioned.

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#27

Post by JoshTriplett »

komaromy wrote: post #22
coherentpony wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why don't you like systemd?

It felt too restrictive to me. Things were changing without me asking for them and that was preventing me from learning. One of the most egregious problems was forcing the change from text logs to journalctl binary logs.

> Things were changing without me asking for them and that was preventing me from learning.

systemd has extensive documentation, both in manpages and in higher-level documents explaining how all the pieces fit together. I've generally found it far more straightforward to learn about than the components it replaces.

> One of the most egregious problems was forcing the change from text logs to journalctl binary logs.

You can keep a syslog implementation like rsyslog installed, and you'll continue to have text logs too. And journalctl outputs plain text.

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#28

Post by massysett »

igravious wrote: post #25
deelowe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack has package management. It doesn't do automatic dependency management. That said, Slack's packages are built in such a way to make dependency resolution relatively painless to the point where it's almost a non-issue.

Really? How so? How is dependency resolution managed to the point that it's relatively painless without resorting to automatic dependency management? I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just curious. Slackware was the first distribution I ever used oh so many moons ago that I've forgotten how it all worked. Ah sweet nostalgia as someone else mentioned.

Libraries are built as a single package, not split into separate "-dev" packages with headers, so there are fewer packages to manage. Also, these days it's easy to just install the whole of Slackware for a desktop system (when even an SSD is hundreds of gigabytes, a few gigs is no hardship.) So when you do need to build third party applications, your system probably already has what you need. Slackware already comes with a good set of the major libraries, even if they're not GNU (pcre, for example.)

Slackbuilds.org will tell you if one of the packages there has dependencies that aren't in Slackware. Typically installing them is not onerous.

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#29

Post by systems »

i tried many times to convince myself that i can live without automatic package dependencies but failed

i love the legacy of slackware, the brand but its more of an emotional thing

at the end, i use kubuntu, ubuntu based distros have access to ppa(s) which really make life a lot easier for linux on the desktop

hopefully one day slackware will give up and add automatic management for package dependencies but until that day, its too hardcore, i dont have that kind of time

Re: Slackware Live Edition

#30

Post by sigzero »

kozukumi wrote: post #23

Slackware was my first experience with Linux. So long ago now, I am 31 now but was 12 when I was first shown Linux and I was hooked from there. Like most I have been around the block with many different Linux distros over the years, even a scary few years doing stage 1 Gentoo. I will always be fond of Slack though. Patrick and his work will always have a very special place in my life, I do not doubt I would have gone…

Nah that's cool. I started with Slackware 0.98 as my first distro. We've come a long long long way baby.
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