Slackware 12.2rc1

Well, it's getting close, folks. After several months of development and testing in the -current tree, Slackware 12.2 is almost here. As a precursor, here are some notable changes compared to 12.1:

1. Addition of pm-utils, a collection of scripts which take advantage of HAL's quirks database to handle power management tasks (like suspend and hibernate). See README.SLACKWARE for details.


2. Addition of wicd, a graphical NetworkManager-like application, to /extra. Wicd doesn't yet support all of NetworkManager's feature set, but for most users, it's plenty adequate.


3. SlackPkg has been added to the main tree (moved from /extra).


4. libgphoto2 has been added.


5. Based on kernel 2.6.27.7 and upgraded udev, gcc, and many other libraries and tools are upgraded and added.

As an aside, there are always many requests for new additions around this time, but quite frankly, release candidate state is too late for most of those, especially if other parts of the system can/will use them if present. Things that are of general purpose use will certainly be considered, but you need to suggest them earlier in the development cycle, and be prepared to discuss the pros and cons of adding them. Sending a well-tested and clean build script, licensed under BSD/MIT or similar, is also strongly suggested... :)