University of Glasgow and Slackware

I just noticed a bit on DistroWatch about a major university's Department of Physical Sciences' migrating their main logon server to Slackware... It seems that the University of Glasgow (in the UK) retired the old logon server because it couldn't handle the load any more. They needed a stable, secure, and easy to maintain operating system for the new one, so they chose Slackware for the job. Thanks to Shane Kelly at UG and anyone else involved in the decision!

Slackware 12.2!

The anxiously awaited Slackware 12.2 release is now upon us - here's the blurb on the home page:

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That's right, it is once again time to announce a new release of Slackware. With a shiny new kernel, many package updates, and the newly added ability to install from a Samba share, we bring to you the latest in the stable Slackware 12.x series. Slackware 12.2 ships with the 2.6.27.7 Linux kernel, the Xorg 1.4.2 X server (with many driver, library, and application updates), Xfce 4.4.3, KDE 3.5.10, simplified wired and wireless networking with wicd in /extra, package upgrade management with slackpkg moved into the main tree, support for non-usb-storage digital cameras through libgphoto2, pm-utils (tools to support suspend and hibernate through HAL), and much, much more. This release brings the system up-to-date without compromising stability or compatibility with the 12.x series.

More details may be found with the official announcement

If you like Slackware, please consider supporting the project by picking up a copy of Slackware 12.2 from the Slackware Store. The discs are off to replication now and pre-orders are being accepted for the official 6 CD or 1 DVD set. Also by popular demand, we now have black T-shirts with the original Slackware logo for sale. Check 'em out!

Thanks are due to the Slackware crew, the developers of slackbuilds.org, the fine folks on linuxquestions.org, IRC, and everyone else who pitched in to help make this another great Slackware release. We couldn't have done it without your help.

As always -- have fun!

Pat and the Slackware crew
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On a related note, we at SlackBuilds.org have just opened up our 12.2 offering, so enjoy!

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... :)

Xfce 4.6

Xfce 4.6 is due to release within the next couple of months, and as everyone knows, I'm a big fan of the Xfce desktop environment. I've been using a subversion checkout for several weeks now, and as expected, it's more of the same - in other words, it's exactly what we've come to expect of the Xfce developers: fast, attractive, and stable.

In case anyone running -current wants to give it a try, I've just pushed some packages to http://xfce46.rlworkman.net along with a few selected "goodies" compiled against it. Be sure to check out the xfce4-power-manager addon; it's a much needed and long awaited addition to Xfce, and was written by a Slackware user too :-)

Random Thoughts

Since I haven't posted anything here in a long time, today seems like a good day to do so...

First of all, there were LOTS of questions regarding the lack of updates to -current in late October and early November, and while Eric and I addressed it on AOLS, I'll do so again here. As is plainly obvious now, the batch of updates that went out after all that time had quite a few big changes - in particular, the move from 2.6.24.x to 2.6.27.x required quite a bit of research and testing. While it might be nice to have a weekly "status update" or some such, the fact of the matter is that doing so would take time away from doing *real* work; ultimately, it seems much better for everyone involved if the ChangeLog shows *results* of work rather than *ideas* of work.

Second, I think the -current tree has mostly stabilized to the point of being safe to build packages against it intended for long-term usage, so I've just released the first batch of my unofficial contributions on my packages page.

Third, for anyone who happens to be in the Tuscaloosa area, a few of us have started a Tuscaloosa Linux Users Group, so have a look at it.

Finally, we have closed the submission form at SlackBuilds.org to give us time to clear out pending and prepare for the release of Slackware 12.2.

São Paulo again

First, I'd like to point out that I have made my presentation material from the SlackShow available at http://rlworkman.net/slackshowbrasil/.

Second, we were graced with the presence of Sulamita Garcia at the conference yesterday, and we took her vehicle to dinner last night. Sulamita is the Latin America Open Source Strategy Manager for Intel, and while I had some previous knowledge of her, I am *very* impressed after meeting and talking with her - the open source community needs more individuals like Sulamita.

Third, I have put a few more pictures from yesterday and last night in http://rlworkman.net/images/brazil/.

São Paulo, Brasil

Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil!

Alan Hicks, Eric Hameleers, and I are in São Paulo (with Piter PUNK and many Brasilian Slackware users for the SlackShow.

We visited the IBM Campinas facility Thursday and listened to some talks there at the Linux Technology Center - thank you to the wonderful people in that division for inviting us!

We gave our presentation on "Working with Slackware" yesterday, Eric gave his presentation on Slackware installation this morning, and as I type this, he is giving his presentation on SCIM (Smart Common Input Methods). Alan will be giving his presentations on TCP/IP networking and 802.11 wireless networking after lunch, and I will follow with my presentation on Netfilter/Iptables usage.

We've taken quite a few pictures - I've put a few of them online for viewing at http://rlworkman.net/images/brazil/.

Slackware 12.1 Released!

Yep, it's official! :-)

From the ChangeLog:
Thu May 1 13:36:34 CDT 2008
Slackware 12.1 is released as -stable. :-) Again, huge thanks to everybody who pitched in and helped with bug reports, patches, testing, suggestions, other comments, and everything else. Without this valuable input, Slackware would be nowhere near what it is today. Special thanks to the CREW, to the people developing and testing for slackbuilds.org (where many of Slackware's future additions are first built and tested), and to everyone on linuxquestions.org, various #slackware or ##slackware IRC channels, other Slackware related web sites, and other places where the community shares their needs and concerns with the team. On behalf of everyone here, thanks.
We think you'll enjoy this new release, and hope that you'll find it to be much more than 0.1 better than Slackware 12.0. ;-)

Podcast on SlackBuilds.org and sbopkg

In a talk about his sbopkg project, Chess Griffin talked a bit about Slackware and SlackBuilds.org in general. It's a good discussion for anyone with a bit of free time to listen, so grab it at The Bad Apples site.

kde-4.0.70

I pushed out packages of kde 4.0.70 yesterday; this is intended to be the last snapshot before the 4.1.0 alpha1 release (according to the kde team).

The packages (and sources) are at http://kde4.rlworkman.net/; also, be sure to read the _README file for installation/upgrade instructions and known bugs/workarounds.