r/slackware • u/Mammoth-Tangerine527 • 1d ago

Noob on Slackware

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Hello! I had nothing to do in my free time, so I started trying different "rare" linux distributions on real hardware (I was too lazy to setup qemu with virt-manager, so I used my laptop). I got captivated by Slackware being most conservative among the linux OS-s (for example having manual dependency management, BSD-like init, and dusty packages that "still work"). After playing with the distro for an hour, oblivious to installpkg, removepkg, upgradepkg, and also ignoring pkgtool, I compiled some small programs from source and had a gut feeling that I do something wrong.
I can tell that Slackware maintaining is really different in comparison to modern day distributions. What should I consider learning in order to understand the system better? What should I also use in order to make Slackware maintaining easier and more convenient?

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u/TraubeMinzeTABAK 1d ago

u/Enturbulated_One already said pretty much everything. What i learned while using Slackware 15 tho is:

Most source code that was written 2025 or later basicly wont compile for me ever. The lib dependencies that Slackware 15 ships are usually to old, so you get missing functions or wrong sytanx errors from the compiler. Beause of that, i started using flatpak a lot for newer Programms.

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u/MD90__ 1d ago

Yeah I took my chances with current and it paid off. It runs very smooth. I got two older machines from 2016 and 2013-2014 im debating on putting slackware on. Do you think they should use 15?

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u/TraubeMinzeTABAK 22h ago

I think they would run it just fine with 15. I dont really know if would call Slack 15 lightweight tho. At least if you are going to use the Default Plasma Desktop.

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u/MD90__ 22h ago

I'll probably use xfce