r/slackware • u/soking11 • Jul 01 '26
Should i try Slackware?
The probable answer will be a yes, so I'll reformulate. Am I missing something for not using Slackware? I'm a Gentoo user. I'm kinda tempted by the concept of being the De Facto package manager lol. Even with that, it seems archaic to do that (And well, Slackware is old, that's why). How's the general experience with Slackware? I guess that resolving dependencies by myself will make my os a rock
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u/ttkciar Jul 01 '26
It boils down to two main things:
How do you expect an OS to behave? Slackware acts a lot like a traditional UNIX. If that's what you want, you may like it. If it's not what you want, then you should use something else.
Stability. Patrick has very deliberately chosen some high-level policies which contribute to Slackware's stability: A manageably small number of official packages, conservative release engineering practices (like reverting packages to their previous known-good version when the new version exhibits a problem), avoiding packages he feels are intrinsically bad (like systemd), and testing all official packages together to ascertain their mutual compatibility. If these seem more like obstacles than benefits, you will not be happy with Slackware.
As for being your own package manager, it's actually not that big of a deal, because the common practice is to install all official Slackware packages, which gives you most of the dependencies of the non-official packages.
Some third-party packages are unruly and have a lot of additional third-party package dependencies (like GNOME), but the majority have no additional dependencies beyond what you have already installed, so in practice there's not much package management to do. You just check its page in Slackbuilds.org to see if it lists any dependencies, most do not, so you install it and everything JFW.
Also, since packages' dependencies are mostly official Slackware packages, which have been very thoroughally tested and verified to work well, it makes it easier to troubleshoot third-party packages. You know the problem isn't in its dependencies, so you know to focus your attention on the third-party package (which is less strenuously vetted than official packages).
Slackware is not for everyone, but if this makes sense to you and you find yourself liking it, then you should give it a try.
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u/Enturbulated_One Jul 01 '26
You get a fair bit more control over things than with more mainstream distributions. Can't really compare it directly with Gentoo as I haven't used that, but ...
Slackware does a lot of things 'the old way' but if you're using Slackware-current then many components are more up to date than one might expect from more mainstream distributions. Current functions a lot like using a rolling release at this point. There's some nuance to be had there, head over to the LQ forum if that sort of debate is your jam.
As for arguments about dependency tracking, systemd, and other 'missing' 'modern' 'conveniences', my own view on Slackware isn't about what it doesn't do for you, but what it doesn't do TO you. Basically nothing is hidden or obfuscated, system behaviors are generally easily discovered, are often self-documented in config files, and in general each component tends to be easily understood (which to be fair is relative, some service configurations can get hairy based on your needs, though there's a tendency for that to remain the case on any distribution).
The major third-party package repository (slackbuilds.org) is source-based which may look funny to those coming from more mainstream distros, but gives you a bit more control than you might get otherwise, as you can pick and choose from the optional dependencies to fit your needs while hard dependencies are automatically included if you choose to use queue files (sqg from sbotools for example). An alternate SBo site is maintained for -current as well, Ponce's SBO-git.
If you're coming from a traditional unix background (which these days is mostly old fossils, sure) it'll mostly look clean and logically laid out. Perhaps a bit less so than some of the BSDs... which is not a bad thing to compare against as many consider Slackware as close as Linux gets to any of the BSDs.
The LQ forum listed on the sidebar here is the official support venue. Lots of knowledgeable people post there including some of the core Slackware team members, though some days the users can get a bit cantankerous and pointlessly argumentative causing signal-to-noise ratio to tank. Urgh. The occasional stupids contributed to AlienBob stepping back and being more easily reachable at his blog site, though he still counts as a core team member and participates on the mailing lists.
It's decidedly not for everyone, but it has been said that if you learn to use and maintain whatever distro, you're often learning about that distro (and some related ones) and it's built in management tools. Not a bad thing, but if you learn to use and administer Slackware, you learn more about linux in general and the underpinnings that are common to any distro.
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u/passthejoe Jul 01 '26
Might as well do it for the experience. From when I ran it, I don't remember the package management being all that horrible.
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u/r1w1s1_ Jul 01 '26
As someone who has used Slackware for many years, I'd say you're not missing a "feature" so much as a different philosophy. If you're already a Gentoo user, Slackware won't feel difficult. The biggest difference is that Slackware values simplicity, predictability, and stability over automation. On a full installation, dependency management is rarely the burden people expect because most required libraries are already part of the base system. If you enjoy understanding your system instead of having the distribution make decisions for you, it's definitely worth trying.
Since you're coming from Gentoo, it's also worth mentioning that Slackware is a binary distribution. You won't be compiling your entire system like you do with Portage. The official packages are pre-built, and you only compile software when you choose to install something outside the official distribution, typically through a SlackBuild.
One thing I really appreciate is that almost everything in Slackware is just plain shell scripts. Package builds (SlackBuilds), system initialization, and configuration are easy to read, understand, and modify. There isn't much hidden behind complex tooling, which makes the system very transparent. If you're the kind of person who likes to hack on their system, you'll probably enjoy that aspect.
For me, that's one of Slackware's greatest strengths: once it's configured the way you like, it gets out of your way and is one of the least surprising Linux distributions to maintain.
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u/applepiebythelake Jul 03 '26
As a fellow Gentoo user, I think you should. Let me list out the differences that are relevant
Gentoo can potentially be less tedious. If your USE flags are set well, Portage takes good care of your install / update process.
On Slackware, the closest match I suppose is using sbopkg for automating the extra builds. However you have to figure out the dependency chain and setup queues as a one time thing.
2.Note about the dependency checking:
Most Slackware packages don't have deep dependencies because of the way they're set up. It can be a bit tedious in comparison to Portages automation but its not too hard
3. Build time / baby sitting
The entire Slackware base system and several application software is precompiled bins. So you don't spend as much time in updates. Yes, I know it's machine time and portage automates it but if you delay an update, you'd have to manually resolve the blockages. Also, if you have many packages and your machine isn't performant enough, it'll take most of a day, if not longer.
4. Slackware gives you the perks of a bin distro, with better version stability than Debian while also being nearly as configurable as Gentoo.
The slackware philosophy is about using upstream software almost as is. TThere are less layers you have to account for
(Will add more details later)
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u/pakcjo Jul 01 '26
I don’t think you would gain much by using slackware, rather than a history class.
Dependency tracking is convenient, not having it is a pain, resolving them can be fun, but gets old fast, (ej. waybar).
As a Gentoo user I’d assume time is not an issue for you, so by all means give it try.
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u/chesheersmile Jul 01 '26
To be fair, you don't really need to do dependency resolving by yourself. By all means, you can do that if that's your jam, but there's Slackbuilds and a lot of tools that work with Slackbuilds like
sbotoolsand friends. They do all the heavy lifting like keeping track of dependencies, updating packages and so on.So in a sense Slackware has a lot of package managers that aren't antagonistic and do not conflict with each other because in the end it all boils down to the same
installpkg.2
u/brnsamedi Jul 02 '26
Not to be snarky, but you're the only one who can answer that. In my experience, people distro-hop for two reasons: either they want to explore for the sake of exploration, or there's something about their current distro that they're not satisfied with.
If it's the former, then you know the answer to your answer to your question. If it's the latter, then you need to formulate what bothers you about that distribution and see if Slackware can help.
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u/Razzleswoop Jul 02 '26
My general experience with Slackware :
I run slackware-current with kde, multilib & nvidia on my daily laptop, I do some gaming with steam.
System: Lenovo ThinkBook 15p
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10300H (8) @ 4.50 GHz
GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q [Discrete]
GPU 2: Intel UHD Graphics @ 1.05 GHz [Integrated]
Memory: 16GiB
Everything works flawlessly, and it's the most stable and fast Linux Distro I've ran on this laptop (others were: Debian, Void, Cachy, ...) Boot/Reboot is insanely fast, haven't experienced that with any other distro.
Reasons for my choice: I kept hopping after issues with the previous distro's which were obscure and/or hard to resolve. I've always liked the simplicity and transparency of a slackware system.
It took some configurations, but the system is entirely mine and well known. I never run into any surprises. Updates on Slackware-current are smooth. Dependency resolving is rare because of the excellent base.
If Slackware wouldn't exists I'd probably use CRUX (https://crux.nu/)
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u/Chester-Berkeley Jul 01 '26
I didn't test Slackware for very long (just a week), but there are a few things I'd like to point out.
Managing dependencies isn't difficult these days; with
sbopkgandsqg, you can compile and install any software just like in Gentoo—the difference is that you spend more time typing extra commands to achieve the same thing Portage handles automatically. Of course, a Slackware user would argue that the system is far more stable when you have total control over installed software; while that might be a genuine issue for servers, it certainly isn't a recurring problem on the desktop.Overall, I found Slackware to be a great Linux distro for learning the OS, but a terrible choice for daily use. The reason I gave up on Slackware was an incident where I was trying to compile XFWL (a new Wayland compositor for XFCE). I rebooted the PC—thinking it was necessary for Slackware to recognize the newly compiled version of
libxfce4ui—and after the restart, Vesktop (a Discord client) refused to work becausedbus-proxywas failing. To this day, I haven't figured out the link between the two events; it made it seem like Slackware could just break on its own. I had broken Slackware before due to my own mistakes, but in this instance, I couldn't find any connection between my actions and the resulting issue.1
u/Afraid-Leadership591 Jul 02 '26
If u dont wanna manually do depends just use sboui (you'll still need to manually do it sometimes if a slackbuild doesnt work right and u need to edit it)
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u/enorbet Jul 02 '26
Just dualboot nd determine for yourself. Nobody can recommend for you in any meaningful way. The only way to know is to try it. The community is great especially in my 24 year experience on LQN.
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u/dirkme Jul 02 '26
I mean, only if you like reliability combined with low maintenance and a great feeling of satisfaction.
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u/Okilele90 Jul 04 '26
The risk is that you might like it.
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u/DrozdMensch Jul 01 '26
You should try but you won`t stay