Random Slackware FAQ

Random Slackware Questions & Answers

I just decided to dedicate a page of some random Slackware Questions and Answers I ran acrross while hanging out in ##slackware on irc.freenode.net

Q1: Why was Gnome dropped from Slackware

A1: I have already answered that question on this page here. Basically it comes down to Gnome not having much of an idea which way they are going and that building gnome is just a royal pain in the proverbial backside. (Honestly, try it)

Q2: Why does slackware 9.1 has no udev support?

A2: Ok, yes slackware 9.1 can support a 2.6 kernel without too many problems probably (lacking means of testing this myself). But lets look at the timelines of the different pieces of software:

Udev 0.1 release date: April 10, 2003
Slackware 9.1 Released date: Sep 25 2003

So based on those two dates, yes udev could have been incorperated into the slackware, apart from the fact that slackware really tends to focus on more stable and mature code. By the time slackware 9.1 was released, udev was between version 0.2 and 003. (based on kernel.org date stamps)

However more importantly, udev requires a 2.6 kernel. So looking at the kernel.org release times. the orginal 2.6.0 kernel was not released until December 17, 2003. About three months after Slackware 9.1 had gone gold! And to add to that, If one looks at the 10.0 tree of slackware, what do we see. Udev was added there.