Hello friends! I'm a beginner, and I was looking for more information about Slackware and saw this link from a 2015 reddit:
"Is Slackware dead? Should I use Arch?"
Is this still relevant to Red Hat that is more important then Slackware from a point "build packages" and understand HOW Linux works?


https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comme...ld_i_use_arch/

"There are some interesting comments in this thread that often pop up in related discussions that I disagree with. I will discuss some of them below.

Additionally, the question you have asked is difficult to understand without additional context. I want to learn Linux can mean a hell of a lot of things. Do you want to learn how to write software, build packages, administrate systems, kernel development, etc? Each of the topics listed (which is not a conclusive things of all things Linux), are broad labels that cover many different topics.

Things I disagree with:

If you want to learn Red Hat, use Red Hat. If you want to learn Linux, use Slackware.

As a Linux professional, I couldn't disagree with this more. Slackware and Red Hat in terms of day to day administration are essentially the same things aside from Slackware's unique package management and choice of init.

I would argue that what Slackware will force you to learn is some bash scripting, how to build software and how to find missing dependencies (since the package manager will be no help). Is this what people mean by learn Linux? I would probably disagree since Slackware package maintainer isn't exactly a professional skill in high demand. I'm thankful for all those who volunteer to do this but I really don't believe being proficient in building packages for Slackware makes you know Linux.

On the other side of the table, building RPM packages (on a RHEL based box) could be seen as a skill to know in the broad topic of knowing Linux. RPM is the standard Linux package format. Having this skill is useful for Enterprise distributions such as SLES and RHEL in cases where you find yourself needing to build and package software not distributed by the vendor in a professional setting.

Slackware's barebones installer is often seen as intimidating but is powerful in it's simplicity. I think doing at least one install of Slackware is potentially interesting but I would also argue that it may be more beneficial to learn a more old-fashioned install process such as the install process for Crux Linux (or Gentoo), which not only teaches you how people used to install Linux but also recovery techniques if you need to recover files from tarballs (Yes, at some companies that refuse to take backups seriously, tar is the answer).

What you will learn from Slackware is a Linux system that behaves very much like UNIX systems of the past. Assuming you do the full (recommended install), it comes with a complete build environment that will allow you to basically build whatever software you want. Please don't confuse Slackware with a source-based distribution. It's a binary distro with all the batteries included to help you build packages from external sources (hopefully) without having to worry about dependencies because they are already there. I don't believe this is in any way a negative comment towards Slackware and I've been an on-again off-again Slacker for a long time.

I find I learn a lot more from very minimal distros or things like Arch where you need to spend a little more time figuring out how to piece it together. Or like your example, Linux From Scratch.

I've argued this in the past and I don't believe Arch Linux teaches Linux. It teaches you how to follow instructions and how to copy/paste commands from a wiki in to your terminal. In the past it was interesting due to it's choice of init and new package manager but it has evolved in to a copy/paste distro without an installer. There's not much to learn here.

As for Linux From Scratch, it's an interesting science project. There's some neat things you can learn about such as what's required to build a GNU/Linux distro from scratch but beyond that there's not many real world skills (Unless you are planning on going further and maintaining a new custom distro). I don't believe the exercise of actually completing Linux From Scratch is worth while in any way other than a sense of accomplishment. It does have some interesting blurbs to read to give context of why you are copying and pasting code but for anyone who has actually completed it, I have to ask: Have you ever read a yacc manual and written any expressions with it to compliment your C code? If no, you probably didn't bother learning anything about the GNU system and simply copy/pasted.

==================================

So, TLDR; I don't believe Arch, Slack or LFS are good teaching tools.

Your question requires additional details in order for someone to steer you down the correct path.

If you want to learn how to build software or do any kernel development, any distro will suffice.

If you want to learn how to administrate systems, choose an enterprise distro derivative (opensuse leap or centos, maybe ubuntu/debian)

If you want to learn some basic skills to help volunteer (ex. maintaining packages), I would suggest giving smaller distros some love (like Slackware or even BSDs). Also depending on what you're working on if you go down this route, find some resources on the language of the software you are packaging (C, perl, python, whatever) as well as learn some portable shell scripting. Always review the documentation for the distro/or BSD to learn their packaging process.

If you want to be a hipster, who won't shut up about his gaps, install Arch.

I would also suggest looking up UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook 4th Editon (I think a 5th may have just been released).

Before all the comments and downvotes come in with "I run an Arch server to do X, I run a Slackware server to do X, etc", that's fine. You live in Rainbowland and there's nothing wrong with that. Enjoy the ride but be conscious that what you are doing is not recognized professionally and therefore your opinion on using distro X to accomplish task Y is invalid as it does not matter to me or anyone else who lives in the real world."

And there we go again...

12 members found this post helpful.

We are not the drones you are looking for....your opinion is for you, don't jam it down others throat.

10 members found this post helpful.

So are you a beginner? or a "Linux professional"? or just a TROLL?

My answer is you should use REDHAT as you are too much of a TROLL to use Slackware.

6 members found this post helpful.

Slackware is about as vanilla as a Linux OS can get. Maybe you prefer tutti-frutti ........
all rooty ..........
once upon a time a ran a small crew of carpenters in Washington DC. I always expected a new guy to know the basics of hanging a door (we did lots of doors) before embarking on some other approach to the exercise.
Same goes with LInix, I'd say, understand the basic system and then it will be easier to understand the variations and those distros you mentions are all patched and altered to suit the fancies and whims of the folks who put them together.
.... nuf sed ... go crawl under a bridge .........

1 members found this post helpful.

you should download slackware and redhat and merge the isos to create the slack-hat. The perfect linux for beginners professionals that have lot of opinions but no experience.

9 members found this post helpful.

No I am not a troll, but a little bit a confused with this article. What is correct and what is not correct?

So you are answering a 3 years old reddit post in a place where there is zero chance that a reader of the initial post will read your answer. In what aim? I am puzzled.

PS I didn't see your last post while typing. Why not just make your own opinion then?

1 members found this post helpful.

Well welcome to "rainbow land" I strongly suspect you'll find our opinion of people who dismiss us as "unprofessional and having opinions that don't matter" and yet expect to demand we explain ourselves less than warm.

2 members found this post helpful.

You're not going to win any friends around here asking if Slackware is dead.

Try it in a VM and find out for yourself.

3 members found this post helpful.

The article is from 2015. We are now in 2021. What may have been true in 2015 may or may not still be true. The article may or may not have aged well.

Personally, I think I have learned far more about "linux" from my 20+ years of using Slackware, than my 20+ years of using RHEL 5,6,7 and CentOS 6 and 7.

What I consider useful linux information may not be what you find useful. I have learned to authenticate against Microsoft Active Directory via SSSD in CENTOS at work, and have no use for that managing my linux systems at home. I broadcast music from my MPD player via Icecast to my Sonos speakers at home on Slackware, I only wish I could do that at work.... Everyone finds their own use for linux. Slackware suits my needs very well.

Hi Troll.
You stumble into the main Slackware forum. You copy into your first LQ contribution a lengthy and 3-year old post from a reddit, and you are not even the author. You do ZERO research, you then make a braindead assumption and then you expect us to spoon-feed you. Are you too braindead to understand the text you read? Should it be re-worked into a youtube video for better consumption?
I will just write down your name in my ignore list and avoid any further contact.

10 members found this post helpful.

Gentoo is also dead. You can find "articles" about dead Gentoo, 10-15 years old. Sour grapes for some, and they cannot accept their defeat. To feel better lets convince everybody (especially themselves) it is bad and dead anyway.

It would have been nice to see the quote in quotes as only this is what OP posted:
Everything below that is from the reddit thread... afaikr...

Wanting to understand HOW Linux works surely can't be a matter of distro choice.

If you want something close to UNIX, then RedHat a.o. distros based on systemd probably can't get further away... for now at least.

Build everything from scratch *must* be the way forward. Tailor-made to taste... but of course quite time consuming...

Slackware? Run by a dictator?
Fine with me after I found the "Slackware Philosophy"! That is how "my" distro should be managed. Look it up!

Anyone not sure if it's alive surely hasn't spent a single minute on LQ. Or read the changelogs...

Advice? Pick up anything and study away. Should you one day want something rock stable, sanely managed and with support second-to-none Slackware will still be here.

Though we'll probably still see questions like "Is Slackware dead"...

1 members found this post helpful.

"Is Slackware dead?" *drinks*
Recommendation to use Arch. *drinks*
Mention of adages about learning linux vs. learning a distro. *drinks*

My God, dude. Think of my poor liver. I'm not in my 20's anymore.

18 members found this post helpful.