Slackware Linux turned 25 years old!
Published on 2018-07-17 at 19:21:20 by Georgi Sotirov
On 1993-07-16 at 17:21:20 PST Patrick Volkerding released Slackware Linux 1.00, which was the first stable version (a pre-1.0 beta was released in April). So today we mark the 25-th anniversary of the distribution! Thus Slackware in still in the exclusive club of Debian and RadHat Linux as the oldest Linux distributions that are still active today (and it actually predates them).
In a quarter of century Slackware had released over 40 stable versions. Here below you'll find a list of them, based on official announcements, readmes and change logs:
- 1993-07-16: Slackware 1.00 (Linux 0.99.11a)
- 1993-08-04: Slackware 1.01 (Linux 0.99.12)
- 1993-12-12: Slackware 1.1.1 (Linux 0.99.14)
- 1994-02-05: Slackware 1.1.2 (Linux 0.99.15)
- 1994-03-19: Slackware 1.2.0 (Linux 1.0)
- 1994-04-15: Slackware 1.2.0.2 (Linux 1.0.8)
- 1994-04-21: Slackware 1.2.0.3 (Linux 1.0.8/1.1.5)
- 1994-07-01: Slackware 2.0.0 (Linux 1.0.9/1.1.18)
- 1994-09-22: Slackware 2.0.1 (Linux 1.1.18)
- 1994-10-18: Slackware 2.0.2 (Linux 1.1.54)
- 1994-10-31: Slackware 2.1.0 (Linux 1.1.59)
- 1995-04-01: Slackware 2.2.0 (Linux 1.2.1)
- 1995-06-01: Slackware 2.3.0 (Linux 1.2.8)
- 1995-10-30: Slackware 3.0.0 (Linux 1.2.13)
- 1996-07-03: Slackware 3.1.0 (Linux 2.0.0)
- 1997-02-17: Slackware 3.2.0 (Linux 2.0.29)
- 1997-07-11: Slackware 3.3.0 (Linux 2.0.30)
- 1997-10-14: Slackware 3.4.0 (Linux 2.0.30)
- 1998-06-09: Slackware 3.5.0 (Linux 2.0.34)
- 1998-10-28: Slackware 3.6.0 (Linux 2.0.35)
- 1999-05-10: Slackware 3.9.0 (Linux 2.0.37pre10)
- 1999-05-17: Slackware 4.0.0 (Linux 2.2.6)
- 1999-10-25: Slackware 7.0 (Linux 2.2.13)
- 2000-06-22: Slackware 7.1 (Linux 2.2.16)
- 2001-07-01: Slackware 8.0 (Linux 2.2.19/2.4.5)
- 2002-06-18: Slackware 8.1 (Linux 2.4.18)
- 2003-03-18: Slackware 9.0 (Linux 2.4.20)
- 2003-09-26: Slackware 9.1 (Linux 2.4.22)
- 2004-06-23: Slackware 10.0 (Linux 2.4.26)
- 2005-02-07: Slackware 10.1 (Linux 2.4.29/2.6.10)
- 2005-09-14: Slackware 10.2 (Linux 2.4.31/2.6.13)
- 2006-10-02: Slackware 11.0 (Linux 2.4.33.3/2.6.17.13/2.6.18)
- 2007-07-02: Slackware 12.0 (Linux 2.6.21.5)
- 2008-05-01: Slackware 12.1 (Linux 2.6.24.5)
- 2008-12-10: Slackware 12.2 (Linux 2.6.27.7)
- 2009-08-27: Slackware 13.0 (Linux 2.6.29.6)
- 2010-05-24: Slackware 13.1 (Linux 2.6.33.4)
- 2011-04-25: Slackware 13.37 (Linux 2.6.37.6)
- 2012-09-28: Slackware 14.0 (Linux 3.2.29)
- 2013-11-04: Slackware 14.1 (Linux 3.10.17)
- 2016-07-01: Slackware 14.2 (Linux 4.4.14)
Today, Slackware Linux is still valued for its stability and ease of use, which has always been the top priorities for the distribution. The distribution is regularly being updated with new software (although we're still waiting the next stable release), but it remains faithful to its traditions that are rooted in Unix. Like this Slackware continues to provide simplicity and ease of use while still providing the power and flexibility for being used like personal desktop, development workstation or server (or all together like in my case). For me Slackware is more than just a distribution, because through SlackPack, I'm feeling the distribution a big part of my professional life.
I started using Slackware in the university about 20 years ago and I would most probably continue using it until it's supported, because I'm quite used with it in first place, but also because for more than 13 years now I'm trying to extend the distribution with packages through SlackPack. Building packages is a tough job that requires you to stay informed (i.e. subscribe to hundreds of mail lists and other announcement channels), spare time and resources for preparing build scripts and other files, compile and test (i.e. have dedicated development environments - I run different Slackware versions as virtual machines on VMware ESXi hypervisor) and sometimes be a developer to fix failing builds, apply patches, etc.
Happy birthday Slackware! Live Long and Prosper!