Pre-Order Slackware 11

I expect we’ll start seeing some slackware-11.0 packages showing up in slackware-current soon. Anyone know if /etc/slackware-version has been updated in -current yet?

It’s hard to say exactly when we’ll see Slackware 11 officially released. In the months before a new release, there’s always huge amounts of speculation going on as to the exact release date. I’d expect to see Slackware 11.0 go official by the end of July.

Anyway, want to pre-order Slackware 11? Head over to the slackware store to pick up the DVD or the CD set.

More Switching

Steve Castle is thinking about switching himself over to linux. So far, it’s a choice between Slackware and Ubuntu. Good choices. I mean, I would never choose Ubuntu, for obvious reasons.

I’ve been playing around with a few LiveCD distros of Linux, including Slackware and Ubuntu. I defnitely like the interfaces of each, but I think for the time being, I am leaning towards Ubuntu.

So, go give him a quick visit and let him know Slackware would be the best choice if he really wants to learn linux.

Slackware changelog May 3rd

Several updates were included in the -current tree recently, one notable change is a security fix to x11. This bug (which consists of a single missing bracket) would allow users to execute arbitrary code as root. It is suggested you upgrade your system, which can be done easily through swaret(my personal preference) or slapt-get.

Wed May 3 21:48:26 CDT 2006xap/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.3-i686-1.tgz: Upgraded to firefox-1.5.0.3.
This upgrade fixes a crash bug that could possibly be used to
execute code as the Firefox user.
For more information, see:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html#firefox
(* Security fix *)
+————————–+
Wed May 3 00:01:38 CDT 2006
a/smartmontools-5.36-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to smartmontools-5.36.
Thanks to Jonathan Woithe for letting me know that newer 2.6.x kernels
need this version to properly support SMART with SATA drives.
l/libpng-1.2.10-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to libpng-1.2.10.
n/rsync-2.6.8-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to rsync-2.6.8.
tcl/tcl-8.4.13-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to tcl-8.4.13.
tcl/tk-8.4.13-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to tk-8.4.13.
x/x11-6.9.0-i486-4.tgz: Patched with x11r6.9.0-mitri.diff and recompiled.
A typo in the X render extension allows an X client to crash the server
and possibly to execute arbitrary code as the X server user (typically
this is "root".)
The CVE entry for this issue may be found here:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2006-1526
The advisory from X.Org may be found here:
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2006-May/015136.html
(* Security fix *)
x/x11-devel-6.9.0-i486-4.tgz: Patched and recompiled libXrender.
(* Security fix *)

Slackware Resource Site

Eric Hameleers runs a great slackware resource site that many people probably don’t know about. I was unaware of it’s existance until I came across this post at StrayPackets.

So, what’s so great about this site you ask? StrayPackets put it pretty well, so I’ll just let them explain:

1. Many SlackBuild scripts that automate the downloading and building of source code into packages ready to be installed on Slackware
2. Modified versions of important Slackware scripts like rc.wireless and rc.inet1
3. DHCP scripts that let you run commands when your DHCP client obtains or releases an IP address, like starting your firewall;
4. Some handy hints and documentation on Slackware specifically and Linux in general; I found the the wireless docs especially useful

When they say “many SlackBuild scripts”, they really do mean many SlackBuild scripts. I count about 100 or so. The site is hosted on slackware.com, although there aren’t any references to it from the official slackware.com site. I’m willing to bet this is a pretty much unknown site, Google only found three links to it.

Linux.com Dropline Gnome Review

Glen Journeay has done a review of Dropline Gnome 2.14.0 over at Linux.com. Dropline Gnome 2.14.1 was released on May 01. Glen paints a very positive portrait in his review, prompting one commenter to give DLG a try.

Here’s his summary:

I have to admit that dropline GNOME satisfies a very basic itch. I get to keep using Slackware, a distribution I have come to rely on to provide a fast, stable, and full-featured Linux, and I get a cutting-edge GNOME desktop. This allows me to see where GNOME is heading, and since it’s still Slackware, I can easily add all the programs I want by downloading and compiling the source. Dropline GNOME is not Ubuntu, but then Slackware is not Ubuntu. It’s not the easiest distribution to install or configure, but it just works. Dropline GNOME too works well for everything I ask of it.

I’m still using Dropline Gnome on my desktop at home, as I have been for the last 2 or 3 years. It’s gone through many changes but has always managed to provide a stable, up-to-date desktop for Slackware. What more could one ask for?

The Open Source Pimp noticed the review too. And Silvestre (aka ertz) will be releasing a new “Dropline Neu!” release by the end of this week. Exciting! Ertz is the reason for Dropline being so beautiful and eye-pleasing.