Release Candidate 3 of Slackware 11.0 has been released. Patrick says this will most likely be the last RC but he won’t rule out an RC4. One important thing in this release: kernel 2.6 has been moved out of /testing and placed into /extra. From the changelog: “Here is Slackware 11.0 release candidate 3. I think most of the irresistible upgrades are in here now, and the bug reports have been mostly handled.”
“One important thing in this release: kernel 2.6 has been moved out of /testing and placed into /extra.”
*sigh*
I post about this everywhere I go and still I see erroneous information.
The quoted statement is very misleading. Patrick added a 2.6.16 kernel many weeks ago. In other words, the -current branch of Slackware has had BOTH a 2.4 AND a 2.6.16 kernel for quite some time. Patrick ALSO included a 2.6.17 kernel in the /testing directory in same manner that he included a 2.6.x kernel in /testing in the 10.2 release.
In RC3, what Patrick did was move the 2.6.17 kernel out of /testing and into the standard tree along with all the other kernels — essentially replacing the 2.6.16 kernel that was always there.
Slackware 11 will have both a 2.4 and 2.6 kernel available during install and both will be fully supported. This is old news.
Sorry, was in a bit of a hurry this morning so I couldn’t quote and explain everything as well as I had wished. You just did a nice job though jackson.
“One important thing in this release: kernel 2.6 has been moved out of /testing and placed into /extra.
Does this mean that Slackware 11.0 will default to kernel 2.4?
I am not sure what you mean by “default.” Do you mean which kernel will the installer boot with? Most likely the 2.4.
However, in Slackware, unlike most distros, you are presented with a list of various kernels during the installation process from which you can choose to install. So which kernel the installer boots with is not relevant to which kernel the user ends up actually installing. So, in that sense, there is no “default” because you have to pick from the list during install.
I think what he means is, is 2.6 the officially supported kernel in 11.0, i.e. the one Pat will be concentrating mostly on. Or to put it another way, with 11.0 is 2.4 on its way to the /pasture? Personally I hope so; 10.2 with the 2.6 test kernel and the 2.6 modules in /extra always gave me fits; kernel panics, lilo problems and such. In 10.2 it seems to be actually easier to compile the 2.6 kernel yourself and hand-tune it.
That said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with 2.4 as long as you don’t need Dropline GNOME or dbus. 2.4 is rock solid, stable, and very, very fast on modern hardware. It’s also still supported by nVidia for their proprietary drivers, which is a boon to those running on cheap, readily available FX5200s and GF2s.
Keep up the good work Patrick, I know I’m eagerly awaiting the official release, and subsequent delivery of my CD set I pre-ordered back in April!
You’ve just got to love Slackware!
In reality, the 2.6 kernel was in 10.2 already so there was no “addition” to -current, it was an upgrade. You can install the 2.6.13 kernel during install on Slackware 10.2 so the real update was both the fact that the 2.6 kernel version in testing was upgraded to 2.6.16 and then the most recent of it being moved out of testing and into extra while being upgraded to 2.6.17…Right?
Yes and no. There was a “test26” kernel in 10.2, but it wasn’t really supported. In fact, you had to install the kernel modules package yourself after booting the first time. That’s because the 2.6 kernel in 10.2 was in /testing.
The addition of 2.6.16 to /extra is not just an upgrade. It is something new. This kernel (which is now 2.6.17) _will_ be officially supported which means the installer will install the kernel modules package just like it does with the 2.4 kernels.
So, v11 now has a true, officially supported 2.6 kernel in /extra alongside all the 2.4 kernels, and that is indeed new. The 2.6 kernel in 10.2 was just in /testing and not supported.
So, v11 now has a true, officially supported 2.6 kernel in /extra alongside all the 2.4 kernels, and that is indeed new. The 2.6 kernel in 10.2 was just in /testing and not supported.
Thank you. You said it better than I did above.