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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
"/usr/share/xml/docbook/xml-dtd-4.5/docbookx.dtd">
<chapter id="ch_intro">
<title>Introduction to Slackware</title>
<section id="intro_why-slackware">
<title>Why Use Slackware?</title>
<para>
Slackware has a long tradition of excellence. Started in 1992 and
first released in 1993, Slackware is the oldest surviving commercial
Linux distribution. Slackware's focus on making a clean, simple Linux
distribution that is as UNIX-like as possible makes it a natural choice
for those people who really want to learn about Linux and other
UNIX-like operating systems. In a 2012 interview, Slackware founder and
benevolent dictator for life, Patrick Volkerding, put it thusly.
</para>
<para>
"I try not to let things get juggled around simply for the sake of
making them different. People who come back to Slackware after a time
tend to be pleasantly surprised that they don't need to relearn how to
do everything. This has given us quite a loyal following, for which I
am grateful."
</para>
<para>
Slackware's simplicity makes it ideal for
those users who want to create their own custom systems. Of course,
Slackware is great in its own right as a desktop, workstation, or server
as well.
</para>
</section>
<section id="intro_comparisons">
<title>Differences Compared to Other Linux Distributions</title>
<para>
There are a great number of differences between Slackware and other
mainstream distributions such as Red Hat, Debian, and Ubuntu. Perhaps
the greatest difference is the lack of "hand-holding" that Slackware
will do for the administrator. Many of those other distributions ship
with custom graphical configuration tools for all manner of services. In
many cases, these configuration tools are the preferred method of setting
up applications on these systems and will overwrite any changes you make
to the configuration files via other means. These tools often make it easy
(or at least possible) for a rookie with no in-depth understanding of
his system to setup basic services; however, they also make it difficult
to do anything too out of the ordinary. In contrast, Slackware expects
you, the system administrator, to do these tasks on your own.
Slackware provides no general purpose setup tools beyond those included
with the source code published by upstream developers. This means there
is often a somewhat steeper learning curve associated with Slackware, even
for those users familiar with other Linux distributions, but also makes it
much easier to do whatever you want with your operating system.
</para>
<para>
Also, you may hear users of other distributions say that Slackware has
no package management system. This is completely and obviously false.
Slackware has always had package management (see <xref
linkend="ch_pkg"/> for more information). What it does not have is
automatic dependency resolution - Slackware's package tools trade
dependency management for simplicity, ease-of-use, and reliability.
</para>
</section>
<section id="intro_licensing">
<title>Licensing</title>
<para>
Each piece of Slackware (this is true of all Linux distributions) is
developed by different people (or teams of people), and each group has
their own ideas about what it means to be "free". Because of this,
there are literally dozens and dozens of different licenses granting
you different permissions regarding their use or distribution.
Fortunately dealing with free software licenses isn't as difficult as
it may first appear. Most things are licensed with either the Gnu
General Public License or the BSD license. Sometimes you'll encounter a
piece of software with a different license, but in almost all cases
they are remarkably similar to either the GPL or the BSD license.
</para>
<para>
Probably the most popular license in use within the Free Software
community is the GNU General Public License. The GPL was created by
the <ulink url="http://fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</ulink>,
which actively works to create and distribute software that guarantees
the freedoms which they believe are basic rights. In fact, this is
the very group that coined the term "Free Software." The GPL imposes
no restrictions on the use of software. In fact, you don't even have
to accept the terms of the license in order to use the software, but
you are not allowed to redistribute the software or any changes to it
without abiding by the terms of the license agreement. A large number
of software projects shipped with Slackware, from the Linux kernel
itself to the Samba project, are released under the terms of the GPL.
</para>
<para>
Another very common license is the BSD license, which is arguably "more
free" than the GPL because it imposes virtually no restrictions on
derivative works. The BSD license simply requires that the copyright
remain intact along with a simple disclaimer. Many of the utilities
specific to Slackware are licensed with a BSD-style license, and this
is the preferred license for many smaller projects and tools.
</para>
</section>
</chapter>
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