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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>
<title>Introduction to Slackware</title>
<section>
<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. Slackware's simplicity makes it ideal for
those users who want to create their own custom systems. And of course,
Slackware is great in its own right as a desktop, workstation, or server.
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Differences with other Linux Distributions</title>
<para>
There are a great number of differences between Slackware and other
main-stream 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 these other distributions ship
with 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 over-write any changes you make
to the config 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 up-stream 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 Chapter 16 for more
information). What it does not have is automatic dependency
resolution. Rather, Slackware's package tools trade dependency
management for simplicity, ease-of-use, and reliability.
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Licensing</title>
<para>
Each piece of Slackware (indeed 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.
</para>
<para>
Perhaps the most popular license in use within the Free Software
community is the GNU General Public License.
The GPL was created by the Free Software
Foundation which actively works to create and distribute software that
contains the basic freedoms they fill are basic rights. Indeed, 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 distribute the software or your
changes to it without abiding by the terms of the license agreement. A
great many 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, but imposes 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.
</para>
</section>
</chapter>
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