Question about slackware 8.1 rootdisk

[Adam Myrow]

A good mirror for Slackware is
ftp://ftp.eunet.be/pub/slackware/slackware-8.1.  I have heard that despite
its far away location for most of us that it has worked well for many
broadband users.  I know that when Slackware 8.1 first came out, it was
about the only mirror that anybody could get into.

As for the changes in Slackware 8.1, I like some and dislike others.  I
fully agree with others that the 5 root disks issue should have been
handled more gracefully, perhaps by using older libraries or some such.
However, I feel that the UMSDOS-based install.zip combined with a kernel
will help some people such as those who have laptops with no floppy drive.

As for software changes, not making ISOS of the extras and source disks is
no big deal to me as you can download the packages you want from the
extras directory and most people are not all that interested in the source
code, but it is in the source directory should somebody want to look at
it.  The extras directory (which corresponds to the fourth CD of the
official set,) has some interesting software, like Emacsspeak, Brltty, and
some ham radio tools.  However, as I said, it can easily be downloaded if
desired.  It's not like SUSE where unless you pay for it, you get a demo
that runs only from the CD.  Doesn't that violate the GPL?

The things I like about Slackware 8.1 are that pkgtool can now run some of
the post-install scripts for you so that if you should need to reconfigure
something and can't remember the command, you can do it without having to
go through all the reconfiguration that the old setup tool did.  I like
the inclusion of logrotate and a good configuration for it.  I like the
cron.daily, cron.hourly, etc system that has been added and the default
entries do what needs to be done.  All that the user needs to do is adjust
the time for root's crontab to something they feel is appropriate and they
are off and rolling.  /etc/rc.d/rc.modules is now much less messy and
IMHO, a cleaner script.  The default services that are enabled on a stock
install are much more secure.  There are now default entries so you can
mount floppies and CDROMS by typing "mount /mnt/floppy" or "mount
/mnt/cdrom."  Pat has finally removed the annoying "set IGNOREEOF" from
the default /etc/profile so you can logout with control-D without having
to reconfigure.  If you misstype your password, the next time you log in,
you will be told when the last failed login was and how many have taken
place.  This is great for a server as it could provide early warning of
hack attempts.

My complaints besides the root disk?  Well, Slackware seems to have gotten
a bit bigger.  For example, I had nearly everything from Slackware 8.0
installed plus several local modifications.  This was still under 2GB.
With Slackware 8.1, I am now right at 2GB.  The default kernel in
Slackware 8.1 is huge and the name "bare" is misleading.  I don't really
know if using Syslinux is a good or bad idea for boot disks, as I haven't
decided.  The version of Lilo included in Slackware 8.1 prints some bizarre
warning messages but seems to work OK.  Although, as mentioned, Pat
removed "set IGNOREEOF" from /etc/profile, he left the even more annoying
"biff y" in the file.  This is totally pointless as it clutters the screen
and the shell does a much better job of informing the user of incoming
mail.  As usual, it is the first thing that goes in a new install.
Lastly, although Pat made the entries in /etc/fstab to mount floppies and
CDROMS, he used "owner" instead of "user" for the options.  His change log
indicates that he regards this as more secure, but I regard it as a
nuisance and I changed it right after removing "biff y."

So in general, I have mixed feelings about Slackware 8.1, but for me, the
good outweighs the bad and this is the first version of Linux that I have
actually purchased mainly because of the great support for Speakup and
inclusion of other alternatives.

Things I'd like to see in a future Slackware release are: the dump and
restore backup utilities, mgetty, and perhaps a few other screen readers.
Also, I think biff should be removed entirely.  Lastly, some scripts to
set up sound and X at install time.  I know Slackware is about doing it
yourself, but easily 70% of questions on alt.os.linux.slackware involve X
and sound not working.