Stick to fedora on this hardware for some time as all was working without much hustle, but 2 days ago moved to slackware and was very straight forward.

Instructions: https://inku.bot.nu/posts/slackware-current-macbookpro-2017/

I know that there are countless answers and even docs says to you that: you better do the full install so you don't miss any libraries. I understand that

What I don't understand, is why if I want to install xfce, installer will install openbox, twm, fvwm and other vm's I don't need.

The point of having a complete distro is understandable, what is not is that why putting all that junk you know (and they know) no one will use ?

Why, to this day there is no normal way to do a minimal installation except of shaman play with tagfiles ?

Most people will tell you that Slackware is more power-user oriented, so why, I'm as a power user can't install minimal system and add things myself (I do, but amount of steps I need to do compared to more popular distros is just ridiculous)

From -current's changelog (abbreviated):

Sat Oct 24 23:50:58 UTC 2026
a/coreutils-9.12-x86_64-3.txz:  Rebuilt.
  /etc/DIR_COLORS: add kmscon to the list of colorizable TERM types.
a/kmscon-10.0.4-x86_64-1.txz:  Added.
  OK, this is pretty neat so we'll add it, but it won't be used by default.
  You'll need to edit /etc/default/vtselect to enable it on some consoles.
  I'd considered this unacceptable until mouse support was added to it late
  last year, but that support still has some quirks copying from one console
  to another, and it utterly refuses to copy a link displayed at the bottom
  of a links session. CJK sure looks nice though, and the return of console
  scrollback is great! I did run into issues trying to start Wayland from a
  KMSCON, and X11 also would not start unless it was configured to allow
  anybody (not just console users) and to run X11 as root. It's probably
  better to just leave one regular fbcon console as a workaround for such uses.
  In spite of the drawbacks, clearly some folks will find this to be useful.
  Feel free to try it out.
  Thanks to jtsn for getting me to check this out again.

I added "Liberation Mono" font to the /etc/kmscon/kmscon.conf to match my Xterm preference.

For 15.0:

Fri Oct 23 22:22:59 UTC 2026
patches/packages/brotli-1.2.1-x86_64-1_slack15.0.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes a security issue:
  A buffer overflow vulnerability in the Brotli decoder (c/dec/decode.c) in
  Google Brotli versions 1.0.3 through 1.2.0 on all platforms allows a remote
  unauthenticated attacker to corrupt adjacent decoder state memory, disclose
  sensitive memory contents, cause a denial of service, or potentially execute
  arbitrary code using a crafted Brotli-compressed stream.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-111497
  (* Security fix *)
patches/packages/patch-2.8.1-x86_64-1_slack15.0.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes a security issue:
  Prevent creation of out-of-tree files.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-115207
  (* Security fix *)
patches/packages/python-certifi-2026.10.23-x86_64-1_slack15.0.txz:  Upgraded.
  Remove more eMudhra certificates.
  (* Security fix *)
+--------------------------+
Thu Oct 22 23:04:17 UTC 2026
patches/packages/linux-5.15.223/kernel-generic-5.15.223-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
patches/packages/linux-5.15.223/kernel-headers-5.15.223-x86-1.txz:  Upgraded.
patches/packages/linux-5.15.223/kernel-huge-5.15.223-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
patches/packages/linux-5.15.223/kernel-modules-5.15.223-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
patches/packages/linux-5.15.223/kernel-source-5.15.223-noarch-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes bugs and security issues, including the PwnEscape flaw.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-99999
  (* Security fix *)
  Be sure to upgrade your initrd after upgrading the kernel packages.
  If you use lilo to boot your machine, be sure lilo.conf points to the correct
  kernel and initrd and run lilo as root to update the bootloader.
  If you use elilo to boot your machine, you should run eliloconfig to copy the
  kernel and initrd to the EFI System Partition.

I downloaded r-quick-share_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage from https://github.com/Martichou/rquickshare/releases

It complained about the absence of libthai.so, so I downloaded the source for libthai-0.1.30.tar.xz from https://linux.thai.net/pub/thailinux/software/libthai/ .

It complained about the lack of libdatrie so I downloaded libdatrie-0.2.14.tar.xz from the same site.

When I ran r-quick-share_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage the screen was blank. https://github.com/Martichou/rquickshare/releases told me to run:

env WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 /usr/local/bin/r-quick-share_0.1.0_amd64.AppImage

which works; if you have more up-to-date graphics you may not need this.

It requires a network connection, doesn't work over bluetooth.

It often balks, takes a few tries to work. I haven't figured that out, but it's more convenient than my other choices.

"Quick Share" is a built-in Android app for transferring files. RedHat, Centos, and other distros have packages to support it, but not Slackware. There is no SlackBuild. I converted the RedHat package to a Slackware package and installed it but found a daunting list of dependencies. The source page says the AppImage needs no dependencies, which isn't my experience.

"Quick Share" used to be called "Nearby Share".

I had this project in mind a long time ago; if it’s useful to you, feel free to use,
modify, and improve it, you can do the same with any of the projects @slackware-ms on GitHub!
NOW! NEW VERSION!

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms/blob/main/smart-kiss-kernel-manager-1.6-noarch-6.txz
Deps:
Info: Stay informed and take careful note regarding the subject of kernel installation/compilation in Linux!

Compared to other big (and not so big) distros?

For 15.0

Wed Oct 21 21:33:15 UTC 2026
extra/php80/php80-8.0.30-x86_64-2_slack15.0.txz:  Rebuilt.
  This update fixes the following critical remote code execution flaw:
  Avoid state corruption via bailout.
  For more information, see:
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-w8hw-w9fx-j79w
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-6wmf-4rv5-p3rp
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619
  (* Security fix *)
extra/php81/php81-8.1.34-x86_64-2_slack15.0.txz:  Rebuilt.
  This update fixes the following critical remote code execution flaw:
  Avoid state corruption via bailout.
  For more information, see:
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-w8hw-w9fx-j79w
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-6wmf-4rv5-p3rp
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619
  (* Security fix *)
extra/php82/php82-8.2.35-x86_64-1_slack15.0.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes bugs and security issues, including the following
  critical remote code execution flaw:
  Avoid state corruption via bailout.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.php.net/ChangeLog-8.php#8.2.35
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-w8hw-w9fx-j79w
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-6wmf-4rv5-p3rp
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619
  (* Security fix *)
patches/packages/php-7.4.33-x86_64-4_slack15.0.txz:  Rebuilt.
  This update fixes the following critical remote code execution flaw:
  Avoid state corruption via bailout.
  For more information, see:
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-w8hw-w9fx-j79w
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-6wmf-4rv5-p3rp
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619
  (* Security fix *)

For -current:

Wed Oct 21 21:33:15 UTC 2026
a/kernel-firmware-20261021_59f9fc2-noarch-1.txz:  Upgraded.
a/kernel-generic-7.2.12-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
ap/kexec-tools-2.0.32-x86_64-3.txz:  Rebuilt.
  load-latest-kernel-initrd-with-kexec.sh: add reset_devices to the kernel
  command line. Some drivers need this to initialize properly from a dirty
  state with a kexec boot.
  Thanks to teoberi.
ap/nano-9.3-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
d/kernel-headers-7.2.12-x86-1.txz:  Upgraded.
k/kernel-source-7.2.12-noarch-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/brotli-1.2.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/nodejs-24.22.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
n/bind-9.20.30-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes security issues:
  Crafted DNS messages could exhaust CPU while being parsed.
  Fix remote termination of named under concurrent GSS-TSIG traffic.
  Possible crash with redirect and qname-minimization strict.
  Fix a bug when resuming from a query initiated by RPZ.
  For more information, see:
    https://kb.isc.org/docs/CVE-2026-19630
    https://kb.isc.org/docs/CVE-2026-94300
    https://kb.isc.org/docs/CVE-2026-96888
    https://kb.isc.org/docs/CVE-2026-97313
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-19630
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-94300
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96888
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97313
  (* Security fix *)
n/php-8.5.12-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes bugs and security issues, including the following
  critical remote code execution flaw:
  Avoid state corruption via bailout.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.php.net/ChangeLog-8.php#8.5.12
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-w8hw-w9fx-j79w
    https://github.com/php/php-src/security/advisories/GHSA-6wmf-4rv5-p3rp
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619
  (* Security fix *)
isolinux/initrd.img:  Rebuilt.
kernels/*:  Upgraded.
usb-and-pxe-installers/usbboot.img:  Rebuilt.

Packages Manager which solved Install/Uninstall Dependency Resolution. No necessary slackdepinfo-factory! Based on operating concept of netpkg but using slapt-get. It may be useful for those who use a minimal installation but wish to install additional
Dep: read Info and use SBo setup

UPGRADE to make sure that you have the newest implementation!

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

I use a minimal installation with the X11 server; in this case, I need dependency resolution to install the packages required for stable operation. For those interested, the dependency generator and manager, plus `slapt-get-m` and `gslapt-m`, might prove useful.

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

Deps: factory-slackdepinfo, manager-slackdepinfo, slapt-get_m-universal.zip, gslapt-m-universal.zip, slapt-getrc script, meson.

Info: inside of zip archives you will find out scripts for proper install.

To be noticed: On my sistem works! I do not know what is your current system situation.

Dear slackers

What is your preferred tiling window manager on your Slackware box? I use KDE’s Plasma and Window Maker 0.96.x
but wanted to try out something new…

I've worked through 30 dependencies that I have to make with SlackBuilds, run into one that I can't build. Even if I figure it out, will it work eventually? I will just try to pair a receiver with a keyboard, nothing fancy. I no longer have Windoze anywhere.

Anyone here use Podman? If so, how did you get it working and installed right? I tried self building it and it works to an extent but everything just errors like podman info command just does FATA[0000] Cgroupsv1 not supported. Which tells me it's a kernel thing but i cant fix it. Anyone have any helpful suggestions or such that would be great!

UPGRADE TO THE NEW VERSION

It is just a simple gaming portal.

Deps: sbopkg for steam; wine; multilib

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

Salixtools is a collection of command line (ncurses) system tools for
Salix. They can be also used in any other Slackware derivative.
Salixtools is a collection of command line (ncurses) system tools for
Salix. They can be also used in any other Slackware derivative.
(https://github.com/gapan)

Deps: sbopkg

UPGRADE to the new version!

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

Slpkg is a feature-rich package manager for Slackware-based systems. It installs, upgrades, removes, and builds packages from multiple repositories, including SlackBuilds.org (SBo, Ponce) and binary repositories. Slpkg automatically resolves and tracks dependencies (https://dslackw.gitlab.io/slpkg/)

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

dep: sbopkg

Nixpkgs is a collection of over 140,000 software packages that can be installed with the Nix Smart Manager for Slackware 😳🤷🏼‍♂️. https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs

Dep: use install nix

https://github.com/demo4him/slackware-ms

Not disappointed so far. I did have to reinstall on my first setup attempt though because my pc shut off mid kernel upgrade.

I've just recently installed Slackware (15.0) for the first time and I have a question. What should I do if I want to rebuild some of the programs installed by system packages with different options? In case of a package from SlackBuilds this is more or less straightforward, but is there a .SlackBuild files for bult-in packages? Or should I myself figure out where is the upstream of the program and then build it from the upstream source tarball?