Season 2 of the SlackChat podcast is on the new Slackware ARM youtube channel!

This season we'll be able to show you behind the scenes of how the port is developed and maintained, and we'll cover the development of SlackwareAArch64 too!

Remember to Like & Subscribe! :-)

MoZes@slackware (Stuart Winter)

Happy new year!

The fourth official port of Slackware to the ARM architecture is now in progress, this time targeting the 64bit platform. The initial targets are the RockPro64, and we're aiming for more direct integration for the RaspberryPi systems in conjunction with the SARPi project. Once the RockPro64 support is complete and stable, the next target is the Pinebook Pro laptop.

Thanks PINE64 for their support on the hardware side!

At present, the build system is being updated to support parallel building of ARMv7 and AArch64 targets.

The initial SlackwareAArch64 ChangeLog documents the progress, and packages will be released within the next few months. We're also documenting the progress on the Slackchat podcast.

Funding through donations towards the effort are also appreciated!

MoZes@slackware (Stuart Winter)

Why do you trust software developed and distributed by people you don't know? Phil and I are sharing our insights and experiences into this topic, in the latest episode of the SlackChat podcast

Happy new year (although I'm not sure if there's a date by when you need to stop doing that!).

Some news on the Slackware ARM port. I have had a number of donations to the project since it began and once again I thank all of those who have made them.

As with all Open Source projects, there's a great deal of commitment from the developers to continue to maintain and support the project you're using. In the case of Slackware we have Patrick Volkerding and the rest of the team (including myself) donating their time free of charge.

As always, without Patrick Volkerding, Slackware ARM would cease to exist; so please in the first instance please show your support and commitment.

I've also set up a Patreon account for the users of the ARM port to provide a commitment and demonstration of support and a recognition of the value.

I'll be continuing to maintain and develop the port and distribute it free of charge because I enjoy the creative challenges. However, it has to now contend with other projects. Therefore I've set up a Patreon account for the users of the ARM port to provide a commitment and demonstration of support, which helps me prioritise.

Thanks
Stuart Winter (MoZes)

A sneak peak in to what the Slackware ARM build machines are currently up to:

Slackware branch	Status
slackwarearm-current	Enqueued activities
slackwareaarch64-current	Enqueued activities
slackwarearm-14.2	IN SYNC with public repository

[ Build host: Linux bladswede.arm.slackware.com 5.10.31-armv8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Apr 19 13:00:05 BST 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 20-Apr-21 Slackware distribution: slackwareaarch64-current Machine designation...: AArch64 current PURPLE, RockPro64 v2.1, 4GB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 05:30:02 BST 2021 Uptime................: 17 hours, 3 minutes Load average..........: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 r2b build status......: Batch completed successfully First build began on..................: Tue Apr 20 22:27:40 BST 2021 Most recent package began building on : Tue Apr 20 22:27:47 BST 2021 Build pass......: 1 of 1 Activities......:- Running OS command and ignoring exit value: cd ~/ac/source/k&&./build_all.sh Total elapsed time....................: 302 minutes / 5 hours / 0 days *** Complete.

[ Build host: Linux dastardly.arm.slackware.com 5.10.30-armv8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Apr 14 12:58:19 BST 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 09-Apr-21 Slackware distribution: slackwareaarch64-current Machine designation...: AArch64 current BLUE, RockPro64 v2.1, 4GB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 05:30:01 BST 2021 Uptime................: 6 days, 11 hours, 24 minutes Load average..........: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 r2b build status......: Batch completed successfully First build began on..................: Tue Apr 20 14:05:56 BST 2021 Most recent package began building on : Tue Apr 20 14:06:03 BST 2021 Build pass......: 1 of 1 Activities......:- Running OS command and ignoring exit value: cd ~/ac/source/k&&./build_all.sh Total elapsed time....................: 302 minutes / 5 hours / 0 days *** Complete.

[ Build host: Linux mojo.arm.slackware.com 5.10.31-armv7 #2 SMP Sun Apr 18 22:32:21 BST 2021 armv7l Allwinner sun8i Family GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 19-Apr-21 Slackware distribution: slackwarearm-current Machine designation...: ARM BLUE + desktop tests, Orange Pi Plus 2E (H3) v1.1, 2GB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 05:30:02 BST 2021 Uptime................: 17 hours, 53 minutes Load average..........: 0.00, 0.02, 0.00 r2b build status......: No state log.

[ Build host: Linux mutley.arm.slackware.com 5.10.28-armv8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Apr 8 16:17:49 BST 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 09-Apr-21 Slackware distribution: slackwareaarch64-current Machine designation...: AArch64 current GREEN, RockPro64 v2.1, 4GB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 04:30:01 UTC 2021 Uptime................: 1 week, 4 days, 16 hours, 43 minutes Load average..........: 0.15, 0.23, 0.25 r2b build status......: Activities in progress First build began on..................: Tue Apr 20 16:47:59 UTC 2021 Elapsed time..........................: 701 minutes / 11 hours / 0 days Most recent package began building on : Tue Apr 20 19:12:18 UTC 2021 Success count...: 35 (67%) [ recently: l/libvisio, l/mozilla-nss, l/mozjs78, l/openexr, l/python-docutils ] * Will build X11 modules at the end of this pass Build pass......: 1 of 3 Activities......:- Building package l/qt5 [ 36 of 52 ]

[ Build host: Linux zaden-142 4.4.267-armv5 #2 Fri Apr 16 18:35:24 -00 2021 armv5tel Marvell Kirkwood (Flattened Device Tree) GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 08-Feb-18 Slackware distribution: slackwarearm-14.2 Machine designation...: 14.2 stable builder, SheevaPlug, 512MB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 04:30:01 -00 2021 Uptime................: 1 day, 17 hours, 53 minutes Load average..........: 0.12, 0.15, 0.13 r2b build status......: No state log.

[ Build host: Linux zippy.arm.slackware.com 5.10.31-armv7 #2 SMP Sun Apr 18 22:32:21 BST 2021 armv7l Allwinner sun8i Family GNU/Linux ] OS installation date..: 19-Apr-21 Slackware distribution: slackwarearm-current Machine designation...: ARM GREEN, Orange Pi Plus 2E (H3) v1.1, 2GB RAM Present date..........: Wed Apr 21 05:30:01 BST 2021 Uptime................: 1 day, 18 hours, 21 minutes Load average..........: 1.11, 1.24, 1.29 r2b build status......: Activities in progress First build began on..................: Tue Apr 20 17:44:43 BST 2021 Elapsed time..........................: 704 minutes / 11 hours / 0 days Most recent package began building on : Tue Apr 20 23:00:57 BST 2021 Failed count....: 1 (1%) [ recently: l/librsvg ] Success count...: 34 (65%) [ recently: l/libvisio, l/mozilla-nss, l/mozjs78, l/openexr, l/python-docutils ] * Will build X11 modules at the end of this pass Build pass......: 1 of 3 Activities......:- Building package l/qt5 [ 36 of 52 ]

Linux 5.4.2 packages are now available in the main tree for all supported systems. That was the easiest and smoothest major upgrade in about fifteen years! Hats off to the Linux developer community.

The Slackware ARM world rebuild for -current is complete. Updates resume!

The Slackware ARM world rebuild is happening in -current presently, so there won't be any updates for a while. First build began on..................: Mon Apr 23 15:39:32 BST 2018 Time spent building since first build : 5248 minutes / 87 hours / 3 days Most recent package began building on : Fri Apr 27 07:08:24 BST 2018 Failed count....: 11 (1%) [ recently: l/qtscriptgenerator , l/libtheora , l/libmsn , l/gegl , d/perl ] Success count...: 692 (90%) [ recently: a/bzip2 , a/btrfs-progs , a/bin , a/bash , a/attr ] Build pass......: 1 of 3 Current activity:- Building package a/acpid [ 704 of 765 ]