Software update: Slackware 9.0 beta

Anonymous: 32223 left the following story: “On the site of Slackware Linux can be read that the current tree has been reinstated, eventually leading to Slackware 9.0. The biggest change is that all software is now compiled with the gcc-3.2.0 compiler instead of the gcc-2.95.x version. The beta version consists largely of a recompiled version of Slackware 8.1, which came out in June of this year. In addition, a few packages have been updated, including the 2.4.19 version of the Linux kernel, and a number of packages have been added. The actual release of Slackware 9.0 may be a while yet, as there has only been one release a year lately. At the time of writing it is difficult to get hold of this version as some ftp mirrors have the complete version and the Slackware ftp server is overloaded. This seems to be one of the few mirrors where the version is good to download. There is no ISO available, you can bake it yourself on the basis of the added instructions. Finally a link to the release notes†

The first release of the gcc-3.2 based slackware-current (which will eventually become Slackware 9.0) is online. Besides the new compiler, you’ll also find the 2.4.19 kernel, Ogg Vorbis 1.0, FLAC (the Free Lossless Audio Codec), perl 5.8.0, KDE 3.0.3, support for hotplugging, and many other improvements. All the patches since Slackware 8.1 have been merged into this tree as well. Have fun! †