Link Search Menu Expand Document

Slackware is a general-purpose GNU/Linux distribution that aims to be most “UNIX-like”, simple and stable. It strives to minimize the number of changes to upstream software releases. It is the oldest actively developed GNU/Linux distribution with development being led by creator Patrick Volkerding continuously since 1993.

Release Released Security Support
Current 29 years ago
(27 Jul 1993)
Yes
15.0 10 months ago
(03 Feb 2022)
Yes
14.2 6 years ago
(01 Jul 2016)
Yes
14.1 9 years ago
(07 Nov 2013)
Yes
14.0 10 years ago
(28 Sep 2012)
Yes
13.37 11 years ago
(28 Apr 2011)
Ended 4 years and 5 months ago
(05 Jul 2018)
13.1 12 years ago
(24 May 2010)
Ended 4 years and 5 months ago
(05 Jul 2018)
13.0 13 years ago
(28 Aug 2009)
Ended 4 years and 5 months ago
(05 Jul 2018)
12.2 14 years ago
(11 Dec 2008)
Ended 9 years ago
(09 Dec 2013)
12.1 14 years ago
(02 May 2008)
Ended 9 years ago
(09 Dec 2013)
12.0 15 years ago
(02 Jul 2007)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
11.0 16 years ago
(03 Oct 2006)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
10.2 17 years ago
(15 Sep 2005)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
10.1 17 years ago
(07 Feb 2005)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
10.0 18 years ago
(23 Jun 2004)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
9.1 19 years ago
(26 Sep 2003)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
9.0 19 years ago
(18 Mar 2003)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
8.1 20 years ago
(19 Jun 2002)
Ended 10 years ago
(01 Aug 2012)
8.0 21 years ago
(01 Jul 2001)
Ended 19 years ago
(29 Mar 2003)

There are several releases of Slackware Linux supported concurrently. A stability based release cycle is used and therefore releases are not due on a fixed schedule. A new release is usually made once every few years.

Slackware’s -current development tree closely follows bleeding edge of upstream releases. The latest stable release gets bug and security fixes while previous non End-of-Life releases receive only security patches.

Slackware officially supports 32-bit non-PAE (i586-compatible), 32-bit PAE (i686-compatible) and 64-bit x86 processors. Unofficial builds are available for the arm and s/390 architectures.

Security Advisories are published here, and can be subscribed via the slackware-security mailing list.

More information is available on the Slackware Linux website.

You can check the version that you are currently using by running:
cat /etc/os-release

You can submit an improvement to this page on GitHub :octocat: . This page has a corresponding Talk Page.

A JSON version of this page is available at /api/slackware.json. See the API Documentation for more.

This page was last updated on 31 October 2022. Latest releases are automatically updated.