Zenwalk

Zenwalk

Zenwalk 6.0
Developer Jean-Philippe Guillemin
OS family Unix-like
Working state Current
Source model Open source
Latest release 7.9.6[1] / October 31, 2015 (2015-10-31)
Update method netpkg (xnetpkg)
Package manager netpkg
Kernel type Monolithic
Default user interface Xfce
License Various
Official website www.zenwalk.org

Zenwalk is a Desktop focused Linux distribution founded by Jean-Philippe Guillemin. It is based on Slackware with very few modifications at system level making it 100% compatible with it.[2] Zenwalk aims to be a modern and multi-purpose Linux distribution by focusing on Internet applications, multimedia and programming tools.[3] Additionally, Zenwalk comes with many specialized tools, designed for beginner through advanced users as it offers system configuration via both graphical and command-line operations.

History

Zenwalk was originally called Minislack up to version 1.1, taking its current name with version 1.2 released 2005-08-12. Originally using KDE as its desktop environment, Zenwalk now uses Xfce as of version 0.3, although GNOME and KDE packages have always been available separately.

Aims

The Zenwalk Project aims to create a lightweight Linux distribution (through using only one application per task on the release ISO image), optimization for a specific processor architecture to increase execution speed, and introduces a comprehensive package management system with dependency resolution.[4]

Community

The Zenwalk Project has a forum that allows users and developers alike to post their issues, concerns and praise.

The newest official software packages are published in the -snapshot tree. When sufficient testing and debugging have been completed, a package is moved to the -current tree, where most users can download software to update their systems.

Zenpanel, a system configuration utility.

The community is also encouraged to take part in software package development, since the official software pool is considered limiting by some users. This allows third-party software to be made compatible with the Zenwalk directory structure, as well as improved interoperability with the rest of the distribution.

Package management

Zenwalk's netpkg in its GUI guise, xnetpkg.

Zenwalk uses the netpkg package management system. It is developed in-house, and it provides the main functionality of the apt-get variety of package managers. It uses Slackware's .tgz package format, but adds dependency resolution capabilities. The system uses meta files to provide dependency information, as well as package description during the install process. This convenience is only available to the official Zenwalk mirrors listed in the netpkg configuration file, netpkg.conf. In addition to the original netpkg command line interface, xnetpkg provides a GUI frontend with similar capabilities.

Additionally, Zenwalk is compatible with Slackware package management tools such as slapt-get and its frontends, and have similar functionality as that of netpkg.

As of Zenwalk 4.6, package compatibility with Slackware is still maintained. Slackware packages may be used to substitute Zenwalk packages where necessary. Additional package availability can be found at LinuxPackages.net.

Zenwalk release history[5]
version date
Minislack 0.1 May 21, 2004
Minislack 0.2 August 8, 2004
Minislack 0.3 February 17, 2005
Minislack 0.4 March 26, 2005
Minislack 1.0 April 24, 2005
Minislack 1.0.1 May 3, 2005
Minislack 1.1 June 10, 2005
Zenwalk 1.2 August 12, 2005
Zenwalk 1.3 October 15, 2005
Zenwalk 2.0 Core November 27, 2005
Zenwalk 2.0.1 December 4, 2005
Zenwalk 2.1 (Core) January 18, 2006
Zenwalk 2.2[6] February 16, 2006
Zenwalk 2.4[7] April 4, 2006
Zenwalk 2.6[8] May 23, 2006
Zenwalk 2.8[9] July 21, 2006
Zenwalk 3.0[10] September 8, 2006
Zenwalk 4.0[11] November 20, 2006
Zenwalk 4.2[12] January 6, 2007
Zenwalk 4.4[13] February 22, 2007
Zenwalk 4.4.1[14] February 24, 2007
Zenwalk 4.6[15] June 1, 2007
Zenwalk 4.6.1[16] June 6, 2007
Zenwalk 4.8[17] October 6, 2007
Zenwalk 5.0[18] January 18, 2008
Zenwalk 5.2[19] June 7, 2008
Zenwalk 6.0[20] March 7, 2009
Zenwalk 6.2[21] September 6, 2009
Zenwalk 6.4[22] May 27, 2010
Zenwalk 7.0[23] Mar 25, 2011
Zenwalk 7.2[24] Oct 11, 2012
Zenwalk 7.4[25] April 2014

Supported architectures

Zenwalk Linux is built and optimized primarily for the i686 architecture, although it supports i486 computers as well.

Project versions

There are five main versions of Zenwalk as of Zenwalk 7.2.[26]

Derivatives

There are currently three known Zenwalk-based distributions:

Live USB

A Live USB of Zenwalk Linux for versions up to 5.2 can be created manually or with UNetbootin.[30]

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zenwalk Linux.
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