Editing Slackware (section)

==Hardware architectures==
Historically, Slackware concentrated solely on the IA-32 architecture and releases were available as 32-bit only. However, starting with Slackware 13.0, a 64-bit x86_64 variant is available and officially supported in symmetrical development with the 32-bit platform. Prior to the release of Slackware64 users wanting 64-bit were required to use unofficial ports such as [[slamd64]].

Slackware is also available for the [[IBM ESA/390|IBM S/390]] architecture in the form of Slack/390 and for the ARM architecture under Slackware ARM (originally known as 'ARMedslack'). Both ports have been declared "official" by Patrick Volkerding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slackware.com/ports/|title=The Slackware Linux Project: Slackware Ports|website=Slackware.com|access-date=May 26, 2015|archive-date=May 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508041418/http://www.slackware.com/ports/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://arm.slackware.com|title=Slackware ARM|author=Stuart Winter|website=Slackware.com|access-date=May 26, 2015|archive-date=May 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527005916/http://arm.slackware.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the S/390 port is still at version 10.0 for the stable version and 11.0 for the testing/developmental version, and has had no updates since 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/slack390/slack390-current/ChangeLog.txt|title=Change log of Slack390|website=Ftp.nluug.nl|access-date=July 22, 2017|archive-date=July 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714201126/http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/slack390/slack390-current/ChangeLog.txt|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/slack390/slack390x-11.0/ChangeLog.txt|title=Change log of Slack390x|website=Ftp.nluug.nl|access-date=July 22, 2017|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225215/http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/slack390/slack390x-11.0/ChangeLog.txt|url-status=live}}</ref> Also, on May 7, 2016, the developer of Slackware ARM announced 14.1 will be EOL on September 1, 2016 and development of -current will cease with the release of 14.2, however support for 14.2 will be maintained for the foreseeable future.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-arm-108/slackware-arm-14-1-and-current-end-of-life-announcement-4175579194/|title=Slackware ARM 14.1 and -current End of Life Announcement|website=Linuxquestions.org|access-date=June 29, 2016|archive-date=August 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816190331/https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-arm-108/slackware-arm-14-1-and-current-end-of-life-announcement-4175579194/|url-status=live}}</ref> The EOL announcement for 14.1 was added to the changelog on June 25, 2016,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ftp.arm.slackware.com/slackwarearm/slackwarearm-14.1/ChangeLog.txt |title=END OF LIFE FOR SLACKWARE ARM v14.1 |access-date=December 23, 2022}}</ref> and the EOL announcement for 14.2 was added to the changelog on December 21, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ftp.arm.slackware.com/slackwarearm/slackwarearm-14.2/ChangeLog.txt |title=IMPENDING EOL (END OF LIFE) FOR SLACKWARE ARM v14.2 |access-date=December 23, 2022}}</ref>

In July 2016, the developer of Slackware ARM announced that the development and build tools had been enhanced to reduce the manual effort involved in maintaining the ARM port, and proceeded to announce that a 32-bit hardware floating port was in development.  The port was released in August 2016 in "current" form.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-arm-108/hard-float-port-now-available-4175587874/|title=Hard float port now available|website=Linuxquestions.org|access-date=March 28, 2017|archive-date=March 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329045827/http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-arm-108/hard-float-port-now-available-4175587874/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 28th December 2020 work began on porting Slackware to the 64-bit ARM architecture (known as 'AArch64'), with the initial Hardware Model targets being the PINE64's RockPro64 and Pinebook Pro.  It was functionally complete by May 2021, and has many improvements over the original design and implementation of the ARM port - particularly in regards to the management and enablement of new Hardware Models by the Slackware ARM community. Additionally, the boot and installation processes were improved significantly - making the installation process far easier and more streamlined.  

On Mar 29th 2022 Slackware AArch64 was publicly released in -current (development) form with support for the RockPro64, Pinebook Pro and Raspberry Pi 3 & 4, with online installation documentation and video installation guides. Also the unofficial ''slarm64'' project<ref name="slam64 Project">{{cite web | url=https://slarm64.org/ | title=slarm64 | access-date=December 23, 2022 | website=slarm64.org}}</ref> has a port for AArch64, and an additional port for [[RISC-V|riscv64]] architecture.

In March 2022 official development of the ARM 32-bit port of Slackware ceased, with future development concentrated solely on the AArch64/ARM64 port. This was because the 32-bit hardware was unable to keep pace with the development of Slackware and was inhibiting development, and the limitations of the hardware became a blocker to the adoption of the latest technologies. Additionally since most of the other mainstream distributions ceased support for 32-bit ARM, some of the applications failed to build and were no longer supportable. There is however the unofficial Slackware port ''BonSlack''<ref name="BonSlack Project">{{cite web | url=https://bonslack.org/ | title=BonSlack unofficial porting of Slackware GNU/Linux to ARM, DEC Alpha, HPPA, LoongArch, MIPS, OpenRISC, PowerPC, RISC-V, S/390x, SH4, SPARC, x86 | access-date=May 15, 2023 | website=bonslack.org}}</ref> that provide both soft (ARMv5) and hard float (ARMv7) ports for 32-bit ARM, with development and updates (from 14.2) aligned with official Slackware. This project also provides ports for [[Aarch64]] (ARM64), [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]], [[PA-RISC|HPPA]] (PA-RISC 1.1), [[LoongArch]] (64 bit), [[MIPS_architecture|MIPS]] (32/64-bit), [[OpenRISC]], [[PowerPC]] (32/64-bit), [[RISC-V]] (64-bit), [[Z/Architecture|S/390x]], [[SuperH|SH-4]], [[SPARC]] (32/64-bit), and [[x86]] (32-bit with 64-bit {{Mono|time_t}}) architectures.

On Dec 21 2022, Slackware ARM 14.2 had its EOL (End of Life) declared as 1st March 2023.

Slackintosh is a port of Slackware Linux for the [[Macintosh]] [[New World ROM]] [[PowerPC]] architecture, used by Apple's [[Power Macintosh]], [[PowerBook]], [[iMac]], [[iBook]], and [[Xserve]] lines from 1994 until 2006. The last version of Slackintosh was 12.1, released on Jun 7, 2008.<ref name="distrowatch slackintosh">{{cite web |url=https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackintosh |title=DistroWatch.com: Slackintosh |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=December 3, 2019 |website=distrowatch.com |publisher=Distribution Watch |access-date=June 28, 2020 |archive-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629205621/https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackintosh |url-status=live }}</ref> Slackintosh's website is still active and version 12.1 is available for download<ref>{{cite web |url=https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/ |title=Slackintosh Linux home page |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 7, 2007 |website=slackintosh.workaround.ch |publisher=Slackintosh Linux |access-date=June 28, 2020 |archive-date=July 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711153131/https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/ |url-status=live }}</ref> for those who have older PowerPC Macintosh computers. The project developers announced in February 2012 that development was frozen and 12.1 would be able to receive security patches for one month.<ref>
{{ Cite web
 | url          = https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/pub/slackintosh/current/ChangeLog.txt
 | title        = ChangeLog.txt
 | last         = 
 | first        = 
 | date         = 2012-02-17
 | website      = slackintosh.workaround.ch
 | publisher    = Slackintosh Linux project
 | access-date  = 2022-09-14
 | url-status   = live
 | language     = 
 | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220321210956/https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/pub/slackintosh/current/ChangeLog.txt
 | archive-date = 2022-03-21
 | quote        = Slackintosh-current has not received any update in the last 15 months: it's time to close this branch and give it up to maintenance to anyone who will eventually step up.
}}
</ref>
The next month, it was announced that the stable release is frozen and won't receive any further updates unless someone else decides to take over.<ref>
{{ Cite web
 | url          = https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/pub/slackintosh/12.1/ChangeLog.txt
 | title        = ChangeLog.txt
 | last         = 
 | first        = 
 | date         = 2012-03-18
 | website      = slackintosh.workaround.ch
 | publisher    = Slackintosh Linux project
 | access-date  = 2022-09-14
 | url-status   = live
 | language     = 
 | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220321210959/https://slackintosh.workaround.ch/pub/slackintosh/12.1/ChangeLog.txt
 | archive-date = 2022-03-21
 | quote        = Hi again community, the time has finally come. I really enjoy working on the Slackintosh project but the grace period of one month has passed so it's time to close even the -stable branch.
}}
</ref>
This never happened and Volkerding officially declared the project dead in July 2021.<ref name="CL-current" />