Editing Slackware (section)

===Birth===
[[File:Slackware 1.01 screenshot.png|thumb|Slackware 1.01]]
Slackware was originally derived from the [[Softlanding Linux System]] (SLS),<ref>[https://www.tech-insider.org/linux/research/1993/0711.html Want an SLS like .99pl11A system?]</ref> the most popular of the original Linux distributions and the first to offer a comprehensive software collection that comprised more than just the kernel and basic utilities,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/91371/ |title=A Short History of Linux Distributions |website=Lwn.net |access-date=July 22, 2017 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623113052/https://lwn.net/Articles/91371/ |url-status=live }}</ref> including an [[X11]] graphical interface, [[TCP/IP]], [[UUCP]] networking, and [[GNU Emacs]].<ref name="StrobelElling1997">{{cite book|author1=Stefan Strobel|author2=Volker Elling|title=LINUX|url=https://archive.org/details/linuxuniverseins00stro|url-access=registration|access-date=August 4, 2013|date=January 1, 1997|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-94880-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/linuxuniverseins00stro/page/82 82]–83}}</ref>

Patrick Volkerding started with SLS after needing a [[Lisp (programming language)|LISP]] interpreter for a school project at the then named [[Minnesota State University Moorhead|Moorhead State University]] (MSU). He found [[CLISP]] was available for Linux and downloaded SLS to run it. A few weeks later, Volkerding was asked by his [[artificial intelligence]] professor at MSU to show him how to install Linux at home and on some of the computers at school. Volkerding had made notes describing fixes to issues he found after installing SLS and he and his professor went through and applied those changes to a new installation. However, this took almost as long as it took to just install SLS, so the professor asked if the install disks could be adjusted so the fixes could be applied during installation. This was the start of Slackware. Volkerding continued making improvements to SLS: fixing bugs, upgrading software, automatic installation of shared libraries and the kernel image, fixing file permissions, and more. In a short time, Volkerding had upgraded around half the packages beyond what SLS had available.

Volkerding had no intentions to provide his modified SLS version for the public. His friends at MSU urged him to put his SLS modifications onto an FTP server, but Volkerding assumed that "SLS would be putting out a new version that included these things soon enough", so he held off for a few weeks. During that time, many SLS users on the internet were asking SLS for a new release, so eventually Volkerding made a post titled "Anyone want an SLS-like 0.99pl11A system?", to which he received many positive responses. After a discussion with the local sysadmin at MSU, Volkerding obtained permission to upload Slackware to the university's [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]] server.<ref name="interview" /> This first Slackware release, version 1.00, was distributed on July 17, 1993, at 00:16:36 (UTC),<ref name="comp.os.linux">{{cite newsgroup|author=Patrick J. Volkerding|title=ANNOUNCE: Slackware Linux 1.00|date=July 17, 1993|newsgroup=comp.os.linux|message-id=227gd4$jtq@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu|url=http://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/comp.os.linux/Jl_s4yKkvGk/8dZXz_tbJGoJ|access-date=December 5, 2014|archive-date=May 13, 2011|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20110513061457/https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/comp.os.linux/Jl_s4yKkvGk/8dZXz_tbJGoJ|url-status=live}}</ref> and was supplied as twenty-four 3½" [[floppy disk]] images.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slackware.com/announce/1.0.php |title=The Slackware Linux Project: Slackware Release Announcement |website=Slackware.com |date=July 16, 1993 |access-date=July 22, 2017 |archive-date=June 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629152723/http://www.slackware.com/announce/1.0.php |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- NOTE: The release announcement posted on the Slackware Website was modified to show a "1993-07-16 17:21:20 PST" date, but the original date on the announcement was "17 Jul 1993 00:16:36 GMT" --> After the announcement was made, Volkerding watched as the flood of FTP connections continually crashed the server. Soon afterwards, [[Walnut Creek CDROM]] offered additional archive space on their FTP servers.<ref name="interview" />