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. Zenwalk aims to be a modern and multi-purpose Linux distribution by focusing on Internet applications, multimedia and programming tools. 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, optimization for a specific instruction set architecture to increase execution speed, and introduces a comprehensive package management system with dependency resolution.
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. 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 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 .
Starting with version 8.0, Zenwalk Linux is built and optimized primarily for the x86_64 architecture, the old 32 bitsi486 architecture is no longer supported.
Project versions
There are five main versions of Zenwalk :
Zenwalk Standard is a distribution aimed at mainstream desktop and development use. Designed to be a stand-alone operating system, it installs to the hard drive by way of a ncurses-based installer. It includes all of the officially released software packages that are deemed most useful by the Zenwalk community. The default install also includes development packages like gcc, and some proprietary media packages and drivers in order to provide a full featured default install. The default desktop environment is Xfce.
Zenwalk Core is a Zenwalk system built with customization in mind. Released with no X Window System binaries, its aim is to allow a skilled user to build a system fit for his or her needs. The project's lead developer is Emmanuel Bailleul.
ZenLive is a Zenwalk system built on a Live CD design. ZenLive follows the progress made by the full Zenwalk system closely, thus mirroring the version number, and attempts to stay true to the original distribution's goals. In addition, it includes all of the necessary libraries and applications to develop and compile software, a particularly rare feature in Live CD distributions. The original ZenLive team left the project after version 6.0 was released but ZenwalkLive project has been revived by an enthusiastic user and is now developed as a one-man-project. Since version 6.4 the live-framework has been changed from deprecated linux-live-scripts to slackware-live-scripts.
Zenwalk Gnome has GNOME as the default desktop environment.
Zenwalk Openbox is supplied with Openbox as stand-alone window manager. It is a very lightweight version of the operating system. It does not follow LXDE in its choice of software. It still uses Thunar File Manager over PCManFM which is standard on LXDE-based systems such as Lubuntu.
Derivatives
There are currently three known Zenwalk-based distributions:
Arudius, a live CD distribution for information assurance with tools for penetration testing and vulnerability analysis. Discontinued.
SLAMPP, intended to be used as a home server.
Zencafe, an Indonesian distribution designed for internet cafes.
