Patrick Volkerding Explained

Patrick Volkerding
Birth Name:Patrick John Volkerding
Birth Date:October 20, 1966
Known For:Slackware
Occupation:Software engineer
Spouse:[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Children:Briah Cecilia Volkerding (2005)[7]
Parents:Dr. John Volkerding & Molly Jane Mullen[8]

Patrick Volkerding (born October 20, 1966) is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. Volkerding is Slackware's "Benevolent Dictator for Life" (BDFL), and is also known informally as "The Man".[9]

Personal life

Volkerding earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1993.[10] Volkerding is a Deadhead, and by April 1994 had already attended 75 Grateful Dead concerts.[11]

Volkerding is a Church of the SubGenius affiliate/member. The use of the word slack in "Slackware" is an homage to J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. About the SubGenius influence on Slackware, Volkerding has stated: "I'll admit that it was SubGenius inspired. In fact, back in the 2.0 through 3.0 days we used to print a dobbshead on each CD."[12]

Volkerding is an avid homebrewer and beer lover.[11] Early versions of Slackware would entreat users to send him a bottle of local beer in appreciation for his work.

Volkerding was married in 2001 to Andrea and has a daughter Briah Cecilia Volkerding (b. 2005).

Illness

In 2004, Volkerding announced via mailing list post that he was suffering from actinomycosis,[13] a serious illness requiring multiple rounds of antibiotics and with an uncertain prognosis. This announcement caused a number of tech news outlets to wonder about the future of the Slackware project.[14] As of 2012, both Volkerding and the Slackware project were reported to be in a healthy state again.[15]

Slackware Linux

Michael Johnston of Morse Telecommunications paid Volkerding $1 per copy sold. After that six-month contract, Robert Bruce of Walnut Creek CDROM began publishing Slackware as a CD-ROM set. Robert Bruce later became Volkerding's partner in Slackware Linux, Inc. with Volkerding owning a non-controlling, minority, 40% share.[16] Due to underpayment, Patrick Volkerding, "told them to take it down or I'd suspend the DNS for the Slackware store".[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

Walnut Creek CDROM,[25] [26] [27] 60% owner of Slackware Linux, Inc., was sold to BSDi[28] [29] and later to Wind River Systems.[20] [16]

Chris Lumens and others worked for Slackware, but due to underpayment, these people lost their jobs.[30] [31] [32] [20] [18] [23]

For the last several years, Volkerding has managed Slackware with the help of many volunteers and testers.

Awards

In 2014, Volkerding received the O'Reilly Open Source Award.[33]

Works

References

Interviews

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donating-to-slackware-4175634729/#post5882751 Donating to Slackware
  2. https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=00092 Slackware Updates
  3. http://www.slackware.com/~honeypie/ Welcome to Andrea Volkerding's not-a-home page!
  4. http://boulgerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/denise-mullen/ Obituarie:Denise Mullen(November 28, 1914 - November 10, 2017)
  5. https://distrowatch.com/weekly-mobile.php?issue=20051212&mode=66 DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 130, 12 December 2005
  6. http://www.inforum.com/content/violet-volkerding Obituarie:Violet Volkerding(September 18, 1915 - February 10, 2009)
  7. http://www.articleworld.org/index.php/Patrick_Volkerding Patrick Volkerding
  8. http://boulgerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/molly-volkerding/ Obituarie:Molly Volkerding(June 03, 1940 - March 14, 2014)
  9. http://www.slackware.com/about/ The Slackware Linux Project: About This Site
  10. http://www.linuxscrew.com/2009/04/02/faces-behind-linux-part-1/ Faces behind Linux — Part #1
  11. http://linuxjournal.com/article/2750 Interview with Patrick Volkerding
  12. http://slashdot.org/interviews/00/03/17/1120205.shtml Slashdot | Replies from Slackware Founder Patrick Volkerding
  13. Web site: Volkerding. Patrick. Last post?. slackware.osuosl.org. 7 October 2017. PAT-NEEDS-YOUR-HELP. 18 November 2004. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20041118015127/http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-current/PAT-NEEDS-YOUR-HELP.txt. 18 November 2004.
  14. Web site: Patrick Volkerding battles mystery illness. Slashdot. 16 November 2004 . 7 October 2017. slashdot-illness.
  15. News: Varghese. Sam. Slackware is alive and kicking: Volkerding. 7 October 2017. www.itwire.com. iTWire. 7 May 2012. itwire-volkerding. en-gb.
  16. News: The Linux distribution that's always in the black . 20 July 2021 . . 4 October 2002 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181124010150/https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-linux-distribution-thats-always-in-the-black-20021004-gdfp05.html . 2018-11-24 . en . Slackware started in early 1993, but it wasn't until the middle of 1994 that I was contacted by Michael Johnston of Morse Telecommunications and asked if I was interested in having them publish Slackware commercially...Since then, Slackware has always made enough money through publishing arrangements to be my full time job. I didn't stay with Morse long because they were only giving me $US1 per copy sold. When the initial six-month agreement expired, I moved on to Walnut Creek CDROM since they were better established and were willing to give Slackware a fair share of the profits. Their founder, Robert Bruce, is my current partner in Slackware Linux, Inc..
  17. Web site: Slackware Linux . store.slackware.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190314103755/http://store.slackware.com/cgi-bin/store/ . 14 March 2019 . dead.
  18. Web site: [SOLVED] Donating to Slackware ]. LinuxQuestions.org . 20 July 2021 . April 7, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190407050827/https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donating-to-slackware-4175634729/#post5882751 . live . en.
  19. News: jake . Financial woes for Slackware's Patrick Volkerding . 20 July 2021 . . Patrick Volkerding, who is the founder and benevolent dictator for life of the Slackware Linux distribution, posted a note at LinuxQuestions.org detailing some financial problems. It appears they mostly stem from a deal that he made with the Slackware Store that has gone badly awry....Note that there is at least one person out there soliciting Bitcoin who is not affiliated with Volkerding, in what looks like a scam of some sort; it is particularly sad because that is similar to what he alleges has happened with Slackware Store as well..
  20. News: Varghese . Sam . Slackware creator in strife, claims store has not paid him . 20 July 2021 . iTWire . 25 July 2018 . en-gb . Volkerding said he had discovered how bad things were in 2017 when he managed to get some numbers out of the people running the store. "I thought the sales were just that bad, and was really rather depressed about it. Another side note – the ownership of the 60% portion of the store changed hands behind my back. Nobody thought they needed to tell me about this. At that point I'd say things got considerably worse for me." The commercialisation of Slackware was initially undertaken with Michael Johnston of Morse Telecommunications in 1994. After that, Volkerding moved to a venture with the founder of Walnut Creek CDROM, Robert Bruce. Later, Volkerding teamed up with Bruce to set up a Slackware company. iTWire has written to the Slackware store, seeking comment on Volkerding's claims..
  21. News: Baader . Hans-Joachim . Patrick Volkerding in finanziellen Schwierigkeiten . 20 July 2021 . Pro-Linux . de.
  22. News: Schürmann . Tim . Geldnöte: Slackware-Erfinder Patrick Volkerding um Einnahmen betrogen . 20 July 2021 . Linux-Magazin . 27 July 2018 . de-DE.
  23. News: Slackware's finances . 20 July 2021 . . 2018-07-25.
  24. News: Slackware seeks support through Patreon . 20 July 2021 . . 2019-08-14.
  25. Web site: Yahoo - CRL Network Services Carries the Traffic of the Record-Breaking Walnut Creek CDROM FTP Site.
  26. Web site: Software Download Deals. 2021-07-21. 2021-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20210721045700/http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article47.html. dead.
  27. Web site: Patent No.: US 7,991,347 B1 - System and method for accessing set of digital data at a remote site . 2011-08-02 . United States Patent.
  28. Web site: Home. https://web.archive.org/web/20010408165915/http://alllinuxdevices.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-04-04-002-03-NW-BU. 2001-04-08.
  29. Web site: Patent No.: US 7,840,176 B2 - Information Distribution and Processing System . 2010-11-23.
  30. Web site: Company History.
  31. Web site: Linux Today - UPDATED: AllLinuxDevices: BSDi Acquired by Embedded Computing Firm Wind River . linuxtoday.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050103144527/http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-04-04-019-20-NW-SL-BD . 3 January 2005 . dead.
  32. Web site: Linux Today - Slackware Commercial Distribution Left in Doubt as Developers Are Laid off . linuxtoday.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050105142440/http://linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2001041701420NWSL . 5 January 2005 . dead.
  33. Web site: O'Reilly Open Source Awards - OSCON 2014. YouTube. O'Reilly. 25 July 2014.

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