Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Henrik Carlqvist Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.slackware Subject: Re: It's official, slashdot enters phase of "slow days" Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:21:12 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 77 Message-ID: <10nrd4o$2979o$1@dont-email.me> References: <10niean$38p8c$1@dont-email.me> <10nq4r7$1p7be$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:21:14 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="1371de008192d73f0a7b973b8cad304b"; logging-data="2399544"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19mTJLDvrqY4MBMHgKokKyA" User-Agent: Pan/0.139 (Sexual Chocolate; GIT bf56508 git://git.gnome.org/pan2) Cancel-Lock: sha1:o9GrWDNalLy1KWCuQ2V/TzvwO1E= Xref: csiph.com alt.os.linux.slackware:35559 On Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:53:27 +0000, Joseph Rosevear wrote: > OK, I talked to Grok. He advised that I shouldn't call my project > "ZombieSlack" due to trademark issues. > This is new territory for me. Any comments? I think that the best source of information for this kind of questions is the file COPYRIGHT.TXT included on Slackware installation media and at http://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware64-15.0/COPYRIGHT.TXT A snippet of that file says: -8<------------------------------------------------ Slackware is a registered trademark of Patrick Volkerding and Slackware Linux, Inc. Permission to use the Slackware trademark to refer to the Slackware distribution of Linux is hereby granted if the following conditions are met: 1. In order to be called "Slackware", the distribution may not be altered from the way it appears on the central FTP site (ftp.slackware.com). This is to protect the integrity, reliability, and reputation of the Slackware distribution. (Note that moving entire directories like "source" or "contrib" to a second CD-ROM is allowable, but leaving them out and distributing a single source-free disc is *not*, as indicated below) Anyone wishing to distribute an altered version must have the changes approved by volkerdi@slackware.com (i.e. certified to be reasonably bug-free). If the changed distribution meets the required standards for quality, then written permission to use the Slackware trademark may be provided. 2. All related source code must be included. (This is also required by the GNU General Public License, and other licenses) 3. Except by written permission from Slackware Linux, Inc., the Slackware trademark may not be used as (or as part of) a product name, company name, or registered domain name. 4. Any approved use of "Slackware" must be followed by a circle-R, and must acknowledge our ownership of the mark. Note that you can still redistribute a distribution that doesn't meet these criteria, you just can't call it "Slackware". Personally, I hate restricting things in any way, but these restrictions are not designed to make life difficult for anyone. I just want to make sure that bugs are not added to commercial redistributions of Slackware. They have been in the past, and the resulting requests for help have flooded my mailbox! I'm just trying to make sure that I have some recourse when something like that happens. Any questions about this policy should be directed to: Patrick Volkerding -8<------------------------------------------------ To me it seems that it would be OK to call your customized Slackware "ZombieSlack", but just to make sure, you might want to check with Patrick himself. During the years, there have been many official and unofficial forks of Slackware. I can't say for sure which of those have gotten their blessing from Patrick, but examples of forks with names slightly resembling Slackware are: Slackel ARMedslack Slackintosh Slack 390 (I think this one was an official fork) Minislack (later renamed to Zenwalk) regards Henrik