12. Getting support for Debian Linux

12.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?

• Installation instructions for the current release: see http://www.debian.org/1.1/install.html.

• dpkg programmer's manual and Debian policy manual
  • The dpkg programmer's manual is the primary documentation on the technical aspects of creating Debian binary and source packages.

    The Debian policy manual documents the policy requirements for a package to be included in Debian.

    These documents are also included in the latest dpkg-dev package.

• Documentation on installed Debian packages: Most packages have files that are unpacked into /usr/doc/ and /usr/doc/examples/.

• Documentation on the Linux project: The Debian package doc-linux_VVV-RRR.deb installs all of the most recent versions of the HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs from the Linux Documentation Project. This package is in the stable/binary-all/doc/ section in the FTP archives.

• Unix-style 'man' pages: Most commands have manual pages written in the style of the original Unix 'man' files. They are referenced by the section of the 'man' directory where they reside: e.g., foo(3) refers to a manual page which resides in /usr/man/man3/, and it can be called by executing the command: man 3 foo, or just man foo if section 3 is the only one containing a page on foo. One can learn which directory of /usr/man/ contains a certain manual page by executing man -w foo.

  New Debian users should note that the 'man' pages of many general system commands are not available until they install these packages (both of which are normally stored in the stable/binary-all/doc/ directory of the Debian FTP archive:

  • manpages_VVV-RRR.deb (see support for non-English languages).
  • man_VVV-RRR.deb, which contains the man program itself, and other programs for manipulating the manual pages.

• GNU-style 'info' pages: User documentation for many commands, particularly GNU tools, is available not in 'man' pages, but in 'info' files which can be read by the GNU tool info or by running M-x info within GNU Emacs. Its main advantage over the original 'man' pages are that it is a hypertext system. It does not require the WWW, however; info can be run from a plain text console. It was designed by Richard Stallman and preceded the WWW. The program that manipulates `info' files is installed as a separate package info_VVV-RRR.deb, usually stored in the directory stable/binary-all/doc/ on the FTP archive.

12.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?

There are several Debian-related mailing lists:

• debian-announce@lists.debian.org (moderated). (Usually) major system announcements. On average, fewer than one message per week are posted here.
• debian-changes@lists.debian.org. Announcements of new package uploads for the Debian system. This list may carry several announcements in a day.
• debian-user@lists.debian.org . A mailing list where users can ask for and receive advice on the use or configuration of Debian packages or other aspects of Debian Linux. This list is an invaluable learning resource; there can be 50 messages a day or more on this list.
• debian-sparc@lists.debian.org . This list is for those involved in porting Debian software to the SPARC platform.
• debian-alpha@lists.debian.org . This list is for those involved in porting Debian software to DEC alpha platforms.
• debian-68k@lists.debian.org . This list is for those involved in porting Debian software to Motorola 680x0 platforms; currently this means the Atari and Amiga only.
• debian-talk@lists.debian.org .

To subscribe to debian-X (for X in announce, changes, user, talk), send mail to debian-X-request@lists.debian.org with the word "subscribe" in the Subject: header. If you have a forms-capable World Wide Web browser, you can subscribe to debian-announce and debian-user by using the WWW form. You can also un-subscribe using that form.

The list manager's e-mail address is listmaster@lists.debian.org

Archives of the Debian mailing lists are available via WWW at http://www.debian.org/Lists-Archives/ and via FTP from ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/debian-lists/.

Users can address questions to individual package maintainers, since their e-mail addresses are provided in the Debian control file (see section Debian control file) that is included within each package. One can also learn the maintainers' names and e-mail addresses by searching the "Packages" file, since this file is just a concatenation of all the available package control files in a particular directory tree. To extract a control file from a particular Debian package, use the command,

dpkg --info packageName_VVV-RRR.deb

Another related mailing list, debiangame, is being run by Gary Moore ( mailto:gary@ssc.com) at the University of Washington. As the name suggests, it is devoted to the discussion of games that have been (or might be) packaged for Debian. To subscribe, send mail to listproc@u.washington.edu, putting in the message body:

  subscribe debiangame FirstName LastName

Users should post non-Debian-specific questions to one of the Linux Usenet groups, which are named comp.os.linux.* or linux.*. Specialized Systems Consultants (a.k.a. SSC) maintains a list of Linux, Unix, X, and networking newsgroups on their WWW site.

12.3 What is the code of conduct for the mailing lists?

When using the Debian mailing lists, please follow these rules:

• Do not flame; it is not polite. Besides the people developing Debian are all volunteers, donating their time, energy and money in an attempt to bring the Debian project together.
• Do not use foul language; some people receive the lists via packet radio, where swear words are illegal.
• Make sure that you are using the proper list.
• Do not try posting unless you are subscribed. Posting by non-subscribers was turned off to make the mailing lists usable. Thus, only postings from e-mail addresses matching those of a subscriber are accepted. If you often post from other addresses than the one you subscribe with, mail the list manager listmaster@lists.debian.org with the subject "please add subscriber alias".
• See section reporting bugs for notes on reporting bugs.

12.4 Is there a quick way to search for information on Debian GNU/Linux?

There are a variety of search engines that serve documentation related to Debian.

• Verism's search site. To obtain information on how to submit a debian bug report, enter the words debian bug submit and search for "all of these words".
• DejaNews news search service. To find out what experiences people have had with finding drivers for Western Digital controllers, try searching on this phrase:

  linux & WD
  

  This tells DejaNews to report any postings containing both the string "linux" AND the string "WD" When I used it, I discovered that my WD card (which I have only had for 6 months) has been declared outmoded by Adaptec, now that they have bought WD. So there are no drivers available. (Bless Adaptec's hearts.)
• The AltaVista Search Engine can also be used to search Usenet (although it appears to be not quite as up to date as DejaNews). For example, searching on the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed explanation of this package than the brief description field in its control file.