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- Subject: Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 6 of 6)
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- From: rkiesling@mainmatter.com
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-
- /pub/linux/packages/GCC/ for binutils-2.6.0.2.bin.tar.gz.
-
- 9.5. GCC Says, "Internal compiler error."
-
- If the fault is repeatable (i.e., it always happens at the same place
- in the same file--even after rebooting and trying again, using a
- stable kernel) you have discovered a bug in GCC. See the GCC Info
- documentation (type F1-i in Emacs, and select GCC from the menu) for
- details on how to report the error. Make sure you have the latest
- version, though.
-
- Note that this is probably not a Linux-specific problem. Unless you
- are compiling a program many other Linux users also compile, you
- should not post your bug report to any of the comp.os.linux groups.
-
- If the problem is not repeatable, you may be experiencing memory
- corruption. Refer to the answer: ("Make Says, "Error 139."")
-
- 9.6. Make Says, "Error 139."
-
- Your compiler (GCC) dumped core. You probably have a corrupted, buggy,
- or old version of GCC--get the latest release or EGCS. Alternatively,
- you may be running out of swap space. Refer to: ("The Machine Runs
- Very Slowly with GCC / X / ...")
-
- If this doesn't fix the problem, you are probably having problems with
- memory or disk corruption. Check that the clock rate, wait states, and
- refresh timing for your SIMMS and cache are correct (hardware manuals
- are sometimes wrong, too). If so, you may have some marginal SIMMS, or
- a faulty motherboard or hard disk or controller.
-
- Linux is a very good memory tester--much better than MS-DOS based
- memory test programs.
-
- Reportedly, some clone x87 math coprocessors can cause problems. Try
- compiling a kernel with math emulation ("How To Upgrade/Recompile a
- Kernel.") no387 kernel command line flag on the LILO prompt to force
- the kernel to use math emulation, or it may be able to work and still
- use the '387, with the math emulation compiled in but mainly unused.
-
- More information about this problem is available on the Web at
- http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/.
-
- 9.7. Shell-Init: Permission Denied when I Log In.
-
- Your root directory and all the directories up to your home directory
- must be readable and executable by everybody. See the manual page for
- chmod or a book on Unix for how to fix the problem.
-
- 9.8. No Utmp Entry. You Must Exec ... when Logging In.
-
- Your /var/run/utmp is screwed up. You should have
-
- /var/run/utmp
-
- in your /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*. See, ("I Screwed Up the System
- and Can't Log In to Fix It.") Note that the utmp may also be found in
- /var/adm/ or /etc/ on some older systems.
-
- 9.9. Warning--bdflush Not Running.
-
- Modern kernels use a better strategy for writing cached disk blocks.
- In addition to the kernel changes, this involves replacing the old
- update program which used to write everything every 30 seconds with a
- more subtle daemon (actually a pair), known as bdflush. Get
- bdflush-n.n.tar.gz from the same place as the kernel source code ("How
- To Upgrade/Recompile a Kernel.") and compile and install it. bdflush
- should be started before the usual boot-time file system checks. It
- will work fine with older kernels as well, so there's no need to keep
- the old update around.
-
- 9.10. Warning: obsolete routing request made.
-
- This is nothing to worry about. The message means that your version
- route is a little out of date, compared to the kernel. You can make
- the message go away by getting a new version of route from the same
- place as the kernel source code. ("How To Upgrade/Recompile a
- Kernel.")
-
- 9.11. EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.
-
- You need to run e2fsck (or fsck -t ext2 if you have the fsck front end
- program) with the -a option to get it to clear the "dirty" flag, and
- then cleanly unmount the partition during each shutdown.
-
- The easiest way to do this is to get the latest fsck, umount, and
- shutdown commands, available in Rik Faith's util-linux package ("Where
- Are the Linux FTP Archives?") You have to make sure that your
- /etc/rc*/ scripts use them correctly.
-
- NB: Don't try to check a file system that's mounted read/write. This
- includes the root partition if you don't see
-
- VFS: mounted root ... read-only
-
- at boot time. You must arrange to mount the root file system read/only
- to start with, check it if necessary, and then remount it read/write.
- Almost all distributions do this. If your's doesn't, read the
- documentation that comes with util-linux to find out how to do this.
-
- Note that you need to specify the -n option to mount so it won't try
- to update /etc/mtab, since the root file system is still read-only,
- and this will otherwise cause it to fail.
-
- 9.12. EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached.
-
- This message is issued by the kernel when it mounts a file system
- that's marked as clean, but whose "number of mounts since check"
- counter has reached the predefined value. The solution is to get the
- latest version of the ext2fs utilities (e2fsprogs-0.5b.tar.gz at the
- time of writing) from the usual sites. ("Where Are the Linux FTP
- Archives?")
-
- The maximal number of mounts value can be examined and changed using
- the tune2fs program from this package.
-
- 9.13. EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached.
-
- Kernels from 1.0 onwards support checking a file system based on the
- elapsed time since the last check as well as by the number of mounts.
- Get the latest version of the ext2fs utilities. ("EXT2-fs warning:
- maximal count reached.")
-
- 9.14. df Says, "Cannot read table of mounted file systems."
-
- There is probably something wrong with your /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab
- files. If you have a reasonably new version of mount, /etc/mtab should
- be emptied or deleted at boot time (in /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*),
- using something like
-
- $ rm -f /etc/mtab*
-
- Some old Linux distributions have an entry for the root partition in
- /etc/mtab made in /etc/rc* by using rdev. That is incorrect--the newer
- versions of mount do this automatically.
-
- Some old distributions also have a line in /etc/fstab that looks like:
-
- /dev/sdb1 /root ext2 defaults
-
- The entry for /root should read simply /.
-
- 9.15. fdisk Says, "Partition X has different physical/logical..."
-
- If the partition number (X, above) is 1, this is the same problem as
- in fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary. If the
- partition begins or ends on a cylinder numbered greater than 1024,
- this is because the standard DOS disk geometry information format in
- the partition table can't cope with cylinder numbers with more than 10
- bits. You should see ("How To Get Linux to Work with a Disk.")
-
- 9.16. fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary.
-
- The version of fdisk that comes with many Linux systems creates
- partitions that fail its own validity checking. Unfortunately, if
- you've already installed your system, there's not much you can do
- about this, apart from copying the data off the partition, deleting
- and remaking it, and copying the data back.
-
- You can avoid the problem by getting the latest version of fdisk, from
- Rik Faith's util-linux package (available on all the usual FTP sites).
- Alternatively, if you are creating a new partition 1 that starts in
- the first cylinder, you can do the following to get a partition that
- fdisk likes.
-
- * Create partition 1 in the normal way. A `p' listing will produce
- the mismatch complaint.
- * Type u to set sector mode and do p again. Copy down the number
- from the End column.
- * Delete partition 1.
- * While still in sector mode, re-create partition 1. Set the first
- sector to match the number of sectors per track. This is the
- sector number in the first line of the p output. Set the last
- sector to the value you wrote down in the step above.
- * Type u to reset cylinder mode and continue with other partitions.
-
- Ignore the message about unallocated sectors. They refer to the
- sectors on the first track apart from the Master Boot Record, and they
- are not used if you start the first partition in track 2.
-
- 9.17. fdisk Says Partition n Has an Odd Number of Sectors.
-
- The PC disk partitioning scheme works in 512-byte sectors, but Linux
- uses 1K blocks. If you have a partition with an odd number of sectors,
- the last sector is wasted. Ignore the message.
-
- 9.18. Mtools Utilities Say They Cannot Initialize Drive X.
-
- This means that mtools is having trouble accessing the drive. This can
- be due to several things.
-
- Often this is due to the permissions on floppy drive devices
- (/dev/fd0* and /dev/fd1*) being incorrect. The user running mtools
- must have the appropriate access. See the manual page for chmod for
- details.
-
- Most versions of mtools distributed with Linux systems (not the
- standard GNU version) use the contents of a file /etc/mtools to
- determine which devices and densities to use, in place of having this
- information compiled into the binary. Mistakes in this file often
- cause problems. There is often no documentation about this.
-
- For the easiest way to access your MS-DOS files (especially those on a
- hard disk partition) see How do I access files on my DOS partition or
- floppy? Note--you should never use mtools to access files on an
- msdosfs mounted partition or disk!
-
- 9.19. At the Start of Booting: Memory tight
-
- This means that you have an extra-large kernel, which means that Linux
- has to do some special memory-management magic to be able to boot
- itself from the BIOS. It isn't related to the amount of physical
- memory in your machine. Ignore the message, or compile a kernel
- containing only the drivers and features you need. ("How To
- Upgrade/Recompile a Kernel.")
-
- 9.20. The System Log Says, "end_request: I/O error, ...."
-
- This error message, and messages like it, almost always indicate a
- hardware error with a hard drive.
-
- This commonly indicates a hard drive defect. The only way to avoid
- further data loss is to completely shut own the system. You must also
- make sure that whatever data is on the drive is backed up, and restore
- it to a non-defective hard drive.
-
- This error message may also indicate a bad connection to the drive,
- especially with home brew systems. If you install an IDE drive, always
- use new ribbon cables. It's probably is a good idea with SCSI drives,
- too.
-
- In one instance, this error also seemed to coincide with a bad ground
- between the system board and the chassis. Be sure that all electrical
- connections are clean and tight before placing the blame on the hard
- drive itself.
-
- [Peter Moulder, Theodore Ts'o]
-
- 9.21. "You don't exist. Go away."
-
- This is not a viral infection. It comes from programs like write,
- talk, and wall, if your invoking UID doesn't correspond to a valid
- user (probably due to /etc/passwd being corrupted), or if the session
- (pseudoterminal, specifically) you're using isn't properly registered
- in the utmp file (probably because you invoked it in a funny way).
-
- 9.22. "Operation not permitted."
-
- One or more of the file's or directory's attribute bits are set
- incorrectly. If the "I" bit is set, for example, you won't be able to
- change file permissions with chmod.
-
- The solution is to use lsattr to display file and directory
- attributes, and chattr to set and unset them. The programs'
- documentation is contained in their manual pages.
-
- [Paul Campbell]
-
- 9.23. programname: error in loading shared libraries: lib xxx..so. x: cannot
- open shared object file: No such file or directory.
-
- A message like this, when the program that you're trying to run uses
- shared libraries, usually means one of two things: the program was
- either compiled on a machine that had a different set of libraries or
- library paths than yours; or you've upgraded your libraries but not
- the program.
-
- Executable programs that are linked with dynamic libraries, expect the
- full pathname of each of the library files it requires. So do the
- shared libraries, if they rely on other libraries. This is so the
- shared object dependencies remain as unambiguous as possible, and also
- as a security measure.
-
- Short of recompiling the executable file for the libraries on the
- system--probably the most desirable alternative in the long run--you
- can try to determine which libraries the executable file needs with
- the command: "ldd programname." The output will be a list of the
- shared libraries on the system that the program needs to run, as well
- as the missing libraries. You can then add the library packages, or if
- the libraries already exist in a different directory, you can create a
- symbolic link so the program can find it. For example, if the program
- requires /usr/lib/libncurses.so.2, and your machine has
- /lib/libncurses.so.2, you can create a link where the program expects
- to find the library; e.g.:
-
- # cd /usr/lib && ln -s /lib/libncurses.so.2 .
-
- You should note, however, that creating library links like these
- should be considered a security risk, and the additional links you
- create will not be compatible with future upgrades. It's simply a
- quick fix for backward compatibility.
-
- Also, it may take some guesswork to determine in exactly which of the
- system library directories the program expects to find a shared
- library file, because ldd will not list the paths of libraries it
- can't find. A program most likely will tell the run-time linker,
- /lib/ld.so, to look for shared libraries in /lib, /usr/lib,
- /usr/local/lib, or /usr/X11R6/lib, if it's an X client. But that
- doesn't mean that libraries can't be installed elsewhere. It helps to
- have some idea of the original library configuration before
- proceeding.
-
- Also be sure to run ldconfig after creating the symbolic link, so that
- ld.so has an updated view of the system's libraries. You should also
- make certain that all of the library directories are listed in
- /etc/ld.so.conf, and perhaps in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment
- variable.
-
- 9.24. "init: Id "x" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes."
-
- In most distributions this means that the system is booting by default
- into runlevel 5, which is supposed to respawn (re-start again after
- it's been exited) a graphical login via xdm, kdm, gdm, or whatever,
- and the system can't locate the program.
-
- However, "Id" can also indicate the absence or misconfiguration of
- another program, like mingetty, if init tries to respawn itself more
- than 10 times in 2 minutes.
-
- Id "x" is the number in the leftmost column of the /etc/inittab file:
-
- # Run gettys in standard runlevels
- 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
- 2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
- 3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
- 4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
- 5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
- 6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6
-
- Commenting the offending line out and then fixing the errant program
- and testing on the command line will allow you to see any error
- messages that go to standard error output (console) if the errors are
- not going to the system log file. Uncomment the line and restart init
- with "kill -SIGHUP 1" or "telinit q" to cause init to reinitialize and
- reread the /etc/inittab file.
-
- Some systems, however, rewrite /etc/inittab when booting. In that
- case, refer to the init man page, and/or the settings in
- /etc/sysconfig/init.
-
- Refer to the init and /etc/inittab man pages for detailed information.
-
- [Carl King]
-
- 9.25. FTP server says: "421 service not available, remote server has closed
- connection."
-
- If an FTP server won't allow logins, it is probably configured
- correctly, but the problem is probably with authorizing users at
- login. FTP servers in current distriubtions often authorize users with
- the Pluggable Authentication Modules library, in which case there
- should be an authorization file /etc/pam.d/ftp. A generic
- authorization file looks like this. (The line break on the first
- "auth" line is for readability. The entry is actually a single, long
- line).
-
- #%PAM-1.0
- auth required /lib/security/pam_listfile.so item=user \
- sense=deny file=/etc/ftpusers onerr=succeed
- auth required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so shadow nullok
- auth required /lib/security/pam_shells.so
- account required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
- session required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so
-
- Also, make sure the /etc/ftpusers file, or whatever users file is
- named in the first "auth" line, is configured correctly.
-
- Btw, the sample ftp file above is actually theftpd/ftp.pam.sample file
- from the ftpd-BSD-0.3.1.tar.gz package. Many thanks to David A. Madore
- for this much needed port.
-
- 10. The X Window System
-
- 10.1. Does Linux Support X?
-
- Yes. Linux uses XFree86 (the current version is 4.0, which is based on
- X11R6). You need to have a video card which is supported by XFree86.
- See the XFree86 HOWTO for more details. Most Linux distributions
- nowadays come with an X installation. However, you can install or
- upgrade your own, from "ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/Xfree86-*"
- and its mirror sites, or from http://www.xfree86.org/.
-
- 10.2. How To Get the X Window System to Work.
-
- The answers to this question can, and do, fill entire books. If the
- installation program wasn't able to configure the X server correctly,
- Linux will most likely try to start the X display, fail, and drop back
- into text-only terminal mode.
-
- First and foremost, make certain that you have provided, as closely as
- possible, the correct information to the installation program of your
- video hardware: the video card and monitor. Some installation programs
- can correctly guess a "least common denominator" screen configuration,
- like a 640-by-480 VESA-standard display, but there are many possible
- video hardware configurations that may not be able to display this
- standard.
-
- The X Window System configuration file is called (usually)
- /etc/XF86Config, /etc/X11/XF86Config, or
- /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.
-
- If you need to manually configure the X server, there are several
- possible methods:
-
- * Try to use the XF86Setup program, which can help identify the
- correct X server and monitor timings for the video hardware.
- * Make sure that the X server has the correct options. If you log in
- as the superuser, you should be able to use X --probeonly to get a
- listing of the video card chipset, memory, and any special
- graphics features. Also, refer to the manual page for the X
- server. (E.g.; man X), and try running the X server and
- redirecting the standard error output to a file so you can
- determine, after you can view text on the screen again, what error
- messages the server is generating; e.g., X 2>x.error.
- * With that information, you should be able to safely refer to one
- of the references provided by the Linux Documentation Project.
- ("Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? ") There
- are several HOWTO's on the subject, including a HOWTO to calculate
- video timings manually if necessary. Also, the Installation and
- Getting Started guide has a chapter with a step-by-step guide to
- writing a XF86Config file.
-
- Also, make sure that the problem really is an incorrect XF86Config
- file, not something else like the window manager failing to start. If
- the X server is working correctly, you should be able to move the
- mouse cursor on the screen, and pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace will shut
- down the X server and return to the shell prompt in one of the virtual
- terminals.
-
- 10.3. Where To Find a Ready-Made XF86Config file.
-
- If you can't seem to get X working using the guidelines above, refer
- to the XFree86 HOWTO, recent versions of Installation and Getting
- Started, and the instructions for the XF86Setup program. The contents
- of the XF86Config file depend on the your exact combination of video
- card and monitor. It can either be configured by hand, or using the
- XF86Setup utility. Read the instructions that came with XFree86, in
- /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/etc. The file you probably need to look at most is
- README.Config. You should not use the sample XF86Config.eg file which
- is included with newer versions of XFree86 verbatim, because the wrong
- video clock settings can damage your monitor. Please don't post to
- comp.os.linux.x asking for an XF86Config, and please don't answer such
- requests. If you have a laptop, look at the Linux Laptop Web page
- ("How To Find Out If a Notebook Runs Linux.") Many of the installation
- notes also have the XF86Config file for the display. If you have a
- desktop machine, there are a few sample XF86Config files at
- ftp://metalab.unc.edu/. Refer also to the XFree86 FAQ
- http://www.xfree.org/FAQ/ and the monitor timings list
- http://www.xfree.org/#resources/, and in the /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/
- directory of your X distribution.
-
- 10.4. What Desktop Environments Run on Linux?
-
- Linux with XFree86 supports the KDE, GNOME, and commercial CDE desktop
- environments, and extended window managers like WindowMaker. Each uses
- a different set of libraries and provides varying degrees of MS
- Windows-like look and feel.
-
- Information on KDE is available from http://www.kde.org/. The KDE
- environment uses the Qt graphics libraries, available from
- http://www.qt.org/. The desktop uses its own window manager, kwm, and
- provides a MS Windows-like look and feel.
-
- The GNOME home page is http://www.gnome.org/. The environment uses the
- free GTK libraries, available from http://www.gtk.org/, and window
- managers like Enlightenment, http://www.enlightenment.org/, SawFish,
- http://www.sawfish.org/. There's also a Web page for GNOME
- installation and upgrade that functions much like Debian's apt-get
- utility with a friendly GUI front end. It's at:
- http://www.helixcode/com/desktop/.
-
- The commercial CDE environment uses the Motif libraries and a
- variation of the Motif mwm window manager, dtwm, and provides a suite
- of desktop and session-management utilities. Several vendors have made
- the source code of Motif available and provided binary packages for
- Linux distributions. As a starting point, download and installation
- information is available at http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/.
-
- A free version of Motif, called LessTiF, is available from
- http://www.lesstif.org/.
-
- WindowMaker, http://www.windowmaker.org/ is a window manager that has
- many desktop environment-like features. It provides support for
- GNUstep, http://www.gnustep.org/, a clone of the commercial NeXTStep
- environment.
-
- 10.5. xterm Logins Show Up Strangely in who, finger.
-
- The xterm that comes with XFree86 2.1 and earlier doesn't correctly
- understand the format that Linux uses for the /var/adm/utmp file,
- where the system records who is logged in. It therefore doesn't set
- all the information correctly. The xterms in XFree86 3.1 and later
- versions fix this problem.
-
- 10.6. How to Start a X Client on Another Display.
-
- To start a X client on another system that has a running X server, use
- the following commands:
-
- * Use xhost on the server system to allow the client system use the
- display. If the server's IP address is 192.168.20.1, enter the
- command:
-
- $ xhost + 192.168.20.1
-
- * On the client system, open a telnet connection to the server
- system.
- * In the telnet session, start a xterm in the background with the
- -display and -e options. For example, if the IP address of the
- machine running the server is 192.168.20.1 and the client program
- name is named "clientapp," use the following command:
-
- $ xterm -display 192.168.20.1 -e clientapp &
-
- [Pierre Dal Farra]
-
- 11. How to Get Further Assistance
-
- 11.1. If this Document Still Hasn't Answered Your Question....
-
- Please read all of this answer before posting. I know it's a bit long,
- but you may be about to make a fool of yourself in front of 50,000
- people and waste hundreds of hours of their time. Don't you think it's
- worth spending some of your time to read and follow these
- instructions?
-
- If you think an answer is incomplete or inaccurate, please e-mail
-
- Read the appropriate Linux Documentation Project books. Refer to:
- ("Where Is the Documentation?")
-
- If you're a Unix or Linux newbie, read the FAQ for
- comp.unix.questions, news.announces.newusers, and those for any of the
- other comp.unix.* groups that may be relevant.
-
- Linux has so much in common with commercial unices, that almost
- everything you read there will apply to Linux. The FAQ's, like all
- FAQ's, be found on ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/ (the
- mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu can send you these files, if you don't have
- FTP access). There are mirrors of rtfm's FAQ archives on various
- sites. Check the Introduction to *.answers posting, or look in
- news-answers/introduction in the directory above.
-
- Check the relevant HOWTO for the subject in question, if there is one,
- or an appropriate old style sub-FAQ document. Check the FTP sites.
-
- Try experimenting--that's the best way to get to know Unix and Linux.
-
- Read the documentation. Check the manual pages (type man man if you
- don't know about manual pages. Also try man -k subject and apropos
- subject. They often list useful and relevant, but not very obvious,
- manual pages.
-
- Check the Info documentation (type F1-i, i.e. the F1 function key
- followed by "i" in Emacs). This isn't just for Emacs. For example, the
- GCC documentation lives here as well.
-
- There will also often be a README file with a package that gives
- installation and/or usage instructions.
-
- Make sure you don't have a corrupted or out-of-date copy of the
- program in question. If possible, download it again and re-install
- it--you probably made a mistake the first time.
-
- Read comp.os.linux.announce. It often contains very important
- information for all Linux users. General X Window System questions
- belong in comp.windows.x.i386unix, not in comp.os.linux.x. But read
- the group first (including the FAQ), before you post. Only if you have
- done all of these things and are still stuck, should you post to the
- appropriate comp.os.linux.* newsgroup. Make sure you read the next
- question first. "( What to put in a request for help. )"
-
- 11.2. What to Put in a Request for Help.
-
- Please read the following advice carefully about how to write your
- posting or E-mail. Making a complete posting will greatly increase the
- chances that an expert or fellow user reading it will have enough
- information and motivation to reply.
-
- This advice applies both to postings asking for advice and to personal
- E-mail sent to experts and fellow users.
-
- Make sure you give full details of the problem, including:
-
- * What program, exactly, you are having problems with. Include the
- version number if known and say where you got it. Many standard
- commands tell you their version number if you give them a
- --version option.
- * Which Linux release you're using (Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, or
- whatever) and what version of that release.
- * The exact and complete text of any error messages printed.
- * Exactly what behavior you expected, and exactly what behavior you
- observed. A transcript of an example session is a good way to show
- this.
- * The contents of any configuration files used by the program in
- question and any related programs.
- * What version of the kernel and shared libraries you have
- installed. The kernel version can be found by typing "uname -a,"
- and the shared library version by typing "ls -l /lib/libc*."
- * Details of what hardware you're running on, if it seems
- appropriate.
-
- You are in little danger of making your posting too long unless you
- include large chunks of source code or uuencoded files, so err on the
- side of giving too much information.
-
- Use a clear, detailed Subject line. Don't put things like "doesn't
- work," "Linux," "help," or "question" in it--we already know that.
- Save the space for the name of the program, a fragment of an error
- message, or summary of the unusual behavior.
-
- Put a summary paragraph at the top of your posting.
-
- At the bottom of your posting, ask for responses by email and say
- you'll post a summary. Back this up by using "Followup-To: poster."
- Then, actually post the summary in a few days or a week or so. Don't
- just concatenate the replies you got--summarize. Putting the word
- "SUMMARY" in your summary's Subject line is also a good idea. Consider
- submitting the summary to comp.os.linux.announce.
-
- Make sure your posting doesn't have an inappropriate References:
- header line. This marks your article as part of the thread of the
- article referred to, which will often cause it to be junked by
- readers, along with the rest of a boring thread.
-
- You might like to say in your posting that you've read this FAQ and
- the appropriate HOWTO's--this may make people less likely to skip your
- posting.
-
- Remember that you should not post E-mail sent to you personally
- without the sender's permission.
-
- 11.3. How To Email Someone about Your Problem.
-
- Try to find the author or developer of whatever program or component
- is causing you difficulty. If you have a contact point for your Linux
- distribution, you should use it.
-
- Please put everything in your E-mail message that you would put in a
- posting asking for help.
-
- Finally, remember that, despite the fact that most of the Linux
- community are very helpful and responsive to E-mailed questions,
- you're likely asking for help from unpaid volunteers, so you have no
- right to expect an answer.
-
- 12. Acknowledgments and Administrivia
-
- 12.1. Where To Send Comments.
-
-
- Contributions to the FAQ may be in any format. Comments and
- corrections are gratefully received. Again, that email address is:
-
- If you wish to refer to a question in the FAQ, it's better to do so by
- the question heading instead of number. The question numbers are
- generated automagically, and I don't see them in the source file.
-
- I prefer comments in English to patch files--context diff is not my
- first language.
-
- 12.2. Formats in Which This FAQ Is Available.
-
- This document is available as an ASCII text file, an HTML World Wide
- Web page, Postscript, PDF, and as a USENET news posting.
-
- Section and item numbers are generated with Perl. HTML is generated
- from SGML source using the Jade DSSSL interpreter by James Clark. Text
- versions are generated using lynx and edited with sed, which are part
- of most Linux distributions.
-
- The Usenet version is posted regularly to news.answers, comp.answers,
- and comp.os.linux.misc. It is archived at
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/os/linux/misc/.
-
- For Postscript and PDF versions, please contact the FAQ maintainer.
-
- If you would like to receive the archived version of the FAQ by
- E-mail, send the following in the body of an E-mail message to
- mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu:
-
- send faqs/linux/faq
-
- Text, HTML, and SGML versions are available from the Linux archives at
- metalab.unc.edu, and from http://www.linuxdoc.org/, but they may be
- out of date, owing to lack of time on the LDP maintainers' parts.
-
- The latest text and HTML versions are available at
- http://www.mainmatter.com and directly from the FAQ maintainer,
-
- 12.3. Authorship and Acknowledgments.
-
- This FAQ is compiled and maintained by Robert Kiesling,
- activists all over the world.
-
- Freddy Contreras, the_blur_oc@hotmail.com, designed and GPL'd the
- Linux Frequently Asked Questions logos that appear on
- www.mainmatter.com.
-
- Special thanks are due to Matt Welsh, who moderated
- comp.os.linux.announce and comp.os.linux.answers, coordinated the
- HOWTO's and wrote substantial portions of many of them, Greg Hankins
- the former Linux Documentation Project HOWTO maintainer, Lars
- Wirzenius and Mikko Rauhala, the former and current moderators of
- comp.os.linux.announce, Marc-Michel Corsini, who wrote the original
- Linux FAQ, and Ian Jackson, the previous FAQ maintainer. Thanks also
- to Roman Maurer for his many updates and additions, especially with
- European Web sites, translations, and general miscellany.
-
- Last but not least, thanks to Linus Torvalds and the other
- contributors to Linux for giving us something to talk about!
-
- 12.4. Disclaimer and Copyright.
-
- The GNU Free Documentation License
-
- Copyright (c) 2001 Robert Kiesling. Permission is granted to copy,
- distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free
- Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by
- the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no
- Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license
- is included at: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#FDL.
-
- I would be happy to answer any questions regarding the copyright. My
- email address is rkiesling@mainmatter.com.
-
-