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- Committer: Bazaar Package Importer
- Author(s): Josip Rodin
- Date: 2002-04-30 19:02:09 UTC
- Revision ID: james.westby@ubuntu.com-20020430190209-v94hhhb9wj0kz552
Tags: 3.0
* Updated for the imminent woody release.
* Updated BTS docs from the FTP site, closes: #133422, #133440.
* Updated description of frozen, closes: #142801.
* Built a PDF version.
* Updated BTS docs from the FTP site, closes: #133422, #133440.
* Updated description of frozen, closes: #142801.
* Built a PDF version.
- files added:
- .bzr-builddeb
- FAQ
- debian
- doc
- doc-base
added
removed
FAQ/support.sgml
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<chapt id="support">Getting support for &debian;
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<sect id="debiandocs">What other documentation exists on and for a
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Debian system?
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<p><list>
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<item>Installation instructions for the current release: see
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/install">.
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<item>Packaging manual is the primary documentation on the technical
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aspects of creating Debian binary and source packages.
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<p>You can find it in the <package/packaging-manual/ package, or at
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<url id="ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/doc/package-developer/packaging.html.tar.gz">.
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<item>Policy manual documents the policy requirements for the
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distribution, i.e. the structure and contents of the Debian archive,
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several design issues of the operating system, as well as technical
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requirements that each package must satisfy to be included in the
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distribution.
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<p>Get it from the <package/debian-policy/ package, or at
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<url id="ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/doc/package-developer/policy.html.tar.gz">.
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<item>Documentation on installed Debian packages:
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Most packages have files that are unpacked into <tt>/usr/doc/PACKAGE</tt>.
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<item>Documentation on the Linux project:
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The Debian package <package/doc-linux/ installs all of the most recent
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versions of the HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs from the <url name="Linux
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Documentation Project" id="http://www.linuxdoc.org">.
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<item>Unix-style `man' pages: Most commands have manual pages written in
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the style of the original Unix 'man' files. They are referenced by the
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section of the 'man' directory where they reside: e.g., foo(3) refers
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to a manual page which resides in /usr/share/man/man3/, and it can be
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called by executing the command: <tt>man 3 foo</tt>, or just
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<tt>man foo</tt> if section 3 is the first one containing a page on
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<tt>foo</tt>.
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<p>One can learn which directory of <tt>/usr/share/man/</tt> contains
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a certain manual page by executing <tt>man -w foo</tt>.
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<p>New Debian users should note that the 'man' pages of many general
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system commands are not available until they install these packages:
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<list>
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<item><tt>man-db</tt>, which contains the <tt>man</tt> program
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itself, and other programs for manipulating the manual pages.
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<item><tt>manpages</tt>, which contains the system manual pages.
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(see <ref id="nonenglish">).
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</list>
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<item>GNU-style `info' pages: User documentation for many commands,
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particularly GNU tools, is available not in `man' pages, but in `info'
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files which can be read by the GNU tool <tt>info</tt>, by running
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<tt>M-x info</tt> within GNU Emacs, or with some other Info page viewer.
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<p>Its main advantage over the original `man' pages are that it is
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a hypertext system. It does <em>not</em> require the WWW, however;
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<tt>info</tt> can be run from a plain text console. It was designed
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by Richard Stallman and preceded the WWW.
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</list>
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<p>Note that you may access a lot of documentation on your system by using a
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WWW browser, through `dwww' or `dhelp' commands, found in respective
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packages.
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<sect id="onlineresources">Are there any on-line resources for discussing
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Debian?
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<p>Yes. In fact, the main method of support Debian provides to our users is
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by the way of email.
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<sect1>Mailing lists
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<p>There are a lot of <url name="Debian-related mailing lists"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/">.
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<p>On a system with the <package/doc-debian/ package installed there
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is a complete list of mailing lists in
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<file>/usr/share/doc/debian/mailing-lists.txt</file>.
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<p>To subscribe to debian-X (for X in announce, user, etc.), send mail to
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debian-X-request@lists.debian.org with the word "subscribe" in the Subject:
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header. If you have a forms-capable World Wide Web browser, you can
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subscribe the mailing lists using the <url name="WWW form"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe">.
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You can also un-subscribe using a <url name="WWW form"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/unsubscribe">.
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<p>The list manager's e-mail address is <email/listmaster@lists.debian.org/, in
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case you have any trouble.
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<p>Archives of the Debian mailing lists are available via WWW at
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<url id="http://lists.debian.org/">.
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<sect2 id="mailinglistconduct">What is the code of conduct for the mailing
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lists?
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<p>When using the Debian mailing lists, please follow these rules:
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<list>
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<item>Do not send spam. See the <url name="Debian mailing list
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advertising policy" id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#ads">.
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<item>Do not flame; it is not polite. The people developing Debian are
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all volunteers, donating their time, energy and money in an attempt to
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bring the Debian project together.
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<item>Do not use foul language; besides, some people receive the lists
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via packet radio, where swearing is illegal.
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<item>Make sure that you are using the proper list. <em/Never/ post your
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(un)subscription requests to the mailing list itself<footnote>Use the
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<em>listname</em>-REQUEST@lists.debian.org address for that.</footnote>
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<item>See section <ref id="bugreport"> for notes on reporting bugs.
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</list>
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<sect1>Maintainers
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<p>Users can address questions to individual package maintainers using
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email. To reach a maintainer of a package called xyz, send email to
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<em>xyz@packages.debian.org</em>.
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<sect1>Usenet newsgroups
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<p>Users should post non-Debian-specific questions to one of the Linux
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USENET groups, which are named comp.os.linux.* or linux.*.
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There are several lists of Linux Usenet newsgroups and other related
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resources on the WWW, e.g. on the <url name="Linux Online"
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id="http://www.linux.org/docs/usenet.html"> and <url name="LinuxJournal"
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id="http://www.linuxjournal.com/helpdesk.php"> sites.
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<sect id="searchtools">Is there a quick way to search for information on
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&debian;?
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<p>There is a variety of search engines that serve documentation related
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to Debian:
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<list>
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<item><url id="http://search.debian.org/" name="Debian WWW search site">.
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<item><url id="http://groups.google.com/" name="Google Groups">: a search
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engine for newsgroups.
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<p>For example, to find out what experiences people have had with
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finding drivers for Promise controllers under Debian, try searching on
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the phrase <tt>Promise Linux driver</tt>. This will show you all the
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postings that contain these strings, i.e. those where people discussed
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these topics. If you add <tt>Debian</tt> to those search strings, you'll
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also get the postings specifically related to Debian.
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<item>Any of the common web spidering engines, such as
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<url id="http://www.altavista.com/" name="AltaVista"> or
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<url id="http://www.google.com/" name="Google">, as long as you use
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the right search terms.
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<p>For example, searching on the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed
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explanation of this package than the brief description field in its
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control file.
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</list>
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<sect id="buglogs">Are there logs of known bugs?
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<p>The &debian; distribution has a bug tracking system (BTS) which files
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details of bugs reported by users and developers. Each bug is given a
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number, and is kept on file until it is marked as having been dealt with.
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<p>Copies of this information are available at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/Bugs/">.
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<p>A mail server provides access to the bug tracking system database via
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e-mail. In order to get the instructions, send an e-mail to
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request@bugs.debian.org with "help" in the body.
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<sect id="bugreport">How do I report a bug in Debian?
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<p>If you have found a bug in Debian, please read the instructions for
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reporting a bug in Debian. These instructions can be obtained in one of
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several ways:
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<list>
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<item>By anonymous FTP. Debian mirror sites contain the instructions in
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the file <tt>doc/bug-reporting.txt</tt>.
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<item>From the WWW. A copy of the instructions is shown at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting">.
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<item>On any Debian system with the <package/doc-debian/ package installed.
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The instructions are in the file
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<file>/usr/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt</file>.
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</list>
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<p>You can use the packages <package/bug/ or <package/reportbug/ that will
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guide you through the reporting process and mail the message to the proper
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address, with some extra details about your system added automatically.
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<p>If you want to mail the report with a MUA, send a message to
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<email/submit@bugs.debian.org/, first line of which containing a line like
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<example>Package: packagename</example>
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(replace "packagename" with the name of the package). The rest of the
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message should contain the description of the bug (please make it moderately
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detailed), Debian release you are using, and versions of that and relevant
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packages.
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<p>Expect to get an automatic acknowledgement of your bug report. It will
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also be automatically given a bug tracking number, entered into the bug
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log and forwarded to the debian-bugs-dist mailing list.
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<p>If one were to identify a bug that was common to many programs, then
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rather than entering dozens of very similar bug reports, one might prefer to
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send individual bugs to <email/maintonly@bugs.debian.org/ (instead of the
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submit@... address) to reach only the respective package maintainers, and
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then send a summary report to debian-devel and/or debian-bugs-dist mailing
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lists.
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<p>Additionally, there exists a Debian package checker, called
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<url name="Lintian" id="http://www.debian.org/lintian/">, which is
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designed to mechanically check Debian packages for policy violations and
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common packaging errors. Thus, if you detect a bug in a package which is
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likely to appear in other packages too, it might be better to get in
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contact with the Lintian maintainers at <email/lintian-maint@debian.org/
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so that a new check is written for Lintian instead of reporting the bug
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directly. This will most likely prevent the bug to appear in future versions
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of the package again, or in any other package of the distribution.
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<p>You can also use <email/quiet@bugs.debian.org/, to submit bug reports to
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the BTS only, without having them sent either to debian-bugs-dist or to the
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maintainer. This `quiet' address is used very rarely, e.g. when you want to
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send some minor data to your report, that should just be recorded in the
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log, or when you want to record something in the BTS log but you already
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sent it to the maintainer.
Loggerhead is a web-based interface for Breezy
Version: 2.0.1