Linux-Misc Digest #685, Volume #21 Sun, 5 Sep 99 18:13:09 EDT
Contents:
Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 1 of 6) ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: news.answers,comp.answers
Subject: Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (Part 1 of 6)
Date: 5 Sep 1999 21:41:29 GMT
Archive-Name: linux/faq/part1
URL: http://www.mainmatter.com/
Posting-Frequency: weekly
Last-modified: 09/05/99
Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers
August 29, 1999
This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions for Linux, the free,
POSIX compatible operating system kernel that runs on many modern
computer systems. Linux uses free, GNU system utilities and
application programs instead of commercial, proprietary software.
Originally written for 386/486/586 Intel/ISA bus machines, versions
exist for Alpha, Sparc, MIPS, ARM, 680x0, and PPC processors, and many
others. ("What is Linux? ") This FAQ is meant to be read in
conjunction with the Linux Documentation Project's HOWTO series.
("Where can I get Linux material by FTP? " and, "Where can I
get the HOWTO's and other documentation? ") The INFO-SHEET and
META-FAQ also list sources of Linux information. Please read them,
and, "You still haven't answered my question! " before posting
to a Usenet news group. You can also get Postscript, HTML, and SGML
versions. ("Formats in which this FAQ is available. ")
1. Introduction and General Information
* 1.1 What is Linux?
* 1.2 Where do I start?
* 1.3 What software does Linux support?
* 1.4 Does Linux run on my computer? What hardware is supported?
* 1.5 Does Linux support the USB Bus?
* 1.6 What ports to other processors are there?
* 1.7 How much hard disk space does Linux need?
* 1.8 How much memory does Linux need?
* 1.9 How much memory can Linux use?
* 1.10 Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted?
* 1.11 Is Linux *nix?
2. Network sources and resources.
* 2.1 Where can I get the version 2.2 kernel?
* 2.2 Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation?
* 2.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff?
* 2.4 What newsgroups are there for Linux?
* 2.5 Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
* 2.6 I don't have FTP access. Where do I get Linux?
* 2.7 I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information?
* 2.8 What mailing lists are there?
* 2.9 Where are Linux legal issues discussed?
* 2.10 Are the newsgroups archived anywhere?
* 2.11 Where can I find out about Linux and the Millennium (Y2K)
bug?
* 2.12 Where can I find out about security related issues?
3. Compatibility with other operating systems.
* 3.1 Can Linux share my disk with DOS? OS/2? 386BSD? Win95?
* 3.2 How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy?
* 3.3 Does Linux support compressed ext2 file systems?
* 3.4 Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive?
* 3.5 Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux?
* 3.6 Can Linux access Amiga file systems?
* 3.7 Can Linux access BSD, SysV, etc. UFS?
* 3.8 Can Linux access SMB file systems?
* 3.9 Can Linux access Macintosh file systems?
* 3.10 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux?
* 3.11 Can I use True Type Fonts with Linux?
* 3.12 How can I boot Linux from MS-DOS?
* 3.13 How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager?
* 3.14 How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS
Windows?
4. File systems, disks, and drives
* 4.1 How can I get Linux to work with my disk?
* 4.2 How can I undelete files?
* 4.3 How do I resize a partition (non-destructively)?
* 4.4 Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc.?
* 4.5 How do I format and create a file system on a floppy?
* 4.6 Does Linux support virtualized file systems like RAID?
* 4.7 Does Linux support file system encryption?
* 4.8 I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the like.
* 4.9 My swap area isn't working.
* 4.10 How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again?
* 4.11 Why can't I use fdformat except as root?
* 4.12 My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.
* 4.13 My root file system is read-only!
* 4.14 I have a huge /proc/kcore! Can I delete it?
* 4.15 My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.
5. Porting, compiling and obtaining programs
* 5.1 How do I compile programs?
* 5.2 How do I install GNU software?
* 5.3 How do I port XXX to Linux?
* 5.4 What is ld.so and where do I get it?
* 5.5 How do I upgrade the libraries withough trashing my
system?
* 5.6 Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux?
* 5.7 Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386?
* 5.8 What does gcc -O6 do?
* 5.9 Where are linux/*.h and asm/*.h?
* 5.10 I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.
* 5.11 How do I make a shared library?
* 5.12 My executables are (very) large.
* 5.13 Does Linux support threads or lightweight processes?
* 5.14 Where can I get `lint' for Linux?
* 5.15 Where can I find kermit for Linux?
* 5.16 I want to use Linux with my cable modem.
6. Solutions to common miscellaneous problems.
* 6.1 Free dumps core.
* 6.2 My clock is very wrong.
* 6.3 Setuid scripts don't seem to work.
* 6.4 Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.
* 6.5 When I add more memory, the system slows to a crawl.
* 6.6 Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.
* 6.7 Some programs let me log in with no password.
* 6.8 My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...
* 6.9 I can only log in as root.
* 6.10 My screen is all full of weird characters instead of
letters.
* 6.11 I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.
* 6.12 I've discovered a huge security hole in rm!
* 6.13 lpr(1) and/or lpd(8) don't work.
* 6.14 Timestamps on files on MS-DOS partitions are set
incorrectly.
* 6.15 How do I get LILO to boot the kernel image?
* 6.16 I upgraded the kernel and now my PCMCIA card doesn't
work.
7. How do I do this or find out that ... ?
* 7.1 How can I get scrollback in text mode?
* 7.2 How do I switch virtual consoles? How do I enable them?
* 7.3 How do I set the time zone?
* 7.4 What version of Linux and what machine name am I using?
* 7.5 How can I enable or disable core dumps?
* 7.6 How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel?
* 7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing
interrupts?
* 7.8 Where can I find information about USB support?
* 7.9 How do I make a bootable floppy?
* 7.10 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc.?
* 7.11 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on?
* 7.12 How do I set (or reset) my initial terminal colors?
* 7.13 How can I have more than 128Mb of swap?
8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered.
* 8.1 How do I program XYZ under Linux?
* 8.2 What's all this about ELF?
* 8.3 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
* 8.4 What does VFS stand for?
* 8.5 What is devfs and what does it do?
* 8.6 What is a BogoMip?
* 8.7 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it?
* 8.8 What online/free periodicals exist for Linux?
* 8.9 How many people use Linux?
* 8.10 How many people use Linux? (Redux.)
* 8.11 How should I pronounce Linux?
* 8.12 Where is the Linux food page?
* 8.13 Where can I find out about free software projects?
9. Frequently encountered error messages.
* 9.1 Modprobe can't locate module, "XXX," and similar
messages.
* 9.2 Unknown terminal type linux and similar.
* 9.3 lp1 on fire
* 9.4 INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
* 9.5 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
* 9.6 GCC says Internal compiler error.
* 9.7 make says Error 139
* 9.8 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.
* 9.9 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
* 9.10 Warning--bdflush not running.
* 9.11 Warning: obsolete routing request made.
* 9.12 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.
* 9.13 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached.
* 9.14 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached.
* 9.15 df says Cannot read table of mounted file systems.
* 9.16 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical
...
* 9.17 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary.
* 9.18 fdisk says partition n has an odd number of sectors.
* 9.19 mtools says cannot initialize drive XYZ
* 9.20 At the start of booting: Memory tight
* 9.21 My syslog says `end_request: I/O error, ...'.
* 9.22 You don't exist. Go away.
10. The X Window System.
* 10.1 Does Linux support X?
* 10.2 Where can I get an XF86Config for my system?
* 10.3 What desktop environments run on Linux?
* 10.4 xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger.
* 10.5 I can't get X to work right.
11. How to get further assistance.
* 11.1 You still haven't answered my question!
* 11.2 What to put in a request for help.
* 11.3 I want to mail someone about my problem.
12. Acknowledgments and administrivia.
* 12.1 Feedback is invited.
* 12.2 Formats in which this FAQ is available.
* 12.3 Authorship and acknowledgments.
* 12.4 Disclaimer and Copyright.
1. Introduction and General Information
1.1 What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system that looks like and performs as well or
better than the famous operating system from AT&T Bell Labs. Linus
Torvalds and a loosely knit team of volunteer hackers from across the
Internet wrote (and still are writing) Linux from scratch. It has all
of the features of a modern, fully fledged operating system: true
multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading,
shared, copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, and
TCP/IP networking.
Linux runs mainly on 386/486/586-based PC's, using the hardware
facilities of the 80386 processor family (TSS segments, et al.) to
implement these features. Ports to other architectures are underway.
(See, "What ports to other processors are there? ")
See the Linux INFO-SHEET for more details. ("Where can I get
the HOWTO's and other documentation? ")
The Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU General Public License.
("Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted? ")
There is a historical archive of all versions of the Linux kernel at
http://ps.cus.umist.ac.uk/~rhw/kernel.versions.html.
1.2 Where do I start?
There are a handful of major Linux distributions. For information
about them, and how they are installed, see Matthew Welsh's
Installation and Getting Started, or IGS for short. It's located at
the Linux Documentation Project Home Page,
http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP.
In addition, the LDP's Installation HOWTO is located there.
There is a very thorough installation guide on line at
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/linux.html.
Most of the distributions are available via anonymous FTP from various
Linux archive sites. ("Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
") There are also a large number of other releases which are
distributed less globally that suit special local and national needs.
1.3 What software does Linux support?
Linux supports GCC, Emacs, the X Window System, all the standard Unix
utilities, TCP/IP (including SLIP and PPP), and all of the hundreds of
programs that people have compiled or ported to it.
There is a DOS emulator, called DOSEMU. The latest stable release is
0.98.3. The FTP archives are at ftp://ftp.dosemu.org/dosemu. The
Web site is http://www.dosemu.org.
The emulator can run DOS itself and some (but not all) DOS
applications. Be sure to look at the README file to determine which
version you should get. Also, see the DOSEMU-HOWTO (slightly dated at
this point--it doesn't cover the most recent version of the program),
at metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
Work has been progressing on an emulator for Microsoft Windows
binaries. ("Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux?
")
iBCS2 (Intel Binary Compatibility Standard) emulator code for SVR4 ELF
and SVR3.2 COFF binaries can be included in the kernel as a
compile-time option. There is information at
tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/BETA/ibcs2/README.
For more information see the INFO-SHEET, which is one of the HOWTO's
("Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? " and,
"How do I port XXX to Linux? ")
Some companies have commercial software available, including Motif.
They announce their availability in comp.os.linux.announce--try
searching the archives. ("Are the newsgroups archived anywhere?
")
1.4 Does Linux run on my computer? What hardware is supported?
Giving Linux a try requires a machine with an Intel '386, '486, or
'586 processor with at least 2Mb of RAM and a single floppy drive. To
do anything useful, more RAM and disk space is needed. ("How
much memory does Linux need? ")
VESA Local Bus and PCI are supported.
MCA (IBM's proprietary bus) and ESDI hard drives are mostly supported.
There is further information on the MCA bus and what cards Linux
supports on the Micro Channel Linux Web page,
http://www.dgmicro.com/mca. See also, Where should I look on
the World Wide Web for Linux stuff?
Linux runs on '386 family based laptops, with X on most of them. There
is a Web page at
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/.
For details of exactly which PC's, video cards, disk controllers, etc.
work see the INFO-SHEET and the Hardware-HOWTO. (See "Where can
I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? ")
There is a port of Linux to the 8086, known as the Embeddable Linux
Kernel Subset (ELKS). This is a 16-bit subset of the Linux kernel
which will mainly be used for embedded systems. See
http://www.linux.org.uk/Linux8086.html for more information.
Linux will never run fully on an 8086 or '286, because it requires
task-switching and memory management facilities not found on these
processors.
Linux supports multiprocessing with Intel MP architecture. See the
file Documentation/smp.tex in the Linux kernel source code
distribution.
See the next question for a (probably incomplete) list of hardware
platforms Linux has been ported to.
1.5 Does Linux support the USB Bus?
At this time, not very much. There is a Web page devoted to the
subject, at http://peloncho.fis.ucm.es/~inaky/uusbd-www/. See
also, Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff?
1.6 What ports to other processors are there?
There is a reasonably complete list of Linux ports at
http://www.ctv.es/USERS/xose/linux/linux_ports.html, and at
http://www.linuxhq.com/dist-index.html.
A project has been underway for a while to port Linux to suitable
68000-series based systems like Amigas and Ataris. The Linux/m68K FAQ
is located at www.clark.net/pub/lawrencc/linux/faq/faq.html. The
URL of the Linux/m68k home page is http://www.linux-m68k.org.
There is a m68k port for the Amiga by Jes Sorensen, which is located
at ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/os/linux/680x0/redhat/. The
installation FAQ for the package, by Ron Flory, is at
http://www.feist.com/~rjflory/linux/rh/.
There is also a linux-680x0 mailing list. ("What mailing lists
are there? ")
There is (or was) a FTP site for the Linux-m68k project on
ftp.phil.uni-sb.de/pub/atari/linux-68k, but this address may no
longer be current.
Debian GNU/Linux is being ported to Alpha, Sparc, PowerPC, and ARM
platforms. There are mailing lists for all of them. See
http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe.
One of the Linux-PPC project pages has moved recently. Its location is
http://www.linuxppc.org, and the archive site is
ftp.linuxppc.org/linuxppc.
There is a Linux-PPC support page at www.cs.nmt.edu/~linuxppc/.
There you will find the kernel that is distributed with Linux.
Apple now supports MkLinux development on Power Macs, based on OSF and
the Mach microkernel. See http://www.mklinux.apple.com.
A site for the Linux iMac port is located at
http://w3.one.net/~johnb/imaclinux.
A port to the 64-bit DEC Alpha/AXP is at
http://www.azstarnet.com/~axplinux/. There is a mailing list at
vger.rutgers.edu. ("What mailing lists are there? ")
Ralf Baechle is working on a port to the MIPS, initially for the R4600
on Deskstation Tyne machines. The Linux-MIPS FTP sites are
ftp.fnet.fr/linux-mips and
ftp://ftp.linux.sgi.com/pub/mips-linux. Interested people may
mail their questions and offers of assistance to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
There is also a MIPS channel on the Linux Activists mail server and a
linux-mips mailing list. ("What mailing lists are there? ")
There are currently two ports of Linux to the ARM family of
processors. One of these is for the ARM3, fitted to the Acorn A5000,
and it includes I/O drivers for the 82710/11 as appropriate. The other
is to the ARM610 of the Acorn RISC PC. The RISC PC port is currently
in its early to middle stages, owing to the need to rewrite much of
the memory handling. The A5000 port is in restricted beta testing. A
release is likely soon.
For more, up-to-date information, read the newsgroup
comp.sys.acorn.misc. There is a FAQ at
http://www.arm.uk.linux.org
The Linux SPARC project is a hotbed of activity. There is a FAQ
available from Jim Mintha's Linux for SPARC Processors page,
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/sparclinux.html. The SPARC/Linux archives
are at vger.rutgers.edu/pub/linux/Sparc.
The Home Page of the UltraSPARC port ("UltraPenguin") is located at
http://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/linux/ultrapenguin-1.0/.
There is also a port ("Hardhat") to SGI/Indy machines. The URL is
http://www.linux.sgi.com.
1.7 How much hard disk space does Linux need?
About 10Mb for a very minimal installation, suitable for trying Linux,
and not much else.
You can fit an installation that includes X into 80Mb. Installing
Debian GNU/Linux takes 500Mb--1GB, including kernel source code, some
space for user files, and spool areas.
1.8 How much memory does Linux need?
At least 4MB, and then you will need to use special installation
procedures until the disk swap space is installed. Linux will run
comfortably in 4MB of RAM, although X Apps will run slowly because
they need to swap out to disk.
Some recent applications, like the later versions of Netscape, require
as much as 64MB of physical memory.
1.9 How much memory can Linux use?
A number of people have asked how to address more than 64 MB of
memory, which is the default upper limit. Place the following in your
lilo.conf file:
append="mem=XXM"
Where "XX" is the amount of memory, specified as megabytes; for
example, '128M'. For further details, see the lilo manual page.
1.10 Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted?
The Linux trademark belongs to Linus Torvalds. He has placed the Linux
kernel under the GNU General Public License, which basically means
that you may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but you may not
impose any restrictions on further distribution, and you must make the
source code available.
This is not the same as Public Domain. See the Copyright FAQ,
rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/law/copyright, for details.
Full details are in the file COPYING in the Linux kernel sources
(probably in /usr/src/linux on your system).
The licenses of the utilities and programs which come with the
installations vary. Much of the code is from the GNU Project at the
Free Software Foundation, and is also under the GPL.
Note that discussion about the merits or otherwise of the GPL should
be posted to the news group gnu.misc.discuss, and not to the
comp.os.linux hierarchy.
For other legal questions, see Where are Linux legal issues
discussed?
1.11 Is Linux *nix?
Not officially, until it passes the Open Group's certification tests,
and supports the necessary API's. Even very few of the commercial
operating systems have passed the Open Group tests. For more
information, see http://www.unix-systems.org/what_is_unix.html.
[Bob Friesenhahn]
2. Network sources and resources.
2.1 Where can I get the version 2.2 kernel?
Linux kernel version 2.2. was released on January 25, and a bugfix
version 2.2.1 was released several days later. New versions are always
being released. The kernel contains numerous improvements in features
and performance compared to the kernel versions 2.0.x.
Among the 2.2 kernel's many improvements are a video framebuffer,
faster (although bigger) memory management, support for more hardware
devices, improved security, and improved POSIX compatibility. The
Linux kernel, in many of these instances, is superior to commercial
OS's.
To read more about the features in kernel version 2.2.x, the
unofficial, draft press releases are located at
http://www.tip.net.au/~edlang/linux/linux2.2pr.html.
If you want to download the source code, FTP to ftp.xx.kernel.org,
where "xx" is the two-letter Internet domain abbreviation of your
country; e.g., "us" for United States, "ca" for Canada, or "de" for
Germany. Kernel versions 2.2.x are archived in the directory
pub/linux/kernel/v2.2, as are patches for the prerelease versions. The
kernel source code is archived as a .tar.gz file, and as a .tar.bz2
file.
Follow the instructions in any of the standard references to compile
the 2.2 kernel, as you would with any other custom kernel. The
Documentation subdirectory also contains information by the authors of
various subsystems and drivers, and much of that information is not
documented elsewhere.
2.2 Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation?
Look in the following places, and the sites that mirror them.
* ftp.funet.fi : /pub/OS/Linux/doc/HOWTO
* tsx-11.mit.edu : /pub/linux/docs/HOWTO
* metalab.unc.edu : /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
For a complete list of Linux FTP sites, see, "Where can I get
Linux material by FTP? "
If you don't have access to FTP, try the FTP-by-mail servers at
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
A complete list of HOWTO's and Mini-HOWTO's is available in the file
HOWTO-INDEX in the docs/HOWTO directory at the FTP sites, and on the
Web at http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX.html, but
here is a (probably incomplete) list:
3Dfx HOWTO AX25 HOWTO
Access HOWTO Alpha HOWTO
Assembly HOWTO Bash Prompt HOWTO
Benchmarking HOWTO Beowulf HOWTO
BootPrompt HOWTO Bootdisk HOWTO
Busmouse HOWTO CD Writing HOWTO
CDROM HOWTO Chinese HOWTO
Commercial HOWTO Config HOWTO
Consultants HOWTO Cyrillic HOWTO
DNS HOWTO DOS/Win to Linux HOWTO
DOSEMU HOWTO Danish HOWTO
Diskless HOWTO Distribution HOWTO
ELF HOWTO
Emacspeak HOWTO Esparanto HOWTO
Ethernet HOWTO Finnish HOWTO
Firewall HOWTO French HOWTO
Ftape HOWTO GCC HOWTO
German HOWTO Glibc2 HOWTO
HAM HOWTO HOWTO Index
Hardware Compatibility HOWTO Hebrew HOWTO
INFO-SHEET IPCHAINS HOWTO
IPX HOWTO IR HOWTO
ISP Hookup HOWTO Installation HOWTO
Intranet Server HOWTO Italian HOWTO
Java-CGI HOWTO Kernel HOWTO
Keyboard and Console HOWTO KickStart HOWTO
LinuxDoc+Emacs+Ispell HOWTO META-FAQ
MGR HOWTO MILO HOWTO
MIPS HOWTO Mail HOWTO
Modem HOWTO Multi-Disk HOWTO
Multicast HOWTO NET-3 HOWTO
NFS HOWTO NIS HOWTO
Networking Overview HOWTO Optical Disk HOWTO
Oracle HOWTO PCI HOWTO
PCMCIA HOWTO PPP HOWTO
PalmOS HOWTO Parallel Processing HOWTO
Plug and Play HOWTO Polish HOWTO
Portuguese-HOWTO PostgreSQL HOWTO
Printing HOWTO Printing Usage HOWTO
Quake HOWTO RPM HOWTO
Reading List HOWTO Root RAID HOWTO
SCSI Programming HOWTO SMB HOWTO
SRM HOWTO Security HOWTO
Serial HOWTO Serial Programming HOWTO
Shadow Password HOWTO Slovenian HOWTO
Software Building-HOWTO Software Release Practice HOWTO
Sound HOWTO Sound Playing HOWTO
Spanish HOWTO TclTk HOWTO
teTeX HOWTO Text-Terminal HOWTO
Thai HOWTO Tips HOWTO
UMSDOS HOWTO UPS HOWTO
UUCP HOWTO Unix and Internet Fundamentals HOWTO
User Group HOWTO VAR HOWTO
VME HOWTO VMS to Linux HOWTO
Virtual Services HOWTO WWW HOWTO
------------------------------
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:
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You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.misc) via:
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Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
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