On Mon, Dec 31, 2007 at 08:13:31AM -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > From: "Douglas A. Tutty" Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 7:08 AM > > >The docs are always under /usr/share/doc/[package name] > >apropos > >which > >locate > >find > > > As a n00b to Debian (though I've used several distributions over the past > few years) a lot of these simple things can take quite a while to figure > out. For those of you who have been intimately involved and continuously > using Debian it is so obvious but to the rest of us - nope.
That kind of info should be in the debian-reference, debian-policy, fhs, etc. > > Not all the docs are under /usr/share/doc/[package name], some are under > usr/share/[package name] with no apparent rhyme nor reason. Then, > everything is gzipped, should the user extract these to their home folder > or is there a particular method to read these as they stand? > If you find docs for a package under /usr/share/[package name] then that is probably a bug. Personally, I view the docs with mc. When you tell it to view, it will unpack and display with its internal viewer. If it is html, I hit enter and I get lynx. I've never seen a question here on the list about "how do I read the documentation". > There are a plethora of packages that popup when you search aptitude or the > other graphical package manager, which is the most common and easiest to > use? should we install everything or? > Just like doing a library search (or a google search), you can combine search terms for Aptitude. Search patters are covered in the aptitude-doc manual. > Also getting the package managers to work with other mirrors or the non > free or contrib, how is it done without searching for hours through > documentation in an often cyclic manner. > You can't complain that debian doesn't tell you how to connect to a non-debian mirror. man sources.list should work for all mirrors. Contrib and non-free are also examples given in the man page. > Then there's the installation manual that gives a brief overview of the > installation but few links to go to for additional resources, help etc > other than the list. What about using the Rescue modes of the install CD, > other than a few short paragraphs there's not much help there. I've > discovered a few it's inherent limitations while fixing the messed up grub > hd assignments, ended up using a knoppix DVD to do all the fixing and > reinstalling of GRUB, after searching for a few hours for solutions. The > grub shell won't run from the rescue mode so many of the helpful items are > unavailable. > The installation manual is huge, not a brief overview. You may have been looking at an installation summary. The release notes for Etch were quite a stack when I printed them out. > As was stated many other disto's have these n00b pages for a quick > reference to get us up to speed so that we can start figuring out how to do > things on our own. Many n00bs are reticient to post to lists or forums as > they often receive negative feed back from some of the more seasoned users > who feel like they are answering the same questions time and again. > debian-reference, aptitude-doc, man pages, installation manual (the whole thing), online wiki, google the archives, and then ask on the list. > I've yet to find anything on somehow efficiently searching archives for > fixes to problems that may have already been solved. Sometimes it's just a > matter of using the proper key words. > google. site:lists.debian.org [topic] [topic]... > Anyways, my diatribe has gone on long enough, sorry. I'm just trying to > elaborate on the need here, not asking for assistance ... yet. :) > Dave Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
