2198 lines
94 KiB
Plaintext
2198 lines
94 KiB
Plaintext
LINUX FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
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30 Oct 1994
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Ian Jackson <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>
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This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions about Linux, the free Unix
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for 386/486/586 [see Q1.1 `What is Linux ?' for more details]. It should
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be read in conjunction with the HOWTO documents, which are available in
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* ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) : /pub/OS/Linux/doc/HOWTO
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* tsx-11.mit.edu (18.172.1.2) : /pub/linux/docs/HOWTO
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* sunsite.unc.edu (152.2.22.81) : /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
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and mirror sites thereof -- see Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by
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FTP ?'. See Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?'
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for a list of the HOWTOs and more information. The INFO-SHEET and
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META-FAQ, found in the same place, also list other sources of Linux
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information.
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The Linux Documentation Project documentation is available on
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sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/docs/LDP. These documents (more are in
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preparation) are invaluable to the newcomer or for use as a reference
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work.
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Please check out these documents and this FAQ, especially Q12.1 `You still
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haven't answered my question !', before posting your question to the
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newsgroup comp.os.linux.help.
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See Q13.2 `Formats in which this FAQ is available' for details of where to
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get the PostScript, Emacs Info, HTML (WWW) and plain ASCII versions of
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this document.
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A new version of this document appears approximately monthly. If this
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copy is more than a month old it may be out of date.
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===============================================================================
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Index
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Section 1. Introduction and General Information
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Q1.1 What is Linux ?
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Q1.2 What software does it support ?
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Q1.3 Does it run on my computer ? What hardware is supported ?
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Q1.4 What ports to other processors are there ?
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Q1.5 How much hard disk space does Linux need ?
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Q1.6 Is Linux PD ? Copyrighted ?
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Section 2. Network sources and resources
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Q2.1 Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?
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Q2.2 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff ?
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Q2.3 What newsgroups are there for Linux ?
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Q2.4 How do I install Linux ?
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Q2.5 Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?
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Q2.6 I don't have FTP access. Where do I get Linux ?
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Q2.7 I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information ?
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Q2.8 What's this mailing list thing at niksula.hut.fi ?
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Q2.9 Are the newsgroups archived anywhere ?
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Section 3. Compatibility with other operating systems
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Q3.1 Can Linux coexist with DOS ? OS/2 ? 386BSD ? Minix ?
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Q3.2 How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy ?
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Q3.3 Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive ?
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Q3.4 Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux ?
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Q3.5 Can I access BSD FFS, SysV UFS, Mac, Amiga, etc filesystems ?
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Q3.6 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux ?
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Q3.7 How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager ?
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Q3.8 How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS Windows ?
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Section 4. Linux's handling of filesystems, disks and drives
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Q4.1 How can I undelete files ?
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Q4.2 Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc. ?
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Q4.3 How do I format and create a filesystem on a floppy ?
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Q4.4 I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the suchlike
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Q4.5 My swap area isn't working.
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Q4.6 How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again ?
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Q4.7 Why can't I use fdformat except as root ?
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Q4.8 Is there something like Stacker or Doublespace for Linux ?
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Q4.9 My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.
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Q4.10 I have a huge /proc/kcore ! Can I delete it ?
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Q4.11 My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.
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Section 5. Porting, compiling and obtaining programs
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Q5.1 What is ld.so and where do I get it ?
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Q5.2 Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux ?
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Q5.3 How do I port XXX to Linux ?
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Q5.4 Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386 ?
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Q5.5 What does gcc -O6 do ?
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Q5.6 Where are <linux/*.h> and <asm/*.h> ?
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Q5.7 I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.
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Q5.8 How do I make a shared library ?
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Q5.9 How do I make my executables smaller ?
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Section 6. Solutions to common miscellaneous problems
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Q6.1 Setuid scripts don't seem to work.
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Q6.2 Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.
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Q6.3 When I add more memory it slows to a crawl.
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Q6.4 Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.
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Q6.5 Some programs let me log in with no password.
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Q6.6 My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...
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Q6.7 I can only log in as root.
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Q6.8 My screen is all full of weird characters instead of letters.
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Q6.9 I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.
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Q6.10 Emacs just dumps core.
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Q6.11 I've discovered a huge security hole in rm !
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Q6.12 lpr and/or lpd aren't working.
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Section 7. How do I do this or find out that ... ?
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Q7.1 How can I get scrollback in text mode ?
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Q7.2 How do I switch virtual consoles ? How do I enable them ?
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Q7.3 How do I set the timezone ?
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Q7.4 What version of Linux and what machine name am I using ?
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Q7.5 How can I enable or disable core dumps ?
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Q7.6 How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?
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Q7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts ?
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Q7.8 How do I make a bootable floppy ?
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Q7.9 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc. ?
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Q7.10 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on ?
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Section 8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered
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Q8.1 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
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Q8.2 What does VFS stand for ?
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Q8.3 What is a BogoMip ?
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Q8.4 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it ?
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Q8.5 How many people use Linux ?
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Q8.6 How should I pronounce Linux ?
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Section 9. Frequently encountered error messages
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Q9.1 During linking I get Undefined symbol _mcount
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Q9.2 lp1 on fire
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Q9.3 INET: Warning: old style ioctl(IP_SET_DEV) called!
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Q9.4 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
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Q9.5 GCC says Internal compiler error
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Q9.6 make says Error 139
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Q9.7 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.
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Q9.8 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
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Q9.9 Warning - bdflush not running
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Q9.10 Warning: obsolete routing request made.
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Q9.11 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked filesystem
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Q9.12 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached
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Q9.13 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached
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Q9.14 df says Cannot read table of mounted filesystems
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Q9.15 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical ...
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Q9.16 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary
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Q9.17 fdisk says cannot use nnn sectors of this partition
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Q9.18 fdisk says partition n has an odd number of sectors
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Q9.19 mtools says cannot initialise drive XYZ
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Section 10. The X Window System
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Q10.1 Does Linux support X Windows ?
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Q10.2 Where can I get an Xconfig for my video card and monitor ?
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Q10.3 xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger
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Q10.4 I can't get X Windows to work right.
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Section 11. Questions applicable to very out-of-date software
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Q11.1 How can I have more than 16Mb of swap ?
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Q11.2 GCC sometimes uses huge amounts of virtual memory and thrashes
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Q11.3 My keyboard goes all funny after I switch VC's.
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Section 12. How to get further assistance
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Q12.1 You still haven't answered my question !
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Q12.2 What to put in a posting to comp.os.linux.help
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Section 13. Administrative information and acknowledgements
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Q13.1 Feedback is invited
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Q13.2 Formats in which this FAQ is available
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Q13.3 Authorship and acknowledgements
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Q13.4 Disclaimer and Copyright
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===============================================================================
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Section 1. Introduction and General Information
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Q1.1 What is Linux ?
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Q1.2 What software does it support ?
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Q1.3 Does it run on my computer ? What hardware is supported ?
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Q1.4 What ports to other processors are there ?
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Q1.5 How much hard disk space does Linux need ?
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Q1.6 Is Linux PD ? Copyrighted ?
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.1. What is Linux ?
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Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with
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assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims
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towards POSIX compliance.
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It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix,
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including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand
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loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management and
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TCP/IP networking.
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It runs mainly on 386/486/586-based PCs, using the hardware facilities of
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the 386 processor family (TSS segments et al) to implement these features.
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Ports to other architectures are underway [Q1.4 `What ports to other
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processors are there ?'].
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See the Linux INFO-SHEET [Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other
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documentation ?'] for more details.
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The Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see
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Q1.6 `Is Linux PD ? Copyrighted ?' for more details.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.2. What software does it support ?
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Linux has GCC, Emacs, X-Windows, all the standard Unix utilities, TCP/IP
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(including SLIP and PPP) and all the hundreds of programs that people have
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compiled or ported for it.
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There is a DOS emulator [Q3.1 `Can Linux coexist with DOS ? OS/2 ?
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386BSD ? Minix ?']. Work is progressing on an iBCS2 (Intel Binary
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Compatibility Standard) emulator for SVR4 ELF and SVR3.2 COFF binaries and
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an emulator for Microsoft Windows binaries [Q3.6 `Can I run Microsoft
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Windows programs under Linux ?'].
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For more information see the INFO-SHEET, which is one of the the HOWTOs
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[Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?']. See also
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Q5.3 `How do I port XXX to Linux ?'.
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Some companies have commercial software available, including Motif. They
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announce their availability in comp.os.linux.announce --- try searching
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the archives [Q2.9 `Are the newsgroups archived anywhere ?'].
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.3. Does it run on my computer ? What hardware is supported ?
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You need a 386, 486 or 586, with at least 2Mb of RAM and a single floppy,
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to try it out. To do anything useful more RAM and a hard disk are
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required.
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VESA local bus and PCI are both supported. A driver for the NCR SCSI chip
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in many PCI machines is included in current alpha test release kernels.
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There are problems with machines using MCA (IBM's proprietary bus), mainly
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to do with the hard disk controller. There is a developers' release for
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PS/2 ESDI drives on invaders.dcrl.nd.edu in /pub/misc/linux. Certain
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kinds of SCSI controllers also work, I understand. Work is in progress to
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create a suitable version of the Slackware distribution. I'm afraid I
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don't have any further details; you could try asking Arindam Banerji
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<axb@defender.dcrl.nd.edu>.
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Linux is reported to run on 386 family based laptops, with X on most of
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them.
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For details of exactly which PC's, video cards, disk controllers, etc.
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work see the INFO-SHEET and the Hardware HOWTO [Q2.1 `Where can I get the
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HOWTOs and other documentation ?'].
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Linux will never run on a 286, because it uses task-switching and memory
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management facilities only found on 386 family processors.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.4. What ports to other processors are there ?
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A project has been underway for around two years to port Linux to suitable
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68000-series based systems such as Amigas and Ataris. This has now
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reached beta test quality, but still lacks networking support and an X
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server. There is a 680X0 channel on the Linux Activists mailserver [Q2.8
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`What's this mailing list thing at niksula.hut.fi ?'].
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Work has just been started on a port to the PowerPC. Currently this will
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be based on the PowerMAC architecture. Again, don't post asking about it
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unless you have experience to offer, and don't hold your breath.
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Jim Paradis <paradis@sousa.amt.ako.dec.com> or <jrp@world.std.com> is
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working on a port to the 64-bit DEC AXP (the Alpha). This can currently
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boot from a floppy disk or disk image loaded into a ramdisk at boot time.
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Disk drivers are not yet available. Please email him of you have access
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to an ISA or EISA-based Alpha AXP and wish to contribute to the project,
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or have access to another class of Alpha and are willing to write drivers.
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Ralf Baechle is working on a port to the MIPS, initially for the R4600 on
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Deskstation Tyne machines. The Linux/MIPS FAQ is available on the WWW and
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in the MIPS port area on ftp.waldorf-gmbh.de in /pub/linux/mips. There is
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also a MIPS channel on the Linux Activists mailserver. Interested people
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may mail their questions and offers of assistance to
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<linux@waldorf-gmbh.de>.
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None of these ports will be capable of running Linux/386 binaries.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.5. How much hard disk space does Linux need ?
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10Mb for a very minimal installation, suitable for trying it out and not
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much else.
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You can squeeze a more complete installation including X Windows into
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80Mb. Installating the whole of Slackware 1.2 takes around 200Mb,
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including some space for user files and spool areas.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 1.6. Is Linux PD ? Copyrighted ?
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The Linux kernel copyright belongs to Linus Torvalds. He has placed it
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under the GNU General Public Licence, which basically means that you may
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freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may not impose any
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restrictions on further distribution, and that you must make the source
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code available.
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Full details are in the file COPYING in the Linux kernel sources (probably
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in /usr/src/linux on your system).
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The licences of the utilities and programs which come with the
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installations vary; much of the code is from the GNU Project at the Free
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Software Foundation, and is also under the GPL.
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Note that discussion about the merits or otherwise of the GPL should be
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posted to gnu.misc.discuss and not to the comp.os.linux groups.
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===============================================================================
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Section 2. Network sources and resources
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Q2.1 Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?
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Q2.2 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff ?
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Q2.3 What newsgroups are there for Linux ?
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Q2.4 How do I install Linux ?
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Q2.5 Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?
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Q2.6 I don't have FTP access. Where do I get Linux ?
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Q2.7 I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information ?
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Q2.8 What's this mailing list thing at niksula.hut.fi ?
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Q2.9 Are the newsgroups archived anywhere ?
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 2.1. Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?
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Look in the following places, and on sites that mirror them.
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* ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) : /pub/OS/Linux/doc/HOWTO
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* tsx-11.mit.edu (18.172.1.2) : /pub/linux/docs/HOWTO
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* sunsite.unc.edu (152.2.22.81) : /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
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For a complete list of Linux FTP sites see Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux
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material by FTP ?'.
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If you don't have access to FTP try using the FTP-by-mail servers at
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ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk or
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ftp-mailer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de.
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A complete list of HOWTO's is available in the file HOWTO.INDEX in the
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docs/HOWTO directory at the FTP sites, but here is a (possibly incomplete)
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list:
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Linux INFO-SHEET Linux META-FAQ
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BUPS HOWTO (regarding the Back UPS). Busmouse HOWTO
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CDROM HOWTO Distribution HOWTO
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DOSEMU HOWTO Ethernet HOWTO
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Ftape HOWTO Hardware HOWTO
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Installation HOWTO Japanese Extensions HOWTO
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Keystroke HOWTO Mail HOWTO
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MGR HOWTO NET-2 HOWTO
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News HOWTO Printing HOWTO
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SCSI HOWTO Sound HOWTO
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Term HOWTO Tips HOWTO
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UUCP HOWTO XFree86 HOWTO
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More of these documents are always in preparation. You should check in
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nearby directories on the FTP sites if you can't find the answer in one of
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the HOWTOs. There are also a few mini-HOWTOs on sunsite.unc.edu in the
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/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini directory.
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The HOWTO.INDEX also contains information on how to write a new HOWTO.
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The HOWTOs are coordinated by Matt Welsh, <mdw@sunsite.unc.edu>.
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The `books' produced by the Linux Documentation Project are available in
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/pub/Linux/docs/LDP on sunsite.unc.edu. Please read them if you are new
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to Unix and Linux. Here is a list of those released so far:
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* The Linux Documentation Project manifesto
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* Installation and Getting Started Guide
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* The Kernel Hacker's Guide
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* Network Administration Guide
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* Linux System Administrator's Guide
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 2.2. Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff ?
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Matt Welsh maintains the Linux Documentation Project Home Page, at
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http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html.
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This page refers to all the FAQs and HOWTOs, both those which are
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available in HTML (WWW) format, like this FAQ, and those which aren't.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 2.3. What newsgroups are there for Linux ?
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There are five international Usenet newsgroups devoted to Linux.
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comp.os.linux.announce is the moderated announcements group; you should
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read this if you intend to use Linux. Submissions for that group should
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be emailed to linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu.
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comp.os.linux.help, comp.os.linux.development, comp.os.linux.admin and
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comp.os.linux.misc are also worth reading -- you may find that many common
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problems are too recent to find in this FAQ but are answered in the
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newsgroups.
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Remember that since Linux is a Unix clone, most all of the material in
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comp.unix.* and comp.windows.x.* groups will be relevant. Apart from
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hardware considerations, and some obscure or very technical low-level
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issues, you'll find that these groups are the right place to start.
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Please read Q12.1 `You still haven't answered my question !' before
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posting, and make sure you post to the right newsgroup. Crossposting is
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rarely a good idea.
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See also Q2.7 `I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information ?'.
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Other regional and local newsgroups also exist - you may find the traffic
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more manageable there. The French Linux newsgroup is fr.comp.os.linux;
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The German one is de.comp.os.linux. In Australia, try
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aus.computers.linux.
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There may well be Linux groups local to your institution or area - check
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there first.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Question 2.4. How do I install Linux ?
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There are several pre-packaged releases of Linux available, including the
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MCC-Interim release, the TAMU release and the Slackware release. Each
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contains the software you need to run Linux, ready to install and use.
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The exact details of which software is included and how to install them
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vary from release to release.
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You should read the Installation HOWTO for more details on how to go about
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installing Slackware. If you prefer a small, clean distribution to one
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with everything but the kitchen sink you might like to try the MCC-Interim
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release.
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All of those releases are available via anonymous FTP from the Linux
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archive sites [Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?']. There are
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also a large number of other releases which are distributed less globally,
|
|
which suit special local and national requirements (for example, better
|
|
internationalisation support).
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 2.5. Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?
|
|
|
|
There are three main archive sites for Linux:
|
|
|
|
* ftp.funet.fi (Finland, 128.214.6.100) : /pub/OS/Linux
|
|
* sunsite.unc.edu (US, 152.2.22.81) : /pub/Linux
|
|
* tsx-11.mit.edu (US, 18.172.1.2) : /pub/linux
|
|
|
|
The MCC-Interim release is available from ftp.mcc.ac.uk (US, 130.88.200.7)
|
|
in /pub/linux; the TAMU release is available from net.tamu.edu (US,
|
|
128.194.177.1) in /pub/linux.
|
|
|
|
The contents of these sites is mirrored (copied, usually approximately
|
|
daily) by a number of other sites. Please use one close to you -- that
|
|
will be faster for you and easier on the network.
|
|
|
|
* src.doc.ic.ac.uk : /packages/Linux (UK)
|
|
* sunacm.swan.ac.uk : /pub/Linux (UK)
|
|
* ftp.ibp.fr : /pub/linux (France)
|
|
* wuarchive.wustl.edu : /systems/linux (US)
|
|
* mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu : /pub/linux (US)
|
|
* ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de : /pub/comp/os/linux (Germany)
|
|
* ftp.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de : /pub/os/linux (Germany)
|
|
* ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de : /pub/linux (Germany)
|
|
* ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de : /pub/Linux (Germany)
|
|
* bond.edu.au : /pub/OS/Linux (Australia)
|
|
* monu1.cc.monash.edu.au : /pub/linux (Australia)
|
|
* ftp.sun.ac.za : /pub/linux (South Africa)
|
|
|
|
Not all of these mirror all of the other `source' sites, and some have
|
|
material not available on the `source' sites.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 2.6. I don't have FTP access. Where do I get Linux ?
|
|
|
|
The easiest thing is probably to find a friend with FTP access. If there
|
|
is a Linux users group near you they may be able to help.
|
|
|
|
If you have a reasonably good email connection you could try the
|
|
FTP-by-mail servers at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk or
|
|
ftp-mailer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de.
|
|
|
|
Linux is also available via traditional mail on diskette, CD-ROM and tape.
|
|
The Installation HOWTO, and the file /pub/Linux/docs/distributions on
|
|
sunsite.unc.edu, contain information on these distributions.
|
|
|
|
You could also try Zane Healy <healyzh@holonet.net>'s list of Linux BBS's,
|
|
which is posted regularly (1st and 15th of each month) to
|
|
comp.os.linux.announce and occasionally to the Fidonet and RIME UNIX
|
|
echoes.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 2.7. I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information ?
|
|
|
|
Digests of postings to the comp.os.linux.* groups are available by
|
|
subscribing to the bidirectional gateway at
|
|
linux-*-request@news-digests.mit.edu, where * is one of announce,
|
|
development, help, misc or admin.
|
|
|
|
You are strongly advised to subscribe to at least
|
|
linux-announce-request@news-digests.mit.edu, as this carries important
|
|
information and documentation about Linux.
|
|
|
|
Please remember to use the -request addresses for your subscription and
|
|
unsubscription messages; mail to the other address is posted to the
|
|
newsgroup !
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 2.8. What's this mailing list thing at niksula.hut.fi ?
|
|
|
|
It's a multi-channel mailing list, mainly used by the developers of Linux
|
|
to talk about technical issues and future developments. Most of the
|
|
channels are not intended for new users to ask their questions on.
|
|
|
|
The ANNOUNCE channel is a digest of postings to comp.os.linux.announce,
|
|
for the benefit of those without Usenet access. However since
|
|
niksula.hut.fi is slow and overloaded I'd recommend subscribing to the MIT
|
|
digestifier instead [Q2.7 `I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get
|
|
information ?'].
|
|
|
|
There is also a NEWBIE channel where `no question is too stupid';
|
|
unfortunately it seems that few of the experienced users read that
|
|
channel, probably because of all the `stupid' questions !
|
|
|
|
If you want to subscribe to one or more of the channels at the
|
|
multi-channel list, send an empty mail message to
|
|
linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi and you'll receive the instructions
|
|
for operating the list subscription software.
|
|
|
|
If you want to unsubscribe send a mail message like this
|
|
From: you@domain.org
|
|
To: linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi
|
|
Subject: irrelevant
|
|
|
|
X-Mn-Admin: leave CHANNEL
|
|
to leave a channel called CHANNEL. Do *not* put an X-Mn-Key line in your
|
|
message - that will cause it to be posted to the list.
|
|
|
|
Note that you *must* remember to unsubscribe *before* you change your
|
|
email address, as due to a design flaw in the list server it is virtually
|
|
impossible to get yourself unsubscribed after such a change.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 2.9. Are the newsgroups archived anywhere ?
|
|
|
|
Yes. ftp.funet.fi and tsx-11.mit.edu contain archives of both
|
|
comp.os.linux.announce and the old group comp.os.linux, in their Linux
|
|
areas. The comp.os.linux.announce archives are mirrored from /usenet on
|
|
src.doc.ic.ac.uk (which also contains another archive of comp.os.linux).
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 3. Compatibility with other operating systems
|
|
|
|
Q3.1 Can Linux coexist with DOS ? OS/2 ? 386BSD ? Minix ?
|
|
Q3.2 How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy ?
|
|
Q3.3 Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive ?
|
|
Q3.4 Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux ?
|
|
Q3.5 Can I access BSD FFS, SysV UFS, Mac, Amiga, etc filesystems ?
|
|
Q3.6 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux ?
|
|
Q3.7 How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager ?
|
|
Q3.8 How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS Windows ?
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.1. Can Linux coexist with DOS ? OS/2 ? 386BSD ? Minix ?
|
|
|
|
Yes. Linux uses the standard PC partitioning scheme, so it can share your
|
|
disk with other operating systems.
|
|
|
|
Linux can read and write the files on your DOS and OS/2 FAT partitions and
|
|
floppies using either the DOS filesystem type built into the kernel or
|
|
mtools. There is a DOS emulator (look on tsx-11.mit.edu in
|
|
/pub/linux/ALPHA/dosemu) which can run DOS itself and some (but not all)
|
|
DOS applications.
|
|
|
|
Linux can also access Minix and System V UFS filesystems, and can read
|
|
(but not yet write) OS/2 HPFS and Amiga filesystems.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.2. How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy ?
|
|
|
|
Use the DOS filesystem, i.e. type, for example:
|
|
mkdir /dos
|
|
mount -t msdos -o conv=text,umask=022,uid=100,gid=100 /dev/hda3 /dos
|
|
If it's a floppy, don't forget to umount it before ejecting it !
|
|
|
|
You can use the conv=text/binary/auto, umask=nnn, uid=nnn and gid=nnn
|
|
options to control the automatic line-ending conversion, permissions and
|
|
ownerships of the files in the DOS filesystem as they appear under Linux.
|
|
If you mount your DOS filesystem by putting it in your /etc/fstab you can
|
|
record the options (comma-separated) there, instead of defaults.
|
|
|
|
Alternatively you can use `mtools', available in both binary and source
|
|
form on the FTP sites -- see Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by FTP
|
|
?'.
|
|
|
|
A kernel patch (known as the fd-patches) is available which allows
|
|
floppies with nonstandard numbers of tracks and/or sectors to be used;
|
|
this patch is included in the 1.1 alpha testing kernel series.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.3. Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive ?
|
|
|
|
Not easily. You can access them from within the DOS emulator [Q3.1 `Can
|
|
Linux coexist with DOS ? OS/2 ? 386BSD ? Minix ?'], but not as a normal
|
|
filesystem under Linux or using mtools.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.4. Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux ?
|
|
|
|
Yes, but it's only read-only at the moment. To use it you must compile a
|
|
kernel with support for it enabled [Q7.6 `How do I upgrade/recompile my
|
|
kernel ?']. Then you can mount it using the mount command, for example:
|
|
mkdir /hpfs
|
|
mount -t hpfs /dev/hda5 /hpfs
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.5. Can I access BSD FFS, SysV UFS, Mac, Amiga, etc filesystems ?
|
|
|
|
I'm told that there is an alpha test read-only Amiga filesystem on
|
|
sunsite.unc.edu, probably in /pub/Linux/kernel/misc-patches/ffs-patch.
|
|
Work may well be progressing on upgrading this to read-write for the 680x0
|
|
Linux project.
|
|
|
|
The 1.1.x alpha test kernel series contains support for the UFS filesystem
|
|
used by System V and Coherent.
|
|
|
|
There is no support for the rest of those yet; I have not heard of any
|
|
recent work on providing some.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.6. Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux ?
|
|
|
|
Not yet. There is a project, known as WINE, to build an MS Windows
|
|
emulator for Linux, but it is not ready for users yet. Don't ask about it
|
|
unless you think you can contribute; look out for the status reports in
|
|
comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine.
|
|
|
|
In the meantime if you need to run MS Windows programs your best bet is
|
|
probably to reboot when you want to switch environments. LILO (the Linux
|
|
bootloader) has the facility for a boot menu --- see its documentation for
|
|
more details.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.7. How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager ?
|
|
|
|
1. Create a partition using OS/2's FDISK (Not Linux's fdisk).
|
|
|
|
2. Format the partition under OS/2, either with FAT or HPFS. This is so
|
|
that OS/2 knows about the partition being formatted.
|
|
|
|
3. Add the partition to the Boot Manager.
|
|
|
|
4. Boot Linux, and create a filesystem on the partition using mkfs -t ext2
|
|
or mke2fs. At this point you may, if you like, use Linux's fdisk to
|
|
change the partition type code of the new partition to type 83 (Linux
|
|
Native) -- this may help some automated installation scripts find the
|
|
right partition to use.
|
|
|
|
5. Install Linux on the partition.
|
|
|
|
6. Install LILO on the Linux partition -- NOT on the master boot record of
|
|
the hard drive. This installs LILO as a second-stage boot loader on the
|
|
Linux partition itself, to start up the kernel specified in the LILO
|
|
config file. To do this you should put
|
|
boot = /dev/hda2
|
|
(where /dev/hda2 is the *partition* you want to boot off) in your
|
|
/etc/lilo/config or /etc/lilo.config file.
|
|
|
|
7. Make sure that it is the Boot Manager partition that is marked active,
|
|
so that you can use Boot Manager to choose what to boot.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 3.8. How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS Windows ?
|
|
|
|
See the Mini-HOWTO on the subject by H. Peter Anvin, <hpa@eecs.nwu.edu>.
|
|
It is available on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/docs.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 4. Linux's handling of filesystems, disks and drives
|
|
|
|
Q4.1 How can I undelete files ?
|
|
Q4.2 Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc. ?
|
|
Q4.3 How do I format and create a filesystem on a floppy ?
|
|
Q4.4 I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the suchlike
|
|
Q4.5 My swap area isn't working.
|
|
Q4.6 How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again ?
|
|
Q4.7 Why can't I use fdformat except as root ?
|
|
Q4.8 Is there something like Stacker or Doublespace for Linux ?
|
|
Q4.9 My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.
|
|
Q4.10 I have a huge /proc/kcore ! Can I delete it ?
|
|
Q4.11 My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.1. How can I undelete files ?
|
|
|
|
In general, this is very hard to do on Unices because of their
|
|
multitasking nature. Undelete functionality for the ext2fs is being
|
|
worked on, but don't hold your breath.
|
|
|
|
There are a number of packages available that work by providing new
|
|
commands for deletion and sometimes copying that move deleted files into a
|
|
`wastebasket' directory instead; they can then be recovered until cleaned
|
|
out automatically by background processing.
|
|
|
|
Alternatively you can search the raw disk device which holds the
|
|
filesystem in question. This is hard work, and you will need to be root
|
|
to do this.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.2. Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc. ?
|
|
|
|
Yes. There is a Linux filesystem defragmenter for minix, old-style, ext2,
|
|
and xia filesystems available on sunsite.unc.edu in
|
|
system/Filesystems/defrag-0.6.tar.gz.
|
|
|
|
Users of the ext2 filesystem can probably do without defrag since ext2
|
|
contains extra code to keep fragmentation reduced even in very full
|
|
filesystems.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.3. How do I format and create a filesystem on a floppy ?
|
|
|
|
For a 3.5 inch high density floppy:
|
|
fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
|
|
mkfs -t ext2 -m 0 /dev/fd0H1440 1440
|
|
For a 5.25 inch floppy use fd0h1200 and 1200 as appropriate. For the `B'
|
|
drive use fd1 instead of fd0. Full details of which floppy devices do
|
|
what can be found in the Linux Device List [Q2.1 `Where can I get the
|
|
HOWTOs and other documentation ?']. If you don't have the fsutils package
|
|
you'll have to run mke2fs instead of mkfs -t ext2. The -m 0 option tells
|
|
mkfs.ext2 not to reserve any space on the disk for the superuser ---
|
|
usually the last 10% is reserved for root.
|
|
|
|
The first command low-level formats the floppy; the second creates an
|
|
empty filesystem on it. After doing this you can mount the floppy like a
|
|
hard disk partition and simply cp and mv files, etc.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.4. I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the suchlike
|
|
|
|
You probably have a corrupted filesystem, probably caused by not shutting
|
|
Linux down properly before turning off the power or resetting. You need
|
|
to use a recent shutdown program to do this --- for example, the one
|
|
included in the util-linux package, available on sunsite and tsx-11.
|
|
|
|
If you're lucky the program fsck (or e2fsck or xfsck as appropriate if you
|
|
don't have the fsutils package) will be able to repair your filesystem; if
|
|
you're unlucky the filesystem is trashed and you'll have to reinitialise
|
|
it with mkfs (or mke2fs, mkxfs etc.) it and restore from a backup.
|
|
|
|
NB don't try to check a filesystem that's mounted read-write - this
|
|
includes the root partition if you don't see
|
|
VFS: mounted root ... read-only
|
|
at boot time.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.5. My swap area isn't working.
|
|
|
|
When you boot (or enable swapping manually) you should see
|
|
Adding Swap: NNNNk swap-space
|
|
|
|
If you don't see any messages at all you are probably missing swapon -av
|
|
(the command to enable swapping) in your /etc/rc or /etc/rc.local (the
|
|
system startup scripts), or have forgotten to make the right entry in
|
|
/etc/fstab:
|
|
/dev/hda2 none swap sw
|
|
for example.
|
|
|
|
If you see
|
|
Unable to find swap-space signature
|
|
you have forgotten to run mkswap. See the manpage for details; it works
|
|
much like mkfs.
|
|
|
|
Check the Installation HOWTO for detailed instructions of how to set up a
|
|
swap area.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.6. How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again ?
|
|
|
|
Using DOS (MS-DOS 5.0 or later, or OS/2), type FDISK /MBR. This will
|
|
restore a standard MS-DOS Master Boot Record. If you have DR-DOS 6.0, go
|
|
into FDISK in the normal way and then select the `Re-write Master Boot
|
|
Record' option.
|
|
|
|
If you don't have DOS 5 or DR-DOS you need to have the boot sector that
|
|
LILO saved when you first installed it. You did keep that file, didn't
|
|
you ? It's probably called boot.0301 or some such. Type
|
|
dd if=boot.0301 of=/dev/hda bs=445 count=1
|
|
(or sda if you're using a SCSI disk). This may also wipe out your
|
|
partition table, so beware ! If you're desperate, you could use
|
|
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1
|
|
which will erase your partition table and boot sector completely: you can
|
|
then reformat the disk using your favourite software; however this will
|
|
render the contents of your disk inaccessible --- you'll lose it all
|
|
unless you're an expert.
|
|
|
|
Note that the DOS MBR boots whichever (single!) partition is flagged as
|
|
`active'; you may need to use fdisk to set and clear the active flags on
|
|
partitions appropriately.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.7. Why can't I use fdformat except as root ?
|
|
|
|
The system call to format a floppy may only be done as root, regardless of
|
|
the permissions of /dev/fd0*. If you want any user to be able to format a
|
|
floppy try getting the fdformat2 program; this works around the problems
|
|
by being setuid to root.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.8. Is there something like Stacker or Doublespace for Linux ?
|
|
|
|
Currently none of the Linux filesystems can do compression in the
|
|
filesystem.
|
|
|
|
There is a transparently uncompressing C library, which is a drop-in
|
|
replacement for the standard C library. It allows programs to read
|
|
compressed (ie, GNU zipped) files as if they were not compressed. You
|
|
install it, and then you can compress files using gzip and have programs
|
|
still find them. Look on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/libs. The author
|
|
is Alain Knaff <Alain.Knaff@imag.fr>.
|
|
|
|
There is a compressing block device driver that can provide
|
|
filesystem-independant on the fly disk compression in the kernel. It is
|
|
called `DouBle'. There is a source only distribution on sunsite.unc.edu
|
|
in /pub/Linux/utils/compress; the auther is Jean-Marc Verbavatz
|
|
<jmv@receptor.mgh.harvard.edu>. Note that since this compresses inodes
|
|
(administrative information) and directories as well as file contents any
|
|
corruption is quite likely to be serious.
|
|
|
|
There is also a package available called tcx (Transparently Compressed
|
|
Executables) which allows you to keep infrequently used executables
|
|
compressed and only uncompress them temporarily while you use them.
|
|
You'll find it on the Linux FTP sites [Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux
|
|
material by FTP ?']; it was also announced in comp.os.linux.announce.
|
|
Note - this is not the same as gzexe, which is an inferior implementation
|
|
of the same concept.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.9. My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.
|
|
|
|
See Q9.11 `EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked filesystem'.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.10. I have a huge /proc/kcore ! Can I delete it ?
|
|
|
|
None of the files in /proc are really there - they're all "pretend" files
|
|
made up by the kernel, to give you information about the system, and don't
|
|
take up any hard disk space.
|
|
|
|
/proc/kcore is like an "alias" for the memory in your computer; its size
|
|
is the same as the amount of RAM you have, and if you ask to read it as a
|
|
file the kernel does memory reads.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 4.11. My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.
|
|
|
|
The option to allow disks with more than 1024 cylinders is only required
|
|
as a workaround for a DOS misfeature and should be turned *off* under
|
|
Linux. For older Linux kernels you need to turn off most of the "advanced
|
|
BIOS" options - all but the one about scanning the bus for bootable
|
|
devices.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 5. Porting, compiling and obtaining programs
|
|
|
|
Q5.1 What is ld.so and where do I get it ?
|
|
Q5.2 Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux ?
|
|
Q5.3 How do I port XXX to Linux ?
|
|
Q5.4 Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386 ?
|
|
Q5.5 What does gcc -O6 do ?
|
|
Q5.6 Where are <linux/*.h> and <asm/*.h> ?
|
|
Q5.7 I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.
|
|
Q5.8 How do I make a shared library ?
|
|
Q5.9 How do I make my executables smaller ?
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.1. What is ld.so and where do I get it ?
|
|
|
|
ld.so is the new dynamic library loader. Each binary using shared
|
|
libraries used to have about 3K of start-up code to find and load the
|
|
shared libraries. Now that code has been put in a special shared library,
|
|
/lib/ld.so, where all binaries can look for it, so that it wastes less
|
|
disk space, and can be upgraded more easily.
|
|
|
|
It can be obtained from tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/linux/packages/GCC and
|
|
mirror sites thereof. The latest version at the time of writing is
|
|
ld.so.1.4.4.tar.gz.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.2. Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux ?
|
|
|
|
First, look in the Linux Software Map (LSM) --- it's in the docs directory
|
|
on sunsite.unc.edu, and on the other FTP sties.
|
|
|
|
Check the FTP sites (see Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?')
|
|
first --- search the find-ls or INDEX files for appropriate strings.
|
|
Check the Linux Projects Map (LPM), on ftp.ix.de in
|
|
/pub/Linux/docs/Projects-Map.gz.
|
|
|
|
If you don't find anything, you could either download the sources to the
|
|
program yourself and compile them -- see Q5.3 `How do I port XXX to Linux
|
|
?' -- or, if it's a large package which may require some porting, post a
|
|
message to the newsgroup.
|
|
|
|
If you compile a largeish program please upload it to one or more of the
|
|
FTP sites and post a message to comp.os.linux.announce (submit your
|
|
posting to <linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu>).
|
|
|
|
If you're looking for an application-type program the chances are someone
|
|
has already written a free verson. Try reading the FAQ in
|
|
comp.sources.wanted for instructions on how to find sources.
|
|
|
|
You should also check the Projects-FAQ, available in
|
|
/pub/Linux/docs/faqs/Projects-FAQ on sunsite.unc.edu.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.3. How do I port XXX to Linux ?
|
|
|
|
In general Unix programs need very little porting. Simply follow the
|
|
installation instructions. If you don't know and don't know how to find
|
|
out the answers to some of the questions asked during or by the
|
|
installation procedure you can guess, but this tends to produce buggy
|
|
programs. In this case you're probably better off asking someone else to
|
|
do the port.
|
|
|
|
If you have a BSD-ish program you should try using -I/usr/include/bsd and
|
|
-lbsd on the appropriate parts of the compilation lines.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.4. Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386 ?
|
|
|
|
Yes.
|
|
|
|
The -m486 option to GCC, which is used to compile binaries for 486
|
|
machines, merely changes certain optimisations. This makes for slightly
|
|
larger binaries which run somewhat faster on a 486. They still work fine
|
|
on a 386, though, with little performance hit.
|
|
|
|
GCC can be configured for a 386 or 486; the only difference is that
|
|
configuring it for a 386 makes -m386 the default and configuring for a 486
|
|
makes -m486 the default; in either case these can be overriden on a
|
|
per-compilation basis or by editing /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i*-linux/n.n.n/specs.
|
|
|
|
GCC does not currently know how to do optimisation well for the 586,
|
|
because Intel won't release the necessary information except under
|
|
nondisclosure. Don't buy a Pentium or wait for people to reverse-engineer
|
|
the required optimisations.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.5. What does gcc -O6 do ?
|
|
|
|
Currently the same as -O2; any number greater than 2 currently works just
|
|
like 2. The Makefiles of newer kernels use -O2, and so should you.
|
|
|
|
GCC 2.6 adds optimisation level -O3. However, GCC 2.6.0 and several of
|
|
the following versions are known to have some problems with Linux, though
|
|
these will hopefully be solved soon. In any case you should not use -O3
|
|
on a program until you're sure it doesn't create any problems.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.6. Where are <linux/*.h> and <asm/*.h> ?
|
|
|
|
These are in the directories /usr/include/linux and /usr/include/asm.
|
|
|
|
However they should be symbolic links to your kernel sources in
|
|
/usr/src/linux and not real directories.
|
|
|
|
If you don't have the kernel sources download them --- see Q7.6 `How do I
|
|
upgrade/recompile my kernel ?'.
|
|
|
|
Then use rm to remove any garbage, and ln to create the links:
|
|
rm -rf /usr/include/linux /usr/include/asm
|
|
ln -sf /usr/src/linux/include/linux /usr/include/linux
|
|
ln -sf /usr/src/linux/include/asm /usr/include/asm
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.7. I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.
|
|
|
|
Make sure that /usr/include/linux and /usr/include/asm aren't actual
|
|
directories but instead symbolic links to /usr/src/linux/include/linux and
|
|
/usr/src/linux/include/asm respectively.
|
|
|
|
If necessary, delete them using rm and then use ln -s to make the links as
|
|
in Q5.6 `Where are <linux/*.h> and <asm/*.h> ?'.
|
|
|
|
Remember that when you apply a patch to the kernel you must use the -p0 or
|
|
-p1 option: otherwise the patch may be misapplied. See the manpage for
|
|
patch for details.
|
|
|
|
If you're using a kernel more recent than 1.1.44 you should find that
|
|
there are new directories /usr/src/linux/include/asm-i386. The directory
|
|
asm there should be removed, as should the directory asm. The symlinks
|
|
Makefile target will make these be symbolic links to asm-i36 and
|
|
arch/i386/boot respectively. The easiest way to make sure all this gets
|
|
done is not to try to patch 1.1.44 to make 1.1.45, but to download
|
|
linux-1.1.45.tar.gz instead.
|
|
|
|
ld: unrecognised option `-qmagic' means you should get a newer linker,
|
|
from tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/linux/packages/GCC.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.8. How do I make a shared library ?
|
|
|
|
Get tools-n.nn.tar.gz from tsx-11.mit.edu, in /pub/linux/packages/GCC/src.
|
|
It comes with documentation that will tell you what to do.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 5.9. How do I make my executables smaller ?
|
|
|
|
The most common cause of large executables is the -g compiler flag. This
|
|
produces (as well as debugging information in the output file) a program
|
|
which is statically linked, i.e. one which includes a copy of the C
|
|
library instead of using a dynamically linked copy.
|
|
|
|
Other things that are worth investigating are -O and -O2 which enable
|
|
optimisation (check the GCC documentation) and -s which strips the symbol
|
|
information from the resulting binary (making debugging totally
|
|
impossible).
|
|
|
|
You may wish to use -N on very small executables (less than 8K with the
|
|
-N), but you shouldn't do this unless you understand its performance
|
|
implications, and definitely never with daemons.
|
|
|
|
Using QMAGIC binaries also can reduce the size of binaries, especially
|
|
small ones. Don't worry about this unless you know what QMAGIC is; Linux
|
|
is moving to QMAGIC as a default.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 6. Solutions to common miscellaneous problems
|
|
|
|
Q6.1 Setuid scripts don't seem to work.
|
|
Q6.2 Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.
|
|
Q6.3 When I add more memory it slows to a crawl.
|
|
Q6.4 Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.
|
|
Q6.5 Some programs let me log in with no password.
|
|
Q6.6 My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...
|
|
Q6.7 I can only log in as root.
|
|
Q6.8 My screen is all full of weird characters instead of letters.
|
|
Q6.9 I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.
|
|
Q6.10 Emacs just dumps core.
|
|
Q6.11 I've discovered a huge security hole in rm !
|
|
Q6.12 lpr and/or lpd aren't working.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.1. Setuid scripts don't seem to work.
|
|
|
|
That's right. This feature has been deliberately disabled in the Linux
|
|
kernel because setuid scripts are almost always a security hole. If you
|
|
want to know why read the FAQ for comp.unix.questions.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.2. Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.
|
|
|
|
The `free' figure printed by free doesn't include memory used as a disk
|
|
buffer cache - shown in the `buffers' column. If you want to know how
|
|
much memory is really free add the `buffers' amount to `free'.
|
|
|
|
The disk buffer cache tends to grow soon after starting Linux up, as you
|
|
load more programs and use more files and the contents get cached. It
|
|
will stabilise after a while.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.3. When I add more memory it slows to a crawl.
|
|
|
|
This is quite a common symptom of a failure to cache the additional
|
|
memory. The exact problem depends on your motherboard.
|
|
|
|
Sometimes you have to enable caching of certain regions in your BIOS
|
|
setup. Look in the CMOS setup and see if there is an option to cache the
|
|
new memory area which is currently switched off. This is apparently most
|
|
common on a 486.
|
|
|
|
Sometimes the RAMs have to be in certain sockets to be cached.
|
|
|
|
Sometimes you have to set jumpers to enable the caching.
|
|
|
|
Some motherboards don't cache all the RAM if you have more RAM per amount
|
|
of cache than they expect. Usually a full 256K cache will solve this
|
|
problem.
|
|
|
|
If in doubt, check your motherboard manual. If you still can't fix it
|
|
because the documentation is inadequate you might like to post a message
|
|
giving *all* the details - make, model number, date code, etc. so that
|
|
other Linux users can avoid it.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.4. Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.
|
|
|
|
You are probably using non-shadow-password programs but are using shadow
|
|
passwords.
|
|
|
|
If so, you have to get or compile a shadow password version of the
|
|
program(s) in question. The shadow password suite can be found in
|
|
(amongst other places):
|
|
tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/shadow-*
|
|
This is the source code; you will probably find the binaries in
|
|
.../linux/binaries/usr.bin.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.5. Some programs let me log in with no password.
|
|
|
|
You probably have the same problem as in Q6.4 `Some programs (e.g. xdm)
|
|
won't let me log in.', with an added wrinkle:
|
|
|
|
If you are using shadow passords you should put an asterisk in the
|
|
password field of /etc/passwd for each account, so that if a program
|
|
doesn't know about the shadow passwords it won't think it's a passwordless
|
|
account and let anyone in.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.6. My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...
|
|
|
|
You may not have any swap enabled. You need to enable swapping to allow
|
|
Linux to page out bits of data programs aren't using at the moment to disk
|
|
to make more room for other programs and data. If you don't Linux has to
|
|
keep data in memory and throw away in-memory copies of programs (which are
|
|
paged straight from the filesystem) and so less and less program is in
|
|
memory and everything runs very slowly.
|
|
|
|
See the Installation HOWTO and the Installation and Getting Started Guide
|
|
[Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?'] for details
|
|
of how to set up a swap partition or swapfile; see also Q4.5 `My swap area
|
|
isn't working.'.
|
|
|
|
Alternatively you may have too little real memory. If you have less RAM
|
|
than all the programs you're running at once use Linux will use your hard
|
|
disk instead and thrash horribly. The solution in this case is to not run
|
|
so many things at once or to buy more memory. You can also reclaim some
|
|
memory by compiling and using a kernel with less options configured. See
|
|
Q7.6 `How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?'.
|
|
|
|
You can tell how much memory and/or swap you're using by using the free
|
|
command, or by typing
|
|
cat /proc/meminfo
|
|
|
|
If your kernel is configured with a ramdisk this is probably wasted space
|
|
and will cause things to go slowly. Use LILO or rdev to tell the kernel
|
|
not to allocate a ramdisk (see the LILO documentation or type man rdev).
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.7. I can only log in as root.
|
|
|
|
You probably have some permission problems, or you have a file
|
|
/etc/nologin.
|
|
|
|
If the latter put rm -f /etc/nologin in your /etc/rc or /etc/rc.local.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise check the permissions on your shell, and any filenames which
|
|
appear in error messages, and also the directories containing these files
|
|
all the way back up the tree to the root directory.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.8. My screen is all full of weird characters instead of letters.
|
|
|
|
You probably sent some binary data to your screen by mistake. Type echo
|
|
^V^[c (that's e c h o space control-V escape c return) to fix it. Many
|
|
Linux distributions have a command reset that does this.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.9. I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.
|
|
|
|
Reboot from an emergency floppy or floppy pair, for example the Slackware
|
|
boot- and root-disk pair (in the install subdirectory of the Slackware
|
|
mirrors) or the MCC installation boot floppy. There are also two diy
|
|
rescue disk creation packages on sunsite.unc.edu in
|
|
/pub/Linux/system/Recovery. These are better as they'll have your own
|
|
kernel on them, so that you don't run the risk of missing devices,
|
|
filesystems, etc.
|
|
|
|
Get to a shell prompt and mount your hard disk with something like
|
|
mount -t ext2 /dev/hda1 /mnt
|
|
|
|
Then your filesystem is available under the directory /mnt and you can fix
|
|
the problem. Remember to unmount your hard disk before rebooting (cd back
|
|
down to / first or it will say it's busy).
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.10. Emacs just dumps core.
|
|
|
|
You probably have the X version of Emacs that comes with SLS. It doesn't
|
|
work without the X libraries. The solution is to install X Windows or get
|
|
a newer Emacs binary without any X Windows support.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.11. I've discovered a huge security hole in rm !
|
|
|
|
No you haven't. You are obviously new to Unix and need to read a good
|
|
book on it to find out how things work. Clue: ability to delete files
|
|
under Unix depends on permission to write the directory they are in.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 6.12. lpr and/or lpd aren't working.
|
|
|
|
Check the Printing HOWTO [Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other
|
|
documentation ?'].
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 7. How do I do this or find out that ... ?
|
|
|
|
Q7.1 How can I get scrollback in text mode ?
|
|
Q7.2 How do I switch virtual consoles ? How do I enable them ?
|
|
Q7.3 How do I set the timezone ?
|
|
Q7.4 What version of Linux and what machine name am I using ?
|
|
Q7.5 How can I enable or disable core dumps ?
|
|
Q7.6 How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?
|
|
Q7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts ?
|
|
Q7.8 How do I make a bootable floppy ?
|
|
Q7.9 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc. ?
|
|
Q7.10 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on ?
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.1. How can I get scrollback in text mode ?
|
|
|
|
With the default US keymap you can use Shift with the PageUp and PageDown
|
|
keys (NB these must be the grey ones, not the ones on the numeric keypad
|
|
!). With other keymaps check the maps in /usr/lib/keytables; you can
|
|
remap the scroll up and down keys to be whatever you like --- for example,
|
|
in order to remap them to keys that exist on an 84-key AT keyboard.
|
|
|
|
You can't increase the amount of scrollback, because of the way it is
|
|
implemented using the video memory to store the scrollback text, though
|
|
you may be able to get more scrollback in each virtual console by reducing
|
|
the total number of VC's --- see <linux/tty.h>.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.2. How do I switch virtual consoles ? How do I enable them ?
|
|
|
|
In text mode, press (Left) Alt-F1 to Alt-F12 to select the consoles tty1
|
|
to tty12. To switch out of X windows you must press Ctrl-Alt-F1 etc;
|
|
Alt-F5 or whatever will switch back.
|
|
|
|
Your kernel probably doesn't have all 12 compiled in; the default is 8.
|
|
This is controlled by NR_CONSOLES in linux/include/linux/tty.h.
|
|
|
|
If you want to use a VC for ordinary login you need to list it in
|
|
/etc/inittab, which controls which terminals and virtual consoles have
|
|
login prompts. NB: X needs at least one free VC in order to start.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.3. How do I set the timezone ?
|
|
|
|
Change directory to /usr/lib/zoneinfo; get the timezone package if you
|
|
don't have this directory. The source can be found on sunsite.unc.edu in
|
|
/pub/Linux/system/Admin/timesrc-1.2.tar.gz.
|
|
|
|
Then make a symbolic link named localtime pointing to one of the files in
|
|
this directory (or a subdirectory), and one called posixrules pointing to
|
|
localtime. For example:
|
|
ln -sf US/Mountain localtime
|
|
ln -sf localtime posixrules
|
|
This change will take effect immediately - try date.
|
|
|
|
Don't try to use the TZ variable - leave it unset.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.4. What version of Linux and what machine name am I using ?
|
|
|
|
Type:
|
|
uname -a
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.5. How can I enable or disable core dumps ?
|
|
|
|
Since 0.99pl14 Linux has had corefiles turned off by default for all
|
|
processes.
|
|
|
|
You can turn them on or off by using the ulimit command in bash, or the
|
|
limit command in tcsh. See the manpage for the shell for more details.
|
|
|
|
That command affects all programs run from that shell (directly or
|
|
indirectly), not the whole system.
|
|
|
|
If you wish to enable or disable coredumping for all processes by default
|
|
you can change the default setting in <linux/sched.h> - see the definition
|
|
of INIT_TASK.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.6. How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?
|
|
|
|
See the README which comes with the kernel release on ftp.funet.fi, in
|
|
/pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus and mirrors thereof. Try to get it from a
|
|
closer site if possible; ftp.funet.fi is a very busy site and therefore
|
|
slow -- see Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?'. You may
|
|
already have a version of the kernel source code installed on your system,
|
|
but if you got it as part of a standard distribution it is likely to be
|
|
somewhat out of date (this is not a problem if you only want a
|
|
custom-configured kernel, but it probably is if you need to upgrade.)
|
|
|
|
Remember that to make the new kernel boot you must run LILO after copying
|
|
the kernel into your root partition -- the Makefile in recent kernels has
|
|
a special zlilo target for this; try make zlilo.
|
|
|
|
Russel Nelson posts summaries of what changes in recent kernel patches to
|
|
comp.os.linux.development, and these are archived on ftp.emlist.com in
|
|
/pub/kchanges.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.7. Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts ?
|
|
|
|
Not without some trickery. This is a limitation of the ISA bus
|
|
architecture.
|
|
|
|
See the Serial HOWTO for information about how to work around this
|
|
problem.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.8. How do I make a bootable floppy ?
|
|
|
|
Make a filesystem on it with bin, etc and lib directories -- everything
|
|
you need. Install a kernel on it and arrange to have LILO boot it from
|
|
the floppy (see the LILO documentation, in lilo.u.*.ps).
|
|
|
|
If you build the kernel (or tell LILO to tell the kernel) to have a
|
|
ramdisk the same size as the floppy the ramdisk will be loaded at
|
|
boot-time and mounted as root in place of the floppy.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.9. How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc. ?
|
|
|
|
For recent kernels, get kbd*.tar.gz from the same place as you got the
|
|
kernel source. Make sure you get the appropriate version; you have to use
|
|
the right keyboard-mapping package to go with your kernel version. The
|
|
latest at the time of writing is kbd-0.85.tar.gz, which works with kernel
|
|
versions from 1.0.
|
|
|
|
For older kernels you have to edit the top-level kernel Makefile, in
|
|
/usr/src/linux.
|
|
|
|
You may find more helpful information in the Keystroke FAQ, on
|
|
ftp.funet.fi in /pub/OS/Linux/doc/kbd.FAQ.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 7.10. How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on ?
|
|
|
|
Use the setleds program, for example (in /etc/rc.local):
|
|
for t in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
|
|
do
|
|
setleds +num < /dev/tty$t > /dev/null
|
|
done
|
|
|
|
setleds is part of the kbd-0.8x package (see Q7.9 `How do I remap my
|
|
keyboard to UK, French, etc. ?').
|
|
|
|
Alternatively, patch your kernel. You need to arrange for KBD_DEFLEDS to
|
|
be defined to (1 << VC_NUMLOCK) when compiling drivers/char/keyboard.c.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered
|
|
|
|
Q8.1 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
|
|
Q8.2 What does VFS stand for ?
|
|
Q8.3 What is a BogoMip ?
|
|
Q8.4 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it ?
|
|
Q8.5 How many people use Linux ?
|
|
Q8.6 How should I pronounce Linux ?
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.1. What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
|
|
|
|
.gz (and .z) files have been compressed using GNU gzip. You have to get a
|
|
copy of gunzip (included in the gzip distribution and with most Linux
|
|
installations) to unpack the file.
|
|
|
|
.taz and .tz are tarfiles (made with Unix tar) compressed using standard
|
|
Unix compress.
|
|
|
|
.tgz (or .tpz) is a tarfile compressed with gzip.
|
|
|
|
.lsm is a Linux Software Map entry, in the form of a short text file.
|
|
Details about the LSM and the LSM itself are available in the docs
|
|
subdirectory on sunsite.unc.edu.
|
|
|
|
The file command can often tell you what a file is.
|
|
|
|
If you find that gzip complains when you try to uncompress a gzipped file
|
|
you probably downloaded it in ASCII mode by mistake. You must download
|
|
most things in binary mode - remember to type binary as a command in FTP
|
|
before using get to get the file.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.2. What does VFS stand for ?
|
|
|
|
Virtual File System. It's the abstraction layer between the user and real
|
|
filesystems like ext2, minix and msdos. Amongst other things, its job is
|
|
to flush the read buffer when it detects a disk change on the floppy disk
|
|
drive:
|
|
VFS: Disk change detected on device 2/0
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.3. What is a BogoMip ?
|
|
|
|
`BogoMips' is a contraction of `Bogus MIPS'. MIPS stands for (depending
|
|
who you listen to) Millions of Instructions per Second, or Meaningless
|
|
Indication of Processor Speed.
|
|
|
|
The number printed at boot-time is the result of a kernel timing
|
|
calibration, used for very short delay loops by some device drivers.
|
|
|
|
As a very rough guide the BogoMips will be approximately:
|
|
386SX clock * 0.14
|
|
386DX clock * 0.18
|
|
486Cyrix/IBM clock * 0.33
|
|
486SX/DX/DX2 clock * 0.50
|
|
586 clock * 0.39
|
|
|
|
If the number you're seeing is wildly lower than this you may have the
|
|
Turbo button or CPU speed set incorrectly, or have some kind of caching
|
|
problem [as described in Q6.3 `When I add more memory it slows to a
|
|
crawl.'.]
|
|
|
|
For values people have seen with other, rarer, chips, see the BogoMips
|
|
Mini-HOWTO, on sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/docs/howto/mini/BogoMips.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.4. What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it ?
|
|
|
|
Linux Journal is a monthly magazine (printed on paper) that is available
|
|
on newsstands and via subscription worldwide. Email <linux@ssc.com> for
|
|
details.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.5. How many people use Linux ?
|
|
|
|
Linux is freely available, and no one is required to register their copies
|
|
with any central authority, so it is difficult to know. Several
|
|
businesses are now surviving solely on selling and supporting Linux, and
|
|
very few Linux users use those businesses, relatively speaking. The Linux
|
|
newsgroups are some of the most heavily read on the Net, so the number is
|
|
likely in the hundreds of thousands, but firm numbers are hard to come by.
|
|
|
|
However, one brave soul, Harald T. Alvestrand
|
|
<Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no>, has decided to try, and asks that if you
|
|
use Linux, you send a message to <linux-counter@uninett.no> with one of
|
|
the following subjects: `I use Linux at home', `I use Linux at work', or
|
|
`I use Linux at home and at work'. He will also accept `third-party'
|
|
registrations - ask him for details.
|
|
|
|
He posts his counts to comp.os.linux.misc each month; alternatively look
|
|
on aun.uninett.no in /pub/misc/linux-counter.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 8.6. How should I pronounce Linux ?
|
|
|
|
This is a matter of religious debate, of course !
|
|
|
|
If you want to hear the Linus himself say how he pronounces it download
|
|
english.au or swedish.au from ftp.funet.fi (in
|
|
/pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds). If you have a soundcard or the
|
|
PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing
|
|
cat english.au >/dev/audio
|
|
The difference isn't in the pronunciation of Linux but in the language
|
|
Linus uses to say hello.
|
|
|
|
For the benefit of those of you who don't have the equipment or
|
|
inclination: Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the ee
|
|
is as in feet but rather shorter and the u is like a much shorter version
|
|
of the French eu sound in peur (pronouncing it as the u in put is probably
|
|
passable).
|
|
|
|
When speaking English I pronounce it Lie-nucks (u as in bucket) --- this
|
|
is an anglicised pronunciation based on the analogy with Linus' name,
|
|
which in English is usually pronounced Lie-nus (u as in put). It is of
|
|
course quite acceptable and common to modify the pronunciation of a proper
|
|
noun when it changes languages.
|
|
|
|
I think I can safely say that the pronunciation Linnucks (short i as in
|
|
pit, short u as in bucket) is wrong in English, as it is not the original
|
|
Swedish pronunciation, not a sensible direct anglicisation of it, and not
|
|
based on the anglicised version of Linus' name.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 9. Frequently encountered error messages
|
|
|
|
Q9.1 During linking I get Undefined symbol _mcount
|
|
Q9.2 lp1 on fire
|
|
Q9.3 INET: Warning: old style ioctl(IP_SET_DEV) called!
|
|
Q9.4 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
|
|
Q9.5 GCC says Internal compiler error
|
|
Q9.6 make says Error 139
|
|
Q9.7 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.
|
|
Q9.8 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
|
|
Q9.9 Warning - bdflush not running
|
|
Q9.10 Warning: obsolete routing request made.
|
|
Q9.11 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked filesystem
|
|
Q9.12 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached
|
|
Q9.13 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached
|
|
Q9.14 df says Cannot read table of mounted filesystems
|
|
Q9.15 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical ...
|
|
Q9.16 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary
|
|
Q9.17 fdisk says cannot use nnn sectors of this partition
|
|
Q9.18 fdisk says partition n has an odd number of sectors
|
|
Q9.19 mtools says cannot initialise drive XYZ
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.1. During linking I get Undefined symbol _mcount
|
|
|
|
This is usually due to a bad interaction between a brokenness in SLS and
|
|
the C library release notes. Your libc.a has been replaced by the
|
|
profiling library. You should remove libc.a, libg.a and libc_p.a and once
|
|
again install the new libraries (following the release notes, of course).
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.2. lp1 on fire
|
|
|
|
This is a joke/traditional error message indicating that some sort of
|
|
error is being reported by your printer, but it isn't offline or out of
|
|
paper. It may be that you have some kind of I/O or IRQ conflict - check
|
|
your cards' settings. Hopefully it isn't really on fire ...
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.3. INET: Warning: old style ioctl(IP_SET_DEV) called!
|
|
|
|
You are trying to use the old network configuration utilities; the new
|
|
ones can be found on tsx-11.mit.edu in
|
|
/pub/linux/packages/net/net-2/binaries.
|
|
|
|
Note that they cannot be used just like the old-style programs; see the
|
|
NET-2 HOWTO for instructions on how to set up networking correctly.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.4. ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
|
|
|
|
You have an old version of ld. Install a newer binutils package -- this
|
|
will contain an updated ld. Look on tsx-11.mit.edu in
|
|
/pub/linux/packages/GCC for binutils.tar.z.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.5. GCC says Internal compiler error
|
|
|
|
If the fault is repeatable (ie, 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 Control-h i in Emacs, and select GCC from the menu) for details on
|
|
how to report this -- make sure you have the latest version though.
|
|
|
|
Note that this is probably not a Linux-specific problem; unless you were
|
|
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 are very probably experiencing memory
|
|
corruption --- see Q9.6 `make says Error 139'.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.6. make says Error 139
|
|
|
|
Your compiler driver (gcc) dumped core. You probably have a corrupted,
|
|
buggy or old version of GCC --- get the latest release. Alternatively you
|
|
may be running out of swap space --- see Q6.6 `My machine runs very slowly
|
|
when I run GCC / X / ...' for more info.
|
|
|
|
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 are correct. If so you may have some dodgy
|
|
SIMMs or a faulty motherboard or hard disk or controller.
|
|
|
|
Linux, like any Unix, is a very good memory tester --- much better than
|
|
DOS-based memory test programs.
|
|
|
|
Reportedly some clone x87 maths coprocessors can cause problems; try
|
|
compiling a kernel with maths emulation [Q7.6 `How do I upgrade/recompile
|
|
my kernel ?']; you may need to use the no387 kernel command line flag on
|
|
the LILO prompt to force the kernel to use it, or it may be able to work
|
|
and still use the 387, with the maths emulation compiled in but mainly
|
|
unused.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 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 manpage for chmod or a
|
|
book on Unix for how to fix the problem.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.8. No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
|
|
|
|
Your /etc/utmp is screwed up. You should have
|
|
> /etc/utmp
|
|
in your /etc/rc or /etc/rc.local. See Q6.9 `I have screwed up my system
|
|
and can't log in to fix it.' for how to be able to do this.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.9. Warning - bdflush not running
|
|
|
|
The development kernel series now uses 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 [Q7.6
|
|
`How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?'] and compile and install it; it
|
|
should be started before the usual boot-time filesystem checks. It will
|
|
work fine with older kernels as well, so there's no need to keep the old
|
|
update around.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.10. Warning: obsolete routing request made.
|
|
|
|
This is nothing to worry about; it just means that the version of route
|
|
you have 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 [Q7.6 `How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel ?'].
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.11. EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked filesystem
|
|
|
|
You need to run e2fsck (or fsck -t ext2 if you have the fsutils package)
|
|
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 [Q2.5 `Where can I
|
|
get Linux material by FTP ?']. You have to make sure that your /etc/rc
|
|
scripts use them correctly.
|
|
|
|
NB don't try to check a filesystem 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 for to initially mount the root filesystem
|
|
readonly, check it if necessary, and then remount it read-write. 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 to get it not to try
|
|
to update /etc/mtab, since the root filesystem is still read-only and this
|
|
will otherwise cause it to fail !
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.12. EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached
|
|
|
|
This message is issued by the kernel when it mounts a filesystem that's
|
|
marked as clean, but whose `number of mounts since check' counter has
|
|
reached the predifined value. The solution is to get the latest version
|
|
of the ext2fs utilities (e2fsprogs-0.5a.tar.gz at the time of writing)
|
|
from the usual sites [Q2.5 `Where can I get Linux material by FTP ?'].
|
|
|
|
The maximal number of mounts value can be examined and changed using the
|
|
tune2fs program from this package.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.13. EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached
|
|
|
|
Kernels from 1.0 onwards support checking a filesystem 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 [see Q9.12 `EXT2-fs warning:
|
|
maximal count reached'].
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.14. df says Cannot read table of mounted filesystems
|
|
|
|
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 or /etc/rc.local), using something
|
|
like
|
|
rm -f /etc/mtab*
|
|
|
|
Some versions of SLS have an entry for the root partition in /etc/mtab
|
|
made in /etc/rc by using rdev. This is incorrect -- the newer versions of
|
|
mount do this automatically.
|
|
|
|
Other versions of SLS have a line in /etc/fstab that looks like:
|
|
/dev/sdb1 /root ext2 defaults
|
|
This is wrong. /root should read simply /.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.15. fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical ...
|
|
|
|
If the partition number (X, above) is 1 this is the same problem as Q9.16
|
|
`fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary'.
|
|
|
|
If the partition begins or ends on a cylinder numbered beyond 1024, this
|
|
is because standard DOS disk geometry information format in the partition
|
|
table can't cope with cylinder numbers with more than 10 bits.
|
|
|
|
This will cause DOS to be unable to access the partition correctly, and
|
|
will make booting a Linux kernel from that partition using LILO
|
|
problematic at best.
|
|
|
|
You can still use the partition for Linux or other operating systems that
|
|
use linear addressing (ie, number the disk blocks sequentially without
|
|
looking at heads, tracks and sectors).
|
|
|
|
I'd recommend creating at least one Linux partition entirely under the
|
|
1024-cylinder limit and booting off that; the other partitions will then
|
|
be OK.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 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 good 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.
|
|
|
|
1. Create partition 1 in the normal way. A p listing will produce the
|
|
mismatch complaint.
|
|
|
|
2. Type u to set sector mode and do p again. Copy down the number from
|
|
the "End" column.
|
|
|
|
3. Delete partition 1.
|
|
|
|
4. While still in sector mode recreate 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 noted in
|
|
2. above.
|
|
|
|
5. 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, which are not used
|
|
if you start the first partition in track 2.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.17. fdisk says cannot use nnn sectors of this partition
|
|
|
|
Originally Linux only supported the Minix filesystem, which cannot use
|
|
more than 64Mb per parition. This limitation is not present in the more
|
|
advanced filesystems now available, such as ext2fs (the 2nd version of the
|
|
Extended Filesystem) and xiafs (Qi Xia's filesystem).
|
|
|
|
If you intend to use ext2fs or xiafs you can ignore the message.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.18. 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.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 9.19. mtools says cannot initialise drive XYZ
|
|
|
|
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 manpage 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 discover 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 --- distribution packagers please note
|
|
that this is *evil*.
|
|
|
|
For the easiest way to access your DOS files (especially those on a hard
|
|
disk partition) see Q3.2 `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 !
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 10. The X Window System
|
|
|
|
Q10.1 Does Linux support X Windows ?
|
|
Q10.2 Where can I get an Xconfig for my video card and monitor ?
|
|
Q10.3 xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger
|
|
Q10.4 I can't get X Windows to work right.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 10.1. Does Linux support X Windows ?
|
|
|
|
Yes. Linux uses XFree86 (the current version is 3.1, which is based on
|
|
X11R6). You need to have a video card which is supported by XFree86. See
|
|
the Linux XFree86 HOWTO for more details.
|
|
|
|
Some of the Linux releases -- MCC, for example -- don't come with X
|
|
Windows already included; however you can easily download and install it
|
|
from /pub/Linux/X11/Xfree86-* on sunsite.unc.edu and its mirror sites.
|
|
Read the XFree86 HOWTO for installation instructions.
|
|
|
|
Other releases -- Slackware, Debian, TAMU and SLS, for example -- come
|
|
with X Windows already included
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 10.2. Where can I get an Xconfig for my video card and monitor ?
|
|
|
|
See the Linux XFree86 HOWTO.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to put together your own Xconfig file, because it depends on
|
|
the exact combination of video card and monitor you have. It's not that
|
|
hard to do -- read the instructions that came with XFree86, in
|
|
/usr/X386/lib/X11/etc. The file you probably most need to look at is
|
|
README.Config.
|
|
|
|
Please don't post to comp.os.linux.help asking for an Xconfig.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 10.3. xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger
|
|
|
|
The xterm that comes with XFree86 2.0 and earlier doesn't correctly
|
|
understand the format that Linux uses for the /etc/utmp file, where the
|
|
system records who is logged in. It therefore doesn't set all the
|
|
information correctly.
|
|
|
|
I do not know whether XFree86 2.1 fixes this problem.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 10.4. I can't get X Windows to work right.
|
|
|
|
Read the XFree86 HOWTO - note the question and answer section.
|
|
|
|
Try reading comp.windows.x.i386unix -- specifically read the the FAQ for
|
|
that group.
|
|
|
|
Please don't post X Windows or XFree86 related questions to
|
|
comp.os.linux.help unless they are Linux-specific.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 11. Questions applicable to very out-of-date software
|
|
|
|
Q11.1 How can I have more than 16Mb of swap ?
|
|
Q11.2 GCC sometimes uses huge amounts of virtual memory and thrashes
|
|
Q11.3 My keyboard goes all funny after I switch VC's.
|
|
|
|
The questions in this section are only relevant to users of software that
|
|
is at least 3 months old.
|
|
|
|
Please let me know if you find the answer to a problem you had here, as
|
|
unused questions in this section will eventually disappear [Q13.1
|
|
`Feedback is invited'].
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 11.1. How can I have more than 16Mb of swap ?
|
|
|
|
Use a recent kernel -- from at least 0.99.14 Linux can use swap partitions
|
|
of up to 128Mb.
|
|
|
|
If you use an older kernel which only supports swap area sizes up to 16Mb
|
|
you have to set up more than one swap partition or swapfile.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 11.2. GCC sometimes uses huge amounts of virtual memory and thrashes
|
|
|
|
Older versions of GCC had a bug which made them use lots of memory if you
|
|
tried to compile a program which had a large static data table in it.
|
|
|
|
You can either upgrade your version of GCC to at least version 2.5, or add
|
|
more swap if necessary and just grin and bear it; it'll work in the end.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 11.3. My keyboard goes all funny after I switch VC's.
|
|
|
|
This is a bug in kernel versions before 0.99pl14-alpha-n. Sometimes Linux
|
|
loses track of what modifier keys (Shift, Alt, Control etc.) are pressed
|
|
or not, and believes that one or more are pressed when they are not. The
|
|
solution is to press and release each of the modifier keys (without
|
|
pressing any other keys) --- this will ensure that Linux knows what state
|
|
the keyboard is actually in.
|
|
|
|
This problem often occurs when switching out of X windows; it can
|
|
sometimes be avoided by releasing Ctrl and Alt very quickly after pressing
|
|
the F-key of the VC you are switching to.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 12. How to get further assistance
|
|
|
|
Q12.1 You still haven't answered my question !
|
|
Q12.2 What to put in a posting to comp.os.linux.help
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 12.1. You still haven't answered my 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 50000 people
|
|
and waste hundreds of hours of their time. Don't you think it's worth it
|
|
to spend some of your time reading and following these instructions ?
|
|
|
|
If you think an answer is incomplete or inaccurate, please mail Ian
|
|
Jackson at <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>.
|
|
|
|
Read the appropriate Linux Documentation Project books - see Q2.1 `Where
|
|
can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation ?'.
|
|
|
|
If you're a Unix newbie read the FAQ for comp.unix.questions, and those
|
|
for any of the other comp.unix.* groups that may be relevant.
|
|
|
|
Linux is a Unix clone, so almost everything you read there will apply to
|
|
Linux. Those FAQs can, like all FAQs, be found on rtfm.mit.edu in
|
|
/pub/usenet/news.answers (the mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu can send you these
|
|
files, for those who don't have FTP access). There are mirrors of rtfm's
|
|
FAQ artchives on various sites - check the Introduction to *.answers
|
|
posting, posted, 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 manpages (type man man if you don't
|
|
know about manpages. Try man -k <subject> --- it often lists useful and
|
|
relevant manpages.
|
|
|
|
Check the Info documentation (type C-h i, i.e. Control H followed by I in
|
|
Emacs) --- NB 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 giving installation
|
|
and/or usage instructions.
|
|
|
|
Make sure that you don't have a corrupted or out-of-date copy of the
|
|
program in question. If possible, download it again and reinstall it ---
|
|
perhaps you made a mistake the first time.
|
|
|
|
Read comp.os.linux.announce --- this often contains very important
|
|
information for all Linux users.
|
|
|
|
X-Windows questions belong in comp.windows.x.i386unix, not in
|
|
comp.os.linux.help. 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 comp.os.linux.help. Make sure you read the next question, Q12.2
|
|
`What to put in a posting to comp.os.linux.help', first.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 12.2. What to put in a posting to comp.os.linux.help
|
|
|
|
Please read carefully the following advice about how to write your
|
|
posting. Taking heed of it will greatly increase the chances that an
|
|
expert and/or fellow user reading your posting will have enough
|
|
information and motivation to reply.
|
|
|
|
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 (MCC, Slackware, Debian or whatever)
|
|
and what version of that release.
|
|
|
|
* The *exact* and *complete* text of any error messages printed.
|
|
|
|
* Exactly what behaviour you were expecting, and exactly what behaviour
|
|
you observed. A transcript of an example session is a good way of
|
|
showing this.
|
|
|
|
* The contents of any configuration files used by the program in question
|
|
and any related programs.
|
|
|
|
* What version of the kernel and of the shared libraries you are using.
|
|
The kernel version can be found by typing uname -a, and the shared
|
|
library version by typing ls -l /lib/libc.so.4.
|
|
|
|
* 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 knew that ! Save the
|
|
space for the name of the program, a fragment of the error message,
|
|
summary of the unusual behaviour, etc.
|
|
|
|
If you are reporting an `unable to handle kernel paging request' message,
|
|
follow the instructions in the Linux kernel sources README for turning the
|
|
numbers into something more meaningful. If you don't do this noone who
|
|
reads your post will be able to do it for you, as the mapping from numbers
|
|
to function names varies from one kernel to another.
|
|
|
|
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, do
|
|
actually post a summary in a few days or a week or so. Don't just
|
|
concatenate the replies you got --- summarise. 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 the readers with
|
|
the rest of a boring thread.
|
|
|
|
You might like to say in your posting that you've read this FAQ and the
|
|
appropriate HOWTOs - this may make people less likely to skip your
|
|
posting.
|
|
|
|
Remember that you should not post email sent to you personally without the
|
|
sender's permission.
|
|
|
|
===============================================================================
|
|
|
|
Section 13. Administrative information and acknowledgements
|
|
|
|
Q13.1 Feedback is invited
|
|
Q13.2 Formats in which this FAQ is available
|
|
Q13.3 Authorship and acknowledgements
|
|
Q13.4 Disclaimer and Copyright
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 13.1. Feedback is invited
|
|
|
|
Please send me your comments on this FAQ.
|
|
|
|
I accept submissions for the FAQ in any format; All contributions
|
|
comments and corrections are gratefully received.
|
|
|
|
Please send them to <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>.
|
|
|
|
By the way, if you wish to refer to a question(s) in the FAQ it's most
|
|
useful for me if you do so by the question heading, rather than the
|
|
number, as the question numbers are generated automatically and I don't
|
|
see them in the source file I edit.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 13.2. Formats in which this FAQ is available
|
|
|
|
This document is available as an ASCII text file, an Emacs Info document,
|
|
an HTML World Wide Web page, PostScript and as a USENET news posting.
|
|
|
|
The ASCII, Emacs Info, HTML and posted versions and a Lout typesetter file
|
|
(from which the PostScript is produced) are generated automatically by a
|
|
Perl script which takes as input a file in the Bizarre Format with No
|
|
Name.
|
|
|
|
The output files linux-faq.ascii, .info and .ps and a tarfile
|
|
linux-faq.source.tar.gz, containing the BFNN source and Perl script
|
|
converter, are available in the docs directories of the major Linux FTP
|
|
sites.
|
|
|
|
The HTML version of this FAQ is available as
|
|
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/iwj10/linux-faq/index.html.
|
|
|
|
The USENET version is posted regularly to comp.os.linux.announce,
|
|
comp.os.linux.help, comp.answers and news.answers.
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 13.3. Authorship and acknowledgements
|
|
|
|
This FAQ was compiled by Ian Jackson <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>, with
|
|
assistance and comments from others too numerous to mention. It was
|
|
loosely based on the original Linux FAQ by Marc-Michel Corsini.
|
|
|
|
Special thanks are due to Matt Welsh, who coordinates the HOWTOs and has
|
|
written substantial portions of many of them, and to Marc-Michel Corsini.
|
|
Thanks also to the contributors to the previous Linux FAQ, and to those
|
|
sent me comments about this FAQ, and who answered questions on the
|
|
newsgroup.
|
|
|
|
Last but not least, thanks to Linus Torvalds and the other contributors to
|
|
Linux for giving us something to write about !
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Question 13.4. Disclaimer and Copyright
|
|
|
|
Note that this document is provided as is. The information in it is *not*
|
|
warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.
|
|
|
|
Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers is Copyright 1994 by Ian
|
|
Jackson <ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>.
|
|
|
|
It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirity (including this
|
|
authorship, copyright and permission notice) provided that either:
|
|
|
|
* the distribution is not commercial (commercial means any situation in
|
|
which you benefit financially - directly or indirectly such as by
|
|
inclusion in a publication which carries commercial advertising), or
|
|
* the distribution is in machine-readable form (ie, a form intended to be
|
|
easily processed by a computer).
|
|
|
|
Note that this restriction is not intended to prohibit charging for the
|
|
service of printing or copying a document supplied by your customer.
|
|
|
|
Any distribution of a partial copy or extract, a translation or a
|
|
derivative work must be approved by me before distribution. Email me -
|
|
I'll probably be happy to oblige !
|
|
|
|
Exceptions to these rules may be granted, and I shall be happy to answer
|
|
any questions about this copyright --- write to Ian Jackson, Churchill
|
|
College, Cambridge, CB3 0DS, United Kingdom or email
|
|
<ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>. These restrictions are here to protect the
|
|
contributors, not to restrict you as educators and learners.
|
|
|
|
Ian Jackson asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work,
|
|
and claims the moral rights of paternity and integrity, in accordance with
|
|
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
|
|
|