Differences between current version and predecessor to the previous major change of DebianFaq.
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| Newer page: | version 14 | Last edited on Monday, May 15, 2006 11:51:16 am | by CraigBox | |
| Older page: | version 12 | Last edited on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 2:33:53 pm | by IanMcDonald | Revert |
@@ -1,404 +1 @@
-Note - this page is the old
[FAQ
] for the "#debian" channel on the openprojects.net [IRC] server (now on irc.debian.org?). However, this local (WLUG wiki) version has had its own additions to the original version, which hasn't been updated for some time. Many of the links
here no longer point to what they used to, but most of the content is still relevant.
-
-Pointers for more information:
-* http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/
-* http://www.linuks.mine.nu/debian-faq-wiki/
-----
-
-!!! <tt>#debian</tt> [FAQ]
-
-<tt>#debian</tt> is an [IRC] channel kindly hosted by openprojects.net which you can join for realtime discussion with other friendly DebianLinux users.
-
-The channel has some basic rules
-* Don't ask to ask. Just say your problem.
-* Don't repeat question more often than every 5 minutes.
-* Read and re-read the docs first, then admit it if you __really__ don't understand. You're wasting your time and ours if you haven't at least tried.
-* If your problem remains unsolved, come back in 12 hrs or 24 hrs later. We're very international.
-* Be polite and patient.
-
-Maybe read http://www.openprojects.net/channel_guidelines.shtml and http://www.openprojects.net/policy.shtml
-
-!! What channel would I get help about *whatever* or in language *whatever*?
-
-<?plugin OldStyleTable
-| sparc | <tt>#sparc</tt> | http://bicekru.eurobits.nu/faq.htm
-| mips | <tt>#mipslinux</tt> | http://www.debian.org/ports/mips/
-| ppc | <tt>#debianppc</tt> | http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/
-| alpha | <tt>#alpha</tt> | http://www.debian.org/ports/alpha/
-|||
-| spanish | <tt>#debian-es</tt> | http://www.esdebian.org
-| german | <tt>#debian.de</tt> | http://channel.debian.de
-| japanese | <tt>#debian-japanese</tt> | http://www.debian.org/international/Japanese
-| russian | <tt>#debian-russian</tt> | http://www.debian.org/international/Russian
-| french | <tt>#debian-fr</tt> <br> <tt>#debian-france</tt> | http://www.debian-fr.org <br> http://www.debian-france.org
-| french (TheHurd) | <tt>#hurdfr</tt> | http://news.hurdfr.org http://jp.braun.free.fr/hurdfr
-| brazil | <tt>#debian-br</tt> | http://debian-br.cipsga.org.br
-| portuguese | <tt>#debian-rs</tt> | http://www.debian-rs.org
-| uk | <tt>#debian-uk</tt> |
-| hungary | <tt>#debian.hu</tt> | http://debian.hu
-| sweden | <tt>#debian.se</tt> | http://se.debian.net
-|||
-| booting | <tt>#debian-boot</tt> |
-| bots | <tt>#debian-bots</tt> |
-| bugs | <tt>#debian-bugs</tt> | http://bugs.debian.org/release-critical
-| development | <tt>#debian-devel</tt> |
-| [apt-proxy] | <tt>#apt-proxy</tt> | http://apt-proxy.sf.net
-| TheHurd | <tt>#hurd</tt> | http://hurd.gnu.org
-| Debian [GNU]/[BSD] | <tt>#debian-bsd</tt> | http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/
-| debianplanet | <tt>#debianplanet</tt> | http://www.debianplanet.org
-| openoffice | <tt>#debian-oo</tt> | http://www.openoffice.org
-| kde | <tt>#debian-kde</tt> | http://www.kde.org
-| linux kernel | <tt>#kernelnewbies</tt> | http://www.kernelnewbies.org
-| c | <tt>#c</tt> | http://www.chelp.info
-| c++ | <tt>#c++</tt>
-?>
-
-!! Does anyone recommend a way to let a certain user write to <tt>/dev/dsp</tt>?
-
-To configure sound in DebianLinux: first, use modconf to load your driver. Then add yourself to the audio group (adduser username audio) and logout and back in. If you use ISA PnP and 2.2.x, ask apt about <tt>isapnp sound</tt>. If you don't know what driver to use, start with <tt>lspci -v</tt> and <tt>pnpdump</tt>.
-
-Instead of <tt>adduser username audio</tt>, you can use <tt>usermod -G audio username</tt>. Make sure you add any other groups the user is a member of, though, since -G replaces rather than appends. In other words, you'd actually be running something like <tt>usermod -G mygroup,myothergroup,audio username</tt>.
-
-!! I don't mount audio cds do I?
-
-Nope.
-
-!! OK, so then, when I don't mount it, how am I supposed to listen to it?
-
-First step: find out which device file represents your CD-ROM drive, e.g. with <tt>grep CD /var/log/dmesg</tt> or <tt>ls -l /dev/cdrom</tt>. After you found out which one it is, make sure that the device file is owned by the <tt>cdrom</tt> group, if it isn't, use <tt>chgrp cdrom /dev/hdc</tt> to fix it. When you did that, it should look like
-
-<verbatim>
-brw-rw---- 1 root cdrom 11, 0 Mar 14 22:54 /dev/hdc
-</verbatim>
-
-Now add your user to the cdrom group (adduser yourusername cdrom), log out (completely, that means, close stuff until you see a login prompt), then log back in and use your favourite cd player application (xmms, grip, cdcd or one of the other three dozen possibilities).
-
-!! Where is the guide to compile a kernel in DebianLinux?
-
-To compile a kernel The DebianLinux Way (tm) <tt>apt-get install kernel-package</tt> and follow the instructions in /usr/share/doc/kernel-package/README.gz (use zless or lynx). If you are going to make an <tt>initrd kernel</tt>, you'll also need to install the <tt>initrd-tools</tt> package.
-
-!! How can I kill a zombie process?
-
-A zombie process is one which has issued an exit(), but whose parent has not yet issued wait() (or one of its variants) to retrieve the exit code. This usually means the parent process is buggy. You can't kill a zombie, because it's already dead; you have to kill the parent, or just ignore the zombie.
-
-!! I get ncurses not installed when i try to recompile the kernel, what's wrong?
-
-apt-get install libncurses5-dev
-
-!! Where can I disable the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace combination that normally kills the [XServer]?
-
-In <tt>/etc/X11/XF86Config{-4}</tt>:
- <verbatim>
- Option "DontZap" "true"
- </verbatim>
-
-!! What package do I install for the c header files?
-
-apt-get install libc6-dev
-
-!! Why does DebianLinux not have a mkfs.msdos?
-
-apt-get install dosfstools
-
-!! Can less(1) display [ANSI] color codes?
-
-less -r foo.ans
-
-!! Which package has the man binary?
-
-man-db
-
-!! Where can I get a C compiler?
-
-apt-get install gcc binutils
-
-!! How do I get apt to tell me about rc.local?
-
-/msg apt rc.local
-
-!! Does anyone know how to force an e2fsck on boot (or next reboot)?
-
-touch /forcefsck
-
-!! Where's a good HOWTO for learning how I make my own DebianLinux packages?
-
-developer's corner of www.debian.org. apt-get install maint-guide. The full name of the doc you're looking for is "DebianLinux New Maintainer's Guide".
-
-!! How can I reinstall a pkg?
-
-apt-get --reinstall install pkg
-
-!! Whats a good site to see what hardware is compatible in LINUX?
-
-http://lhd.datapower.com
-
-!! Can one find out which libraries a particular binary has been linked with?
-
-ldd
-
-!! In netbsd a normal user can't do su, can I do that with linux too?
-
-yes, read /etc/pam.d/su
-
-!! Do you know how to startx on another terminal
-
-startx -- :1
-
-!! How do you touch every file in a filesystem?
-
-<verbatim>
-find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 touch
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How can I change the nameserver that a box is using?
-
-/etc/resolv.conf
-
-!! How do you get a module to load at boot up time?
-
-/etc/modules or use modconf
-
-!! What does bf24 stand for?
-
-boot floppies with 2.4 kernel
-
-!! How can I download multiple files via ftp? <tt>get foo*</tt> doesn't work.
-
-mget foo*
-
-!! How can I change my gtk theme?
-
-apt-get install gtk-theme-switch; switch
-For a few themes check apt-cache search gtk-engines
-
-!! How do I get program to be transparent when run in a console window?
-
-<verbatim>
-mc -b
-mcedit -b
-slrn -C-
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How do I get KDE 3?
-
-READ http://calc.cx/kde.txt BEFORE ASKING | debs mirrored at http://kde3.geniussystems.net/debian ./ | http://kde.debian.co.nz/debian ./ | http://www.ping.uio.no/~mortehu/kde-i386 ./
-
-!! How do I get openoffice?
-
-i386/powerpc debs at deb http://www.mx1.ru/~chris/openoffice unstable main contrib <> fast mirror in .de: deb ftp://ftp.vpn-junkies.de/openoffice unstable main contrib
-
-!! Where can I set the default wm for an user?
-
-it depends on how you startx the X server: ~/.xinitrc | xdm reads ~/.xsession
-
-!! I've installed this new package, but where is the command?
-
-Simple solution:
-
-<verbatim>
-dpkg -L packagename | pager
-</verbatim>
-
-!! Problems with X?
-
-First: read /usr/share/doc/xfree86-common/FAQ.gz and /usr/share/doc/xfree86-common/XFree86-FAQ.html
-
-!! Anybody else here from New Zealand?
-
-/who *.nz
-
-!! Is there anyway to convert a ext2 filesystem to reiserfs w/o loosing data?
-
-back up the data, make the new fs, restore the data
-
-!! Which package I have to install to have man pages of the C and C++ functions?
-
-ManPage~s-dev stl-manual
-
-!! What are those process inside ~[] on ps output, like ~[kswapd]?
-
-kernel daemons
-
-!! Anyone know how to set a nic to half-plex?
-
-<verbatim>
-mii-diag
-</verbatim>
-
-!! is there a way to see the history of when users logged in/out?
-
-<verbatim>
-last
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How do I see what fs is a partition using?
-
-<verbatim>
-fdisk -l
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How do I change the message someone gets when they finger me?
-
-edit ~/.plan and/or ~/.project
-
-!! How does email work? How do i set up exim?
-
-http://wooledge.org/~greg/mail.html
-
-!! What can I do with apt, the bot?
-
-apt help, or better /msg apt help: some basic things you can do
-
-<verbatim>
-apt seen nickname - tells if and when apt seen nickname
-apt keyword - tells about keyword
-apt keyword is definition - teaches apt about keyword
-apt keyword is also anotherdefinition - adds a definition to an existing one
-apt forget keyword - lets apt forget the definition of keyword
- instead of apt you can also use ~
-</verbatim>
-
-!! DebianLinux seems to disable core dumps by default, how would enable them?
-
-put <tt>ulimit -c unlimited</tt> in your .bash_profile or equivalent
-
-!! I asked a question and someone answered 'use foobar'. What do I do now?
-
-First: look for a ManPage (<tt>apropos foobar</tt>). If you can't find a ManPage, try the help (often <tt>foobar -h</tt> or <tt>foobar -- help</tt>, sometimes <tt>foobar -help</tt>. When you get a message about <tt>command not found</tt>, it's either not in your $PATH (then try <tt>/sbin/foobar</tt> or <tt>/usr/sbin/foobar</tt>) or not installed. In the second case, start with <tt>apt-cache search foobar</tt>, then use <tt>apt- cache show packagename</tt> on the results. Once you found the right package, <tt>apt-get install packagename</tt> it. When all that files, chances are good that foobar is file from a package with a different name, then proceed with the answer of the according question.
-
-!! What packages should I remove to get rid of sunrpc?
-
-portmap is, like, for sun rpc based services (like NFS and NIS), or a separate package in woody/sid, but in potato it's part of netbase. To disable it in potato, you should edit /etc/init.d/portmap. In woody/sid, remove the portmap package.
-
-!! I have an empty db called phpT w/o tables, how to upload phpT.sql?
-
-mysql -u USER -pPASSWORD phpT < phpT.sql
-
-!! How do I find out when a user on my system have last been logged in?
-
-lastlog
-
-!! I get this error: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory...
-
-You need the Red Hat 6.x compatibility lib,
-
-<verbatim>
-apt-get install libstdc++2.9-glibc2.1
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How do I configure X version 4?
-
-dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
-
-!! How can I get the gimp to save gif files?
-
-gimp1.2-nonfree
-
-!! Where is the log of the bootup sequence kept?
-
-/var/log/dmesg
-
-!! Is there a way to list all of the packages installed on a system through dpkg?
-
-dpkg -l |grep ^(i|h)
-
-!! Is unstable very unstable?
-
-Unstable usually works pretty well, but every once in a while it breaks catastrophically (can't boot, can't login, etc.). Check the channel topic and apt's news before upgrading your unstable system.
-
-!! How can I find out what program is using my sound card?
-
-lsof
-
-!! Can I have NFS?
-
-apt-get install nfs-common nfs-kernel-server (you need portmapper/rpc running to make nfs work)
-
-<verbatim>
- (rpcinfo -p localhost)
- SERVER
- /etc/exports
- directory client(option1,option2)
- exmaple:
- /tmp 172.16.1.*(ro,root_squash)
- exportfs
- (and /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start)
- CLIENT
- mount servernameorip:/dir /mountpoint
- /etc/fstab
- servernameorip:/dir /mnt nfs rw,hard,intr 0
- showmount -e nfsserver
-</verbatim>
-
-!! How do I find out which package provides file 'foo'?
-
-There are several possibilities. An always working one is to use the search at http://packages.debian.org/ It provides two possibilities: a search on package names and descriptions and below that a search for filenames, which outputs the packages providing that file. To avoid to get dozens of results, it's possible to include pathnames. So instead of searching for <tt>ls</tt> (242 results for a search in potato), use <tt>/bin/ls</tt>. Another alternative is to use <tt>auto-apt</tt> (which exists only in woody or higher). Install it, run (as root) <tt>auto-apt update</tt> and after it created its index you can use it like <tt>auto-apt search /bin/ls</tt>. Note: searching like this is not the target use for auto-apt, it is meant to install packages on-demand, so if you have use for such a feature, check the docs. A third way is to use <tt>apt</tt>, our beloved IRC bot in <tt>#debian</tt>. Quick example: <tt>/msg apt find /bin/ls woody</tt> tells it to /msg you all packages in woody that contain the file <tt>/bin/ls</tt>. Small note: you can use a subset of regular expressions. example: <tt>bin/ls$</tt> would only show matches that end in <tt>bin/ls</tt> and not e.g. <tt>bin/lss16toppm</tt> If you only want to know which package installed a file in your system, you can use <tt>dpkg --search /bin/ls</tt>. A faster alternative to this is provided by the <tt>dlocate</tt> package (not available in potato), which uses 'GNU locate' as backend. As always, check it's docs.
-
-DebianLinux provides a local search tool for this purpose, called <tt>apt-file</tt>. Install the apt-file package, then run <tt>apt-file update</tt>, then something like <tt>apt-file search /bin/ls</tt>. This will search all files in all your sources, unlike dpkg --search which only searches packages you actually have installed.
-
-!! Where do I get documentation?
-
-Often enough you apt-get install some shiny new application, just to realize that it's not as intuitive as you would like it. Then it's time to do what everyone does: RTFM. Depending on the complexity of the application your first step might be one of reading the man page (use <tt>dpkg -L packagename | less</tt> to see a list of provided ones or checking the more detailed documentation in /usr/share/doc/packagename/ . Especially the README.Debian located there is often a good source to begin with. After reading that, check for upstream readme files and other documentation. The third possibility comes in form of 'GNU Info' files. You can access it with <tt>infobrowser</tt>, but be warned, the standard info reader is a bit terse. A more *cough* userfriendly alternative is the <tt>pinfo</tt> program or the info-mode of Emacs or XEmacs.
-
-!! How do I get colors for <tt>ls</tt>?
-
-This assumes that you use bash, the standard shell in DebianLinux. First check your ~/.bashrc, the necessary commands are probably already defined, but commented out (the have a # at the beginning of the line). Remove that # in the line that says
-
-<verbatim>
-alias ls='ls --color=auto'
-</verbatim>
-
-If it doesn't exist, just add it. Feel free to comment out some of the other things in it, if you think you might like them. The next step is to make sure that all shells you start make use of that file. To achieve this, you have to edit your ~/.bash_profile and either add or uncomment
-
-<verbatim>
-if ~[ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
- source ~/.bashrc
-fi
-</verbatim>
-
-After you did that, run the following command in all already open shells:
-
-<verbatim>
-source ~/.bashrc
-</verbatim>
-
-This will reread that file and add the alias to the running shell. If you are interested in other useful things you can do with that files, <tt>apt-get install bash-doc</tt> and read /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files
-
-!! How can i make DebianLinux not boot into X?
-
-First of all, the answer is *not* changing your default runlevel like in RedHat, DebianLinux uses a different approach and configures runlevels differently, i.e. it makes by default no difference between Athe multi-user runlevels 2 ~[default runlevel], 3, 4 and 5 and lets the system administrator customize them. Read http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys#s-sysvinit for more informations. Your graphical login thing, called a 'display manager' is started like any other service with a script in /etc/init.d/ and a symlink pointing to that in /etc/rc?.d/. If you want to get rid of it, you have two possibilities:
-# remove the offending package, most likely one from xdm, kdm, wdm, gdm or login.app (note: you can have more than one installed, but only one is used by default). If your system wants to remove the packages x-window-system, kde or gnome, dont't worry, they are only useful for installation and not needed afterwards.
-# remove the symlink from one or all of the runlevels. This can be solved with DebianLinux's update-rc.d command (e.g. update-rc.d -f remove xdm). This will remove xdm from all multi-user runlevels. You can also use rm to delele the symlink in your default runlevel, but not in the others in order to be able to boot into a 'X runlevel' and a 'non-X runlevel', like RedHat does it.
-
-!! What are 'virtual packages' and how do I use them?
-
-'Virtual packages' (VP) are packages, that are mentioned in the list of available packages but don't really exist and which are used to make dependancies easier to handle. A small example might help to clear that a bit: Let's take the <tt>mutt</tt> package, which desperately needs a SMTP server to work, otherwise it couldn't send mails. Therefor the maintainer decided to let mutt depend on <tt>exim | mail-transport-agent</tt>. This means that if either exim or mail-transport-agent is installed, mutt will be happy. The interesting part is now that mail-transport-agent is a VP, provided by several other packages, e.g. exim, sendmail or postfix. Installing one of these packages will resolve the dependancy on mail-transport-agent.
-
-Now for the practical implications of VPs: sooner or later you will be need to decide between several packages with the same functionality or you want to test different applications to replace something you don't like. Example: you are sick of using ftpd and want some other FTP server. Now you need to get a list of packages providing <tt>ftp-server</tt>.
-
-# <tt>apt-get install ftp-server</tt>
-# <tt>apt-cache showpkg ftp-server</tt>, then look at the list of <tt>Reverse Provides:</tt>
-# <tt>grep-available -F Provides -s Package,Description ftp-server</tt> (install the grep-dctrl package)
-
-Refer to the DebianLinux policy for further informations (apt-get install debian-policy). This package comes also with a list of all currently used VPs (in /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/virtual-package-names-list.txt.gz)
-
-!! How can I see what is changing in a package when I upgrade?
-
-Install the <tt>apt-listchanges</tt> package. From then on, whenever you upgrade a package (but not when you install a new package), apt-listchanges will show you the changelogs between the currently-installed version and the version you're installing, with an option to abort the upgrade.
-
-!! Why doesn't the [HAL] and [UDev] combination pick up my device events (ie [HotPlug]ging a KeyDrive)?
-
-You have to add the user to the plugdev group, else it won't work.
-
-You can see an overview of the majority of DebianLinux package manipulation tools at DebianPackageTools.
-
-!! Some short random notes about ManPage~s
-
-ManPage~s are meant to be short, specific and extensive. They are often more useful as reference than anything else (try to look at <tt>man find</tt> :-). In that case, try different information sources (they are sometimes mentioned in the <tt>SEE ALSO</tt> section of the ManPage). <tt>man</tt> itself doesn't display the ManPage~s, it uses an external pager. 'more' is the most basic one, but it's guaranteed to be installed, so be prepared to meet it from time to time. But it has it's shortcomings (no scrolling back while reading ManPage~s), so you should install <tt>less</tt>. Another important thing is that ManPage~s will become one of your most used tools, so it's really needed that you read <tt>man man</tt> and <tt>man pager</tt>
-
-!! About <tt>/usr/share/doc/packagename</tt>
-
-To save diskspace, larger documentation files are compressed (you see that when the filename ends in <tt>.gz</tt>). This makes it impossible to read them without additional steps. The two most common ways are to use <tt>zless</tt> or <tt>lynx</tt>, which both decompress the file on the fly. Occasionally you will notice that the newly installed package doesn't have any useful docs. In that case check if they are provided in a separate doc package, normally named <tt>package-doc</tt>
. An important example for this is <tt>bash-doc</tt>
-
-----
-Part of CategoryFaq CategoryDebian
+Describe
[DebianFaq
] here.
