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12. Getting support for Debian Linux

12.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?

12.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?

There are several Debian-related mailing lists:

To subscribe to debian-X (for X in announce, changes, user), send mail to debian-X-REQUEST@lists.debian.org with the word "subscribe" in the Subject: header. If you have a forms-capable World Wide Web browser, you can subscribe to debian-announce and debian-user by using the WWW form. You can also un-subscribe using that form.

The lists are managed by Anders Chigstrom (ac@netg.se)

Archives of the Debian mailing lists are available on WWW at http://www.debian.org/Lists-Archives/.

Users can address questions to individual package maintainers, since their email addresses are provided in the Debian control file (see Section Debian control file that is included within each package. One can also learn the maintainers' names and email addresses by searching the "Packages" file, since this file is just a concatenation of all the available package control files in a particular directory tree. To extract a control file from a particular debian package, use the command,

dpkg --info packageName_VVV-RRR.deb

Another related mailing list, debiangame, is being run by Gary Moore (htmlurl url="mailto://gary@ssc.com" name="mailto://gary@ssc.com) at the University of Washington. As the name suggests, it is devoted to the discussion of games that have been (or might be) packaged for Debian. To subscribe, send mail to listproc@u.washington.edu, putting in the message body:

  subscribe debiangame FirstName LastName
Both FirstName and LastName are required for ListProc.

Users should post non-Debian-specific questions to one of the Linux Usenet groups, which are named comp.os.linux.* or linux.*. Specialized Systems Consultants (a.k.a. SSC) maintains a list of Linux, Unix, X, and networking newsgroups on their WWW site.

12.3 What is the code of conduct for the mailing lists?

When using the Debian mailing lists, please follow these rules:

12.4 Are there any other on-line resources dealing with Debian Linux?

Software in the Public Interest, Inc ., operates a WWW-server at http://www.debian.org which provides additional on-line resources. See also Section on contributing to Debian Linux.

Generally, users should also exploit the WWW search engines for addressing specific problems. For example, the DejaNews news search service is an invaluable resource for exploring Usenet newsgroups. Try this search:

linux & WD
This tells DejaNews to report any postings containing either the string "linux" or the string "WD" When I used it, I discovered that my WD card (which I've only had for 6 months) has been declared outmoded by Adaptec, now that they've bought WD. So there are no drivers available. (Bless Adaptec's hearts.)

Or search the WWW using the Altavista Search Engine. For example, searching on the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed explanation of this package than the brief description field in its control file.


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