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HTML
293 lines
9.8 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" />
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<title>Help</title>
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<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" />
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<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" />
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<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Open Source and Free Software"
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href="introduction-opensource.html" />
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<link rel="NEXT" title="Online Help" href="help-online.html" />
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
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<body class="CHAPTER" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084"
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alink="#0000FF">
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<div class="NAVHEADER">
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<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0"
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cellspacing="0">
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<tr>
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<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="introduction-opensource.html"
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accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
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<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td>
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<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="help-online.html"
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accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" />
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</div>
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<div class="CHAPTER">
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<h1><a id="HELP" name="HELP"></a>Chapter 2 Help</h1>
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<div class="TOC">
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<dl>
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<dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt>
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<dt>2.1 <a href="help.html#HELP-SYSTEM">System Help</a></dt>
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<dt>2.2 <a href="help-online.html">Online Help</a></dt>
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</dl>
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</div>
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<p>Often there are times when you might need help with a specific command, setting up a
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program, or getting a piece of hardware to work. Maybe you simply want to understand a
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given command better, or see what other options are available to use with it. Luckily,
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there are a variety of ways that you can get the help you're looking for. When you
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install Slackware you have the option of installing packages from the “F”
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series which includes FAQs and HOWTOs. Programs also come with help about their options,
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configuration files, and usage.</p>
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<div class="SECT1">
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<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM" name="HELP-SYSTEM">2.1 System Help</a></h1>
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<div class="SECT2">
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<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-MAN" name="HELP-SYSTEM-MAN">2.1.1 <tt
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class="COMMAND">man</tt></a></h2>
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<p>The <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt> command (short for “manual”) is the
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traditional form of online documentation in Unix and Linux operating systems. Comprised
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of specially formatted files, the “man pages”, are written for the vast
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majority of commands and are distributed with the software itself. Executing <tt
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class="COMMAND">man somecommand</tt> will display the man page for (naturally) the
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command specified, in our example this would be the imaginary program <tt
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class="COMMAND">somecommand</tt>.</p>
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<p>As you might imagine, the amount of man pages can quickly add up, becoming overly
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confusing and seriously complicated, even for an advanced user. So, for this reason, man
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pages are grouped into enumerated sections. This system has been around for a very long
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time; enough so that you will often see commands, programs, and even programming library
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functions referred to with their man section number.</p>
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<p>For example:</p>
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<p>You might see a reference to <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1). The numbering tells you
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that “<tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>” is documented in section 1 (user
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commands); you can specify that you want the section 1 man page for “man”
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with the command <tt class="COMMAND">man 1 man</tt>. Specifying the section that man
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should look in is useful in the case of multiple items with the same name.</p>
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<div class="TABLE"><a id="AEN409" name="AEN409"></a>
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<p><b>Table 2-1. Man Page Sections</b></p>
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<table border="0" frame="void" width="100%" class="CALSTABLE">
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<col width="25%" />
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<col width="75%" />
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<thead>
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<tr>
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<th>Section</th>
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<th>Contents</th>
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</tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 1</td>
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<td>user commands (intro only)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 2</td>
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<td>system calls</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 3</td>
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<td>C library calls</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 4</td>
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<td>devices (e.g., <tt class="FILENAME">hd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">sd</tt>)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 5</td>
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<td>file formats and protocols (e.g., wtmp, <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/passwd</tt>,
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nfs)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 6</td>
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<td>games (intro only)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 7</td>
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<td>conventions, macro packages, etc. (e.g., nroff, ascii)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Section 8</td>
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<td>system administration (intro only)</td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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</div>
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<p>In addition to <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1), there are the commands <tt
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class="COMMAND">whatis</tt>(1) and <tt class="COMMAND">apropos</tt>(1) available to you,
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whose shared purpose is to make it easier to find information in the man system.</p>
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<p>The command <tt class="COMMAND">whatis</tt> gives a very brief description of system
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commands, somewhat in the style of a pocket command reference.</p>
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<p>Example:</p>
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<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
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<tr>
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<td>
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<pre class="SCREEN">
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<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">whatis whatis</kbd>
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whatis (1) - search the whatis database for complete words
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</pre>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<p>The command <tt class="COMMAND">apropos</tt> is used to search for a man page
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containing a given keyword.</p>
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<p>Example:</p>
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<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
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<tr>
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<td>
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<pre class="SCREEN">
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<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">apropos wav</kbd>
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cdda2wav (1) - a sampling utility that dumps CD audio data into wav sound files
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netwave_cs (4) - Xircom Creditcard Netwave device driver
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oggdec (1) - simple decoder, Ogg Vorbis file to PCM audio file (WAV or RAW)
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wavelan (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver
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wavelan_cs (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN PCMCIA device driver
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wvlan_cs (4) - Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 device driver
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</pre>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<p>If you'd like further information on any of these commands, read their man pages for
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the details. ;)</p>
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</div>
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<div class="SECT2">
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<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-DOC" name="HELP-SYSTEM-DOC">2.1.2 The <tt
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class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt> Directory</a></h2>
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<p>The source for most packages that we build comes with some sort of documentation:
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README files, usage instructions, license files, etc. Any sort of documentation that
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comes with the source is included and installed on your system in the <tt
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class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt> directory. Each program will (usually) install its own
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documentation in the order of:</p>
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<p><tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/<var
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class="REPLACEABLE">$program-$version</var></tt></p>
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<p>Where <var class="REPLACEABLE">$program</var> is the name of the program you are
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wanting to read about, and <var class="REPLACEABLE">$version</var> is (obviously) the
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appropriate version of software package installed on your system.</p>
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<p>For example, to read the documentation for the command <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1)
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you would want to <tt class="COMMAND">cd</tt> to:</p>
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<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
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<tr>
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<td>
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<pre class="SCREEN">
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<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">cd /usr/doc/man-<var
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class="REPLACEABLE">$version</var></kbd>
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</pre>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<p>If reading the appropriate man page(s) doesn't provide you with enough information, or
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address what you're looking for in particular, the <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt>
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directory should be your next stop.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="SECT2">
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<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-HOWTO" name="HELP-SYSTEM-HOWTO">2.1.3 HOWTOs and
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mini-HOWTOs</a></h2>
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<p>It is in the truest spirit of the Open Source community that brings us to the
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HOWTO/mini-HOWTO collection. These files are exactly what they sound like - documents and
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guides describing how to do stuff. If you installed the HOWTO collection, the HOWTOs will
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be installed to <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs</tt> and the mini-HOWTOs to
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<tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs</tt>.</p>
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<p>Also included in the same package series is a collection of FAQs, which is an acronym
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which stands for</p>
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<div class="INFORMALTABLE"><a id="AEN497" name="AEN497"></a>
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<table border="0" frame="void" class="CALSTABLE">
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<col />
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<tbody>
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<tr>
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<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">F</i></span>requently</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">A</i></span>sked</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Q</i></span>uestions</td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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</div>
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<p>These documents are written in a “Question and answer” style for
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(surprise) Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs can often be a very useful place to look
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if you're just looking for a “Quick Fix” to something. If you decide to
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install the FAQs during setup, you will find them installed to the <tt
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class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-FAQs</tt> directory.</p>
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<p>These files are well worth reading whenever you're not quite sure how to proceed with
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something. They cover an amazing range of topics, more often than not in a surprisingly
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detailed manner. Good stuff!</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="NAVFOOTER">
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<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" />
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<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0"
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cellspacing="0">
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<tr>
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<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="introduction-opensource.html"
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accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
|
||
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<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
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accesskey="H">Home</a></td>
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<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="help-online.html"
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accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Open Source and Free Software</td>
|
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|
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<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td>
|
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<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Online Help</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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