#language en ##For Translators - to have a constantly up to date translation header in you page, you can just add a line like the following (with the comment's character at the start of the line removed) ##<> ##TAG:TRANSLATION-HEADER-START ~-Translation(s): [[DebianDocumentation|English]] - [[fr/DebianDocumentation|Français]] - [[it/DebianDocumentation|Italiano]] - [[pt_BR/DebianDocumentation|Português (Brasil)]]-~ ##TAG:TRANSLATION-HEADER-END ---- Debian is a GNU/Linux distribution, made of thousands of [[FreeSoftware|free software]] packages. . <> This page is about official Debian Documentation. There are other [[DebianResources|Debian Resources]] <> = Debian Documentation = == For users == The most famous for Debian users are : * The [[http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual|Installation Guide]] (or the [[http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/|development version]].) * The [[http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/releasenotes|Release Notes]] * The [[http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#quick-reference|Debian reference]] Many other Debian Documentation are available at [[http://www.debian.org/doc|www.debian.org/doc]] At the moment, Debian doesn't have a ''System Administrator'' manual. == For contributors == The most famous for Debian contributors are : * the [[http://www.debian.org/social_contract|social contract]] * the [[http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines|The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)]] * the [[http://www.debian.org/devel/dmup|Debian Machine Usage Policies]] (dmup) * the [[DebianPolicy| Debian policy]] * the [[http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#devref|Debian Developer's Reference Manual]] * the [[http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#maint-guide|Debian New Maintainers Guide]] Most documentation for Debian-developer (and package maintainer) are available from [[http://www.debian.org/devel/|www.debian.org/devel/]]. == Official Websites of the Debian Project == The Debian Project has a [[http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution|constitution]] and an [[http://www.debian.org/intro/organization|organizational structure]] On [[http://www.debian.org|Debian.org]] the official Debian site, you can find a section dedicated to documentation. ## By alphabetical order * http://www.debian.org/doc - Debian documentation home * http://www.debian.org/support - support home <> === Forum === ## By alphabetical order * [[DebianMailingLists|Mailinglists]] are the main way of Debian communication * http://lists.debian.org/users.html - User mailing lists * http://forums.debian.net - Debian.net Forums === Advocacy, developers, inside information === ## By alphabetical order * UnofficialRepositories - a list of non official package repositories. They can be very useful. * http://alioth.debian.org - Project hosting for Open Source developers * http://mentors.debian.net - Public package repository * http://bits.debian.org - Debian Blog * http://planet.debian.org - Planet Debian, aggregating lots of Developer blogs * http://planet.debian.org/es/ - Planeta Debian, a blog aggregator in spanish * http://release.debian.org - Debian Release Management pages * http://snapshot.debian.org - Debian packages archived daily since 2002/06/04 * http://backports.debian.org - Backports for the stable distribution * http://www.debian.org/News - Official news * http://db.debian.org - Debian Developer Database * http://udd.debian.org/ - Ultimate Debian Database <> === Wiki === Debian-related wikis: ## By alphabetical order * http://wiki.debconf.org - The pre-2019 !DebConf (Debian Conference) Wiki. For content since 2019, see DebConf. * http://wiki.debian.org - The Official Debian Wiki <> == Books == Many free and non-free books are listed on Debian website. * http://www.debian.org/doc/books - Debian Book Library Extra books could be listed below. ## DO NOT DUPLICATE entries from debian.org/doc/books ! <> == Instant Messaging == There are official Debian [[IRC]] channels. You can also use [[Jabber]] <> = Program documentation = Each software provides has its own documentation. Under Debian (Unix), a program's documentation typically consist of (one or more of): * A [[ManPage|manpage]] (type {{{man}}} followed by a command name). * A {{{README}}} file, provided by upstream. (A text file located at {{{/usr/share/doc/}}}''pkgname''{{{/README}}}) * A {{{README.Debian}}} file, provided by the Debian package maintainer. (A text file located at {{{/usr/share/doc/}}}''pkgname''{{{/README.Debian}}}) * Programs with a graphical user interface (Gnome, KDE...) usually comes with help page (accessible through {{{Menu > Help}}}). * Some program provide their documentation as html, or ''[[WikiPedia:Info_(Unix)|info]]'' page. == Package Description == In the package description you can find some useful information, like a short description of the package, a link to the original website, a list of files contained, and more. The package description can be accessed at the url {{{http://packages.debian.org/}}}. Or, try "aptitude show $PKG" (you may need to "apt-get update && apt-get aptitude && aptitude update" first). One of the best places to look for help for a single package or application is to read stuff in {{{/usr/share/doc/}}} (especially README.Debian). This is documentation written by developers or package maintainers. It is quite concise, but usually mentions most common problems and solutions, and new features and fixed bugs. == Bug tracking system == Many problems' solutions can be found as bug report responses. A search engine for bug reports is found on http://bugs.debian.org. Remember that if you want to search in archived (quite old) bugs you must chose "archived bugs" option. If you want to look at bugs of a specific package use {{{http://bugs.debian.org/}}}. <> = Contribute to the documentation = {i} This is free software, __you can contribute improvements to the existing documentation__ ~-<
>''(i.e. you don't have to write your own !HowTo!)''-~. If you are interested in contributing to documentation, please check the following resources first, to get some feel for how other people contribute: * http://www.debian.org/doc/ddp (most of the Debian Documentation is available here) * https://wiki.debian.org/ (Join this wiki and add new contents/translations) * http://lists.debian.org/debian-www/recent ([[DebianMailingLists|mailing-list]]) * http://lists.debian.org/debian-doc/recent ([[DebianMailingLists|mailing-list]]) {i} Some documentation contents are generated from the corresponding Debian package. If so, you may wish to interact with the package maintainer. Sometimes, filing a bug report for that package using the [[BTS|Debian Bug Tracking System (BTS)]] is a good idea. If you are interested in participating in the debian-doc group, please see the [[Teams/DDP|team page on the Wiki]] ## SIMILAR PAGES (ideas to attract more contributors ??) ## - http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/participate#documentation ## - http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml = See also = * [[DebianResources]]