Debian is a distribution, it is made of many thousands of (free) software :
- Each software provides has its own documentation ([#progs-docs more below]).
Debian has some own documentation too ([#debian-docs more below]).
At the bottom of the page, there are some pointers if you want to contribute improvement to documentation ([#contribute more below]).
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Programs documentations
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 [wiki:Info_(Unix) info] page.
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Debian Documentation
The most famous for Debian users are :
The Installation Guide ?BR. [http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#install][[BR]]. (or development version, available at [http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/]-~
The Release Notes ~-?BR. [http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#relnotes]-~
The Debian reference ~-?BR. [http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#quick-reference]-~
Many other Debian Documentation are available at [http://www.debian.org/doc www.debian.org/doc]
At the moment, Debian don't have a System Administrtor manual. However, there are some books about Debian, see: [http://www.debian.org/doc/books www.debian.org/doc/books].
Most documentation for Debian-developer (and package maintainer) are available from [http://www.debian.org/devel/ www.debian.org/devel/]
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Contribute to documentation
Most of the Debian Documentation is available at http://www.debian.org/doc/ddp
This is free software, you can contribute improvements to the documentation ~-?BR(i.e you don't have to write your own Howto !).