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 * Internet based volunteer effort: http://www.debian.org

Do not use Edit(GUI) button.

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Copyright 2007 Osamu Aoki GPL, (Please agree to GPL, GPL2, and any version of GPL which is compatible with DSFG if you update any part of wiki page)

I welcome your contributions to update the wiki pages as long as you follow rules in "[http://wiki.debian.org/DebianReference/Test Guide for contributing to Debian Reference]".

Preface

This [http://people.debian.org/~osamu/pub/getwiki/html/index.en.html Debian Reference (v2)] (@@@build-date@@@) is intended to provide a broad overview of Debian system administration as a post-installation user guide.

The target reader is someone who is willing to learn shell scripts but who is not ready to read all the C sources to figure out how the GNU/Linux system works.

Disclaimer

All warranties are disclaimed. All trademarks are property of their respective trademark owners.

The Debian system itself is a moving target, making documentation difficult to be always correct. Although the current unstable version of Debian system was used as the basis for writing this, some contents may be already outdated by the time you read this.

Please treat this document as the secondary reference. You are advised to check the pertinent documentation available under the /usr/share/doc/<package_name>/ directory for each package and pertinent bug reports available at [http://bugs.debian.org]. For detailed documentation, you may need to install the corresponding documentation package named with "-doc" as its suffix.

This document does not replace any authoritative guides. The author and contributors do not take responsibility for consequences of errors, omissions or ambiguity in this document.

Documentation policy

Guiding rules

The following guiding rules were followed while compiling this document:

  • don't explain in details what is well documented elsewhere (in the judgment of the author)
  • Provide overview and skip corner cases (Big Picture)

  • Keep It Short and Simple. (KISS)

  • Focus on non-GUI tools and consoles. (Use shell examples)

  • Do not reinvent the wheel. (Use pointers to the existing references)

  • Be objective. (Use [http://popcon.debian.org/ popcon] etc.)

I assume and recommend you seek help from (in approximate order of importance, starting with the most important sources):

  • the Debian site at http://www.debian.org/ for the general information,

  • the documentation under the /usr/share/doc/<package_name> directory,

  • the Unix style manpage: "dpkg -L <package_name> |grep '/man/man.*/'",

  • the GNU style info page: "dpkg -L <package_name> |grep '/info/'",

  • the Debian Wiki at http://wiki.debian.org/ for the moving and specific topics,

  • the HOWTOs from The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) at http://tldp.org/ ,

  • the Single UNIX Specification from the Open Group's The UNIX System Home Page at http://www.unix.org/ , and

  • the free encyclopedia from Wikipedia at http://wikipedia.org/.

Conventions

This document refers to some command names followed by the number in parenthesis , such as bash(1). This means that you are encouraged to obtain information from the manpage by typing the following on the shell command prompt:

$ man 1 bash 

This document provides information through short bash(1) shell command examples. I will use the following simplified shell prompt for the sake of readability of the examples:

# <command_in_root_account>
$ <command_in_user_account>
  • description_of_action

These shell prompts correspond to PS1='\$' and PS2=' ' environment variables.

(!) See the meaning of the PS1 and PS2 environment variables in the manpage of bash command.

The popcon

The [http://popcon.debian.org/ popcon] data was presented as the objective measure for the popularity of each package. It was downloaded on @@@pop-date@@@ and contains the total submission of @@@pop-submissions@@@ reports over @@@pop-packages@@@ binary packages and @@@pop-architectures@@@ architectures.

(!) Please note that the @@@arch@@@ unstable archive contains only @@@all-packages@@@ packages currently. The popcon data contains reports from many old system installations.

The popcon number preceded with "V:" for "votes" is calculated by 100 * (the popcon submissions for the package executed recently on the PC)/(the total popcon submissions).

The popcon number preceded with "I:" for "installs" is calculated by 100 * (the popcon submissions for the package installed on the PC)/(the total popcon submissions).

The package size

The package size data was also presented as the objective measure for each package. It is based on the "Installed-Size:" reported by "apt-cache show " command (currently on @@@arch@@@ architecture for the unstable release). The reported size is in KB (unit for 1024 bytes).

(!) A package with a small numerical package size may indicate that the package in the unstable release has a dummy package which installs other packages with significant contents by the dependency. The dummy package enables a smooth transition or split of the package.

What is Debian

The [http://www.debian.org Debian Project] is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. It's distribution is characterized by:

  • Commitment to the software freedom: [http://www.debian.org/social_contract Debian Social Contract and Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)].

  • Internet based volunteer effort: http://www.debian.org

  • Large number of pre-compiled high quality softwares.
  • Focus on stability and security with easy access to the security updates.
  • Focus on smooth upgrade to latest softwares with unstable and testing archives.
  • Large number of supported hardware architectures.

Bug reports

Please file bug reports on debian-reference2 package (once released) or write me (osamu at debian.org) if you find any issues. You may alternatively edit the source text available as [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianReference/ the Debian Reference wiki page] and tell me to update the document.

Some quotes for new users

Here are some interesting quotes from the Debian mailing list which may help enlighten new users: #Here are some interesting quotes from the Debian mailing list and IRC which may help enlighten new users:

  • "This is Unix. It gives you enough rope to hang yourself." --- Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl>

  • "Unix IS user friendly... It's just selective about who its friends are." --- Tollef Fog Heen <tollef@add.no>