Slackware Linux Essentials - Chapter 2 Help
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Often there are times when you might need help with a specific command, setting up a program, or getting a piece of hardware to work. Maybe you simply want to understand a given command better, or see what other options are available to use with it. Luckily, there are a variety of ways that you can get the help you’re looking for. When you install Slackware you have the option of installing packages from the “F” series which includes FAQs and HOWTOs. Programs also come with help about their options, configuration files, and usage.
2.1 System Help
2.1.1 man
The man command (short for “manual”) is the traditional form of online documentation in Unix and Linux operating systems. Comprised of specially formatted files, the “man pages”, are written for the vast majority of commands and are distributed with the software itself. Executing man somecommand will display the man page for (naturally) the command specified, in our example this would be the imaginary program somecommand.
As you might imagine, the amount of man pages can quickly add up, becoming overly confusing and seriously complicated, even for an advanced user. So, for this reason, man pages are grouped into enumerated sections. This system has been around for a very long time; enough so that you will often see commands, programs, and even programming library functions referred to with their man section number.
For example:
You might see a reference to man(1). The numbering tells you that “man” is documented in section 1 (user commands); you can specify that you want the section 1 man page for “man” with the command man 1 man. Specifying the section that man should look in is useful in the case of multiple items with the same name.
Table 2-1. Man Page Sections
Section
Contents
Section 1
user commands (intro only)
Section 2
system calls
Section 3
C library calls
Section 4
devices (e.g., hd, sd)
Section 5
file formats and protocols (e.g., wtmp, /etc/passwd, nfs)
Section 6
games (intro only)
Section 7
conventions, macro packages, etc. (e.g., nroff, ascii)
Section 8
system administration (intro only)
In addition to man(1), there are the commands whatis(1) and apropos(1) available to you, whose shared purpose is to make it easier to find information in the man system.
The command whatis gives a very brief description of system commands, somewhat in the style of a pocket command reference.
Example:
% whatis whatis whatis (1) - search the whatis database for complete words
The command apropos is used to search for a man page containing a given keyword.
Example:
% apropos wav cdda2wav (1) - a sampling utility that dumps CD audio data into wav sound files netwave_cs (4) - Xircom Creditcard Netwave device driver oggdec (1) - simple decoder, Ogg Vorbis file to PCM audio file (WAV or RAW) wavelan (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver wavelan_cs (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN PCMCIA device driver wvlan_cs (4) - Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 device driver
If you’d like further information on any of these commands, read their man pages for the details. 
2.1.2 The /usr/doc Directory
The source for most packages that we build comes with some sort of documentation: README files, usage instructions, license files, etc. Any sort of documentation that comes with the source is included and installed on your system in the /usr/doc directory. Each program will (usually) install its own documentation in the order of:
/usr/doc/$program-$version
Where $program is the name of the program you are wanting to read about, and $version is (obviously) the appropriate version of software package installed on your system.
For example, to read the documentation for the command man(1) you would want to cd to:
% cd /usr/doc/man-$version
If reading the appropriate man page(s) doesn’t provide you with enough information, or address what you’re looking for in particular, the /usr/doc directory should be your next stop.
2.1.3 HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs
It is in the truest spirit of the Open Source community that brings us to the HOWTO/mini-HOWTO collection. These files are exactly what they sound like - documents and guides describing how to do stuff. If you installed the HOWTO collection, the HOWTOs will be installed to /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs and the mini-HOWTOs to /usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs.
Also included in the same package series is a collection of FAQs, which is an acronym which stands for
Frequently
Asked
Questions
These documents are written in a “Question and answer” style for (surprise) Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs can often be a very useful place to look if you’re just looking for a “Quick Fix” to something. If you decide to install the FAQs during setup, you will find them installed to the /usr/doc/Linux-FAQs directory.
These files are well worth reading whenever you’re not quite sure how to proceed with something. They cover an amazing range of topics, more often than not in a surprisingly detailed manner. Good stuff!
2.2 Online Help
In addition to the documentation provided and installable with the Slackware Linux Operating System, there are a vast multitude of online resources available for you to learn from as well.
2.2.1 The Official Website and Help Forums
The Official Slackware Website
The Official Slackware Linux website is sometimes out of date, but still contains information relevant to the latest Slackware versions. At one time an active help forum existed there before a horde of trolls, troublemakers, and whiners descended on the forum. Maintaining the forum was beginning to be too much work, and so Pat shut it down. One can find that old forum back up and running complete with searchable archives of the old data at http://www.userlocal.com/phorum/.
After the forums were taken down on http://slackware.com, several other sites sprang up that offered forum support for Slackware. After much thought, Pat chose to endorse www.linuxquestions.org as the official forum for Slackware Linux.
2.2.2 E-mail Support
Everyone who purchases an official CD set is entitled to free installation support via e-mail from the developer. That having been said, please keep in mind that we, the developers, (and a vast majority of users) of Slackware are of “The Old School”. That means that we prefer to help those who have a sincere interest and are willing to help themselves in the process. We will always do our best to help everyone who emails us with support questions. However, Please check your documentation and the website (especially the FAQs and maybe some of the forums listed below) before e-mailing. You may get a faster answer that way, and the less e-mail we have to answer, obviously the sooner we will be of assistance to those that need it.
The e-mail address for technical support is: support@slackware.com. Other e-mail addresses and contact information are listed on the website.
2.2.2.1 Slackware Linux Project Mailing Lists
We have several mailing lists, available in digest and normal forms. Check the instructions for how to subscribe.
To subscribe to a mailing list, email:
majordomo@slackware.com
with the phrase “subscribe [name of list]” in the body of the email. The list choices are described below (use one the names below for the name of the list).
Archives of the mailing list can be found on Slackware’s website at:
http://slackware.com/lists/archive/
- slackware-announce
-
The slackware-announce mailing list is for announcements of new versions, major updates and other general information.
- slackware-security
-
The slackware-security mailing list is for announcements relating to security issues. Any exploits or other vulnerabilities directly pertaining to Slackware will get posted to this list immediately.
These lists are also available in digest format. This means that you get one large message per day instead of several messages throughout the day. Since the slackware mailing lists do not allow users to post, and the lists are such low traffic, most users find little advantage in the digest lists. Still, they are available if you want them by subscribing to slackware-announce-digest or slackware-security-digest.
2.2.3 Non-Official Websites and Help Forums
2.2.3.1 Websites
-
The Kung-Fu Master of Search Engines. When you absolutely, positively gotta find every last kernel of information on a subject: Accept no substitutes.
- Google:Linux
-
Linux-Specific searches
- Google:BSD
-
BSD-Specific searches. Slackware is so generic as a Unix work-a-like operating system that one can as often as not find very detailed information that is almost 100% relevant to Slackware here. Many times a BSD search reveals far more technical information than the often PR-related Linux searches.
- Google:Groups
-
Search through decades of Usenet posts for your pearls of wisdom.
- http://userlocal.com
-
A virtual treasure-trove of knowledge, good advice, first-hand experience and interesting articles. Often the first place you’ll hear about new developments in the world of Slackware.
2.2.3.2 Web-based Resources
- linuxquestions.org
-
The officially sanctioned web-forum for Slackware users.
- LinuxISO.org Slackware Forum
-
“A place to download and get help with Linux.”
- alt.os.linux.slackware FAQ
-
Another FAQ
2.2.3.3 Usenet Groups (NNTP)
Usenet has long been a place for geeks to gather and help one another. There are few newsgroups dedicated to Slackware Linux, but they tend to be filled with very knowledgeable people.
alt.os.linux.slackware
alt.os.linux.slackware, better known as aols (not to be confused with AOL®!) is one of the most active places to find technical help with Slackware problems. Like every Usenet newsgroup, a few unhelpful participants (“trolls”) can mar the experience with constant arguing. Learning to ignore the trolls and identifying the truly helpful people is key to making the most of this resource.
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