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(hints from Adam Harris
<apharris@onShore.com>)
If you're new to Debian, you might not know the following:
-
the pkg management system owns much of your hard drive. The
following directories should not be messed with manually unless you
really know what you are doing:
- /usr (excluding /usr/local)
- /var
(you could make /var/local and be safe in there)
- /bin
- /sbin
- /lib
If you do mess around in there, you are liable to have whatever
you did be stomped by upgrading a package.
-
alternative versions of applications are managed by
update-alternatives, man page for which (!!!!) still not
shipped as of 4 June 1998, unfortunately. Basically, say,
/usr/bin/vi -> /etc/alternatives/vi ->
{nvi, vim, whatever you like}. You can set your
preferred vi by modifying the symlinks in
/etc/alternatives/.
-
X configuration is a pain in the butt; but I suggest you use the
XF86Setup program (part of the xserver-vga
package). Sometimes that doesn't work, however.
-
Documentation to be found in /usr/doc. To submit bugs, look at
/usr/doc/debian/bug*. To read about Debian-specific
issues, look at /usr/doc/<pkg>/README.Debian.
-
The best installation method is apt. Get it from
<debian_mirror>/project/experimental/. Once you have
that, you can use it as a method from dselect; or you can use the
command line version. Look at apt-get(8). Note
apt also will let you merge, say, ftp1.debian.org
with ftp.de.debian.org in such a way as you have the
export-restricted packages (like pgp) as well as the std pkgs.
-
The debian way of building a kernel is also somewhat different.
Get the kernel-package pkg, get the kernel source tree
(either debian version or standard linux archive kernel will work),
install in /usr/src/linux (or symlink to that), and for any
non-std modules (i.e., pcmcia) get that source too (debian module
sources will install to /usr/src/modules). Then read
/usr/doc/kernel-packages/README.gz. This method will make
a .deb of your kernel source, and, if you have non-std
modules, make a synchronized dependant .deb of those too.
It's a better way to manage kernel images; /boot will hold
the kernel, the System.map, and a log of the active config
file for the build.
- Ever said, "Damn, where the fsck is that cron job"? Ever
grepped thru /var/spool/cron/crontabs, had to
su to some wierd user, then do crontab -e? Even had
to look through all the cron jobs, thinking about whether they all
happen to fire at the same time or not?
Well, you don't have to anymore. Only personal cron jobs
should be in /var/spool/cron/crontabs on a debian server.
Any jobs under the purview of the system administrator should be in
/etc, since they are configuration files. If you have a root
cron job for daily, weekly, or nightly runs, put them in
/etc/cron.{daily,weekly,monthly}. These are invoked from
/etc/crontab, and will run in alphabetic order, which
serializes them.
On the other hand, if you have a cron job that (a) needs to run as a
special user, or (b) needs to run at a special time or frequency, you
can use either /etc/crontab, or, better yet,
/etc/cron.d/whatever. These particular files also have an
extra field that allows you to stipulate which the user under which
the cron job runs.
In either case, you just edit the files and cron will notice them
automatically. No need to run a special command.
For more information see cron(8), crontab(5), and
/usr/doc/cron/README.Debian.
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