Debian customization docs

[Mike Miller <miller5@uiuc.edu>]

Dear Doc,

I've noted that the issue of using kernel-header packages has
come up once again on the Debian-user list.  Since I'm one of the
people who has brought it up in the past, I'm volunteering
to help with an addition to the Debian documentation that might
help reduce the number of people who have such problems.  

If one reads the Debian docs, the faq and the faq-o-matic, one
will find the information needed to answer this class of
questions.  But, that of course doesn't always happen.  It seems
to me that people start to compile things and first read the
Linux documentation, and then, once they've confused themselves
and their systems, they read the Debian info or ask on the lists.
I've seen this happen with people installing custom kernels,
pcmcia modules, and now with glibc.  

I'd like to come up with some sort of caveat that new users would
(hopefully) see when they first start to install Debian.  The
purpose would be to collect together various references to the
FAQ entries that are already there.  This could be a central
place to refer users who are about to start customizing, with
enough visibility to catch peoples attention before they start,
but worded carefully enough that it doesn't lead new users who
already know something about Linux systems to think they have to
re-learn everything to run Debian.

I don't exactly know where it would be best to put such a thing.
Perhaps a subsection of the faq-o-matic named something like
"Compiling custom bits - a caveat".  The faq section could be
mentioned somewhere in the Debian base installation process.  In
addition, perhaps the maintainers of packages that get caveats in
the faq could be asked to add a notice in the installation
scripts that refers users to the faq.  Initially I'd include
comments on the kernel-source, kernel-headers, pcmcia-* and libc
packages.  Info on libc6-kheaders would also need to be included.

Any comments or suggestions?  

Mike

-- 
Michael A. Miller                                miller5@uiuc.edu
  Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  PGP public key available on request


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-doc-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org