Re: Help with Debian GNU/Linux (fwd)
Hello Marcus, hello Chris!
On Sun, Jul 12, 1998 at 06:34:59AM -0700, Marcus Johnson wrote:
>
> Hello Chris,
> The Debian loader leaves a lot to the user to set up. If your a
> trained user then it is no problem. But for you it will be too hard to
> fix. I suggest you load Red Hat version 5.1 and start there.
Don't believe him, the fix is as easy as installing an additional package.
This is in Debian as easy as it is in Debian.
> The kernel is written in C++ and it is an on-going effort. You can
> get the source code easy, but I suggest you learn to use C and then C++
> before you start working on the kernel.
The kernel is written in C (mostly) and Assembler (few parts). There is no
C++ used in the kernel. You don't need to know anything about C++ to write
kernel driver.
You should learn C++ directly, though. :) It'll give you C and Java for
free.
> On Fri, 10 Jul 1998, Chris Grant wrote:
>
> > I just downloaded Debian GNU/Linux 1.3 and am using bash as the shell.
> > I am completely new to the Linux/Unix world, so forgive me if any of
> > these questions seem foolish. Whenever I try to use the manual for a
> > command by typing "man", bash tells me it can't find the command "man".
This is because you are missing the man program. Did you run "dselect" after
installation of the base disks and did you installed the standard set of
packages?
What is "dpkg -s man-db" telling you? If it says something like this:
flora:~# dpkg -s man-db
Package: man-db
Status: install ok installed
Priority: important
Section: doc
Installed-Size: 596
Maintainer: Fabrizio Polacco <fpolacco@debian.org>
Version: 2.3.10-65
Replaces: man, man-aeb, nlsutils
Provides: man, man-browser
Depends: groff, libc6, libdb2 (>= 2.3.16)
Suggests: bsdmainutils
Conflicts: man, man-aeb
Conffiles:
/etc/manpath.config a3b3b55002f2ac95622d9e940071774b
/etc/cron.daily/man-db 8e94383e41eb23ac75ca721ab0672487
/etc/cron.weekly/man-db 08c0fab5c204668afadbd6458b4c0f2a
Description: Display the on-line manual.
This packages provides the man command, this utility is the primary
way of examining the on-line help files (manual pages). Other utilities
provided include the whatis and apropos commands for searching the
manual page database; the manpath utility for determining the manual
page search path and the maintenance utilities mandb, catman and
zsoelim. This package uses the groff suit of programs to format and
display the manual pages.
... all is okay (the version may differ, etc, but you get the idea).
If it tells you something like this:
flora:~# dpkg -s man-db
Package: man-db
Status: purge ok not-installed
Priority: standard
Section: text
... then you are missing it. Get the man-db *.deb package from the ftp site
and run "dpkg -i man-db...deb" (with the actual file name instead
man-db...deb) to fix it. OR run "dselect", configure it and select the
man-db package and run the install option. (If you choose to pick from ftp,
you may also need the groff package).
> > Could someone please tell me what directory "man" is in so I can put it
> > in my path?
It is in /usr/bin and should already be in your path.
> > Could this be a problem with Debian, and if it is what
> > distribution of Linux is a good one to get?
Debian is a fine distribution you will soon learn why :)
> > And
> > are there any books that I really should get in addition to "Running
> > Linux"?
You should get the (unofficial) debian book at www.linux-press.com. Contact
dwarf@polaris.net if you can't find it.
> > Last question, I'm interested in learning to program Linux
> > drivers, and maybe even debuging the kernal. What language are these
> > thing coded in, or what language would I have to learn if I want to do
> > these things? Thanks a lot.
See above. C. It isn't too hard, but a tough experience. Writing, compiling,
starting, reboot cycle and such. And it is certainly nearly impossible to do
it *right* (only few people are able... Alan Cox, Linus himself, etc. Other
people could do it right, but are not programming linx kernel, tough).
Marcus
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