Re: Suggestion for Newbie Guide Lines
>
> 1.2 Check the mail archives. As this is a newbie question, it most
> likely has been asked/answered before. This applies to MOST questions.
Also, try searching Dejanews at http://www.deja.com. This is an invaluable resource.
> 1.3 Have you tried man program name? ( man adduser) for example.
Look at /usr/doc/<program-name> or /usr/share/doc/<programname>. Also, try
"programname --help" or programname with no arguments
> 1.5 If the question is " where can I find xyz program" or " is there a deb file that
> for XyZ". Look for the Packages files on your system (locate Packages or find
> /var -iname \*Packages*\), Then look at the Package files with less ( less
> /var/lib/dpkg/methods/ftp/Packages.dists_stable_main_binary-i386) and search for
> the package you want, or grep the directory (grep XyZ /var/lib/dpkg/methods/ftp/*)
> for the package/program. dpkg -S or -s program might also help.
>
With the advent of APT, this can be misleading. I recently filed a bug report
against Mozilla because my dpkg database was out of date (hadn't used it
since the inital install). Better is "apt-cache dumpavail | less". Also,
"less /var/lib/dpkg/available" is better than the files you suggested above,
IMHO.
It would be a good idea for this to be mailed to every subscriber to the list,
as well as put in a prominent place in the Debian distribution (initial login
sounds good to me). Perhaps some type of script could be worked up that
answers common questions? We could call it MrSpock! (I _really_ need some sleep!!!)
--
Stephen Pitts
smpitts@midsouth.rr.com
webmaster - http://www.mschess.org
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