Re: Debian glossary?
On Mon 30 Apr 2018 at 06:46:01 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> Debian documentation NOT written for hoi polloi.
>
> I've been trying to debug my usage of debootstrap.
> Therefore been reading many man pages - often with incomplete comprehension.
> E.G. In reply to one of my questions a gentleman replied with the
> proper syntax for one command. He followed it with several
> quotations from a man page [subtle hint to read same ;]. I replied
> that I had read the man page, but even after reading his excerpts I
> still didn't comprehend.
>
> This morning's partial set of items I do not grok include:
> <problems described in {...}>
>
> Partial output of "mount -l" is
> "/dev/sdc1 on /media/richard/rco1 type ext4
> (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered,uhelper=udisks2) [rco1]".
>
> { (...) Although I can interpret many items, several I can't. I
> suspect (...) is trying to tell me something by which items
> are/aren't listed.}
>
> Output of "ls -Rdl /media/richard/rco1" is
> "drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Apr 28 23:49 /media/richard/rco1".
>
> { In "drwxr-xr-x 3", what do "d" and "3" tell me? }
>
> https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/mount/mount.8.en.html says in part:
> /begin quote
> strictatime
> Allows to explicitly request full atime updates. This makes it
> possible for the kernel to default to relatime or noatime but still
> allow userspace to override it. For more details about the default
> system mount options see /proc/mounts.
> /end quote
>
> { Having used a file manager to look at /proc/mounts without
> comprehension, I interpreted the context of "/proc/mounts" to
> indicate that there would be a reference to it elsewhere in
> https://manpages.debian.org . Nope. }
>
> https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/mount/mount.8.en.html makes
> several references to "block special device".
> { "block special device" ??? }
>
> Man pages by their nature/purpose assume a certain level of expertise.
> They can be daunting for the uninitiated.
>
> Comments?
Sure. You turn to page 108 of Running Linux 5th ed and read it there.
Don't have it? Download it. Type running-linux-5th-2006.pdf into
google and it's the first hit. Then type
$ wget https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/IT%20Various/running_linux_5th_edition.pdf
and read it.
Why "running-linux-5th-2006.pdf"? Because that's the name it has in my
filesystem. (I gave away my July 1995 paper copy to an enthusiastic
teenager who now works in IT.) Now get stuck into Unix Power Tools
3rd edition (replaces my October 1995 edition), Linux in a Nutshell
(ditto April 1997), and several others out there, all downloadable,
usually in slightly dated editions.
I thought you had a voracious appetite for reading in your retirement.
I just don't understand how you can hang out hereabouts for over six
years and not know that d stands for directory, or claim to be
"uninitiated".
Cheers,
David.
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