Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers
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3. Network Sources and Resources

3.1. Where Can I Get the Latest Kernel Version?

Make that versions. The 2.0 series kernels are still available for older machines. The latest production kernel series is 2.2.x. The updates to this kernel are bug fixes. The new 2.4 kernel sources are also on-line.

The Web page at http://www.kernel.org/ lists the current versions of the development and production kernels.

If you want to download the source code, FTP to ftp.xx.kernel.org, where ``xx'' is the two-letter Internet domain abbreviation of your country; e.g., ``us'' for United States, ``ca'' for Canada, or ``de'' for Germany. Kernel versions 2.2.x are archived in the directory pub/linux/kernel/v2.2, as are patches for the prerelease versions. The kernel source code is archived as a .tar.gz file, and as a .tar.bz2 file.

Follow the instructions in any of the standard references to compile the kernel, as you would with any other custom kernel. The Documentation subdirectory contains information by the authors of various subsystems and drivers, and much of that information is not documented elsewhere.

If you want to participate in kernel development, make sure that you sign on to the linux-kernel mailing list to find out what people are working on. Refer to the answer: ``What Mailing Lists Are There?''

There is a story about the features of the 2.4 series kernels at http://features.linuxtoday.com/stories/8191.html.

3.2. Where Can I Get the HOWTO's and Other Documentation?

Look in the following places, and the sites that mirror them.

For a list of Linux FTP sites, refer to the answer for: ``Where Can I Get Linux Material by FTP?''

If you don't have access to FTP, try the FTP-by-mail servers: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk, or: ftp-mailer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de.

A complete list of HOWTO's is available in the file HOWTO-INDEX at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html. The mini-HOWTO's are indexed at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/mini.html.

A search engine at the Linux FAQ Home Page, http://www.mainmatter.com/, allows you to search the HOWTO's, Linux FAQ, and man pages.

In addition, translations are available from ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/translations/ and mirrors worldwide. The HOWTO's and other documentation have been translated into the following languages:

   Chinese (Big5) (zh)   Croatian (hr)    French (fr)
   German (de            Hellenic (el)    Indonesian (id)
   Italian (it)          Japanese (ja)    Korean (ko)
   Polish (pl)           Slovenian (sl)   Spanish (es)
   Swedish (sv)          Turkish (tr)

Additional documents are always in preparation. Please get in touch with the coordinators if you are interested in writing one. Contact and submission information is at http://www.linuxdoc.org/mailinfo.html.

There is also a LDP HOWTO page at http://howto.tucows.org/.

The Guide Series produced by the Linux Documentation Project is available from http://www.linuxdoc.org/. Please read them if you are new to Unix and Linux.

The Linux Mobile Guide is an expanded version of the Linux-Laptop-HOWTO. The URL is: http://home.snafu.de/wehe/howtos.html.

And, of course, a number of people have written documentation independently of the LDP:

Documentation for kernel developers is on-line: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net/.

To find out about Linux memory management, including performance tuning, see Rik van Riel's Web page at http://humbolt.geo.uu.nl/Linux-MM/.

The Linux Consultants HOWTO has a directory of Linux consultants at http://www.linuxports.com/.

Gary's Encyclopedia lists over 4,000 Linux related links. Its URL is http://members.aa.net/~swear/pedia/index.html.

There is also a FAQ specifically for the Red Hat Linux distribution, at http://www.best.com/~aturner/RedHat-FAQ/faq_index.html.

And the Home Page of this FAQ is http://www.mainmatter.com/.

3.3. Where Should I Look on the World Wide Web for Linux Stuff?

In addition to the Linux Documentation Project Home Page: http://www.linuxdoc.org/, there are many pages that provide beginning and advanced information about Linux.

These two pages provide a good starting point for general Linux information: Linux International's Home Page, at http://www.li.org/, and the Linux Online's Linux Home Page at http://www.linux.org/.

Both of these pages provide links to other sites, information about general information, distributions, new software, documentation, and news.

Documentation for kernel developers is on-line: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net/.

The tutorial, Unix is a Four Letter Word..., is located at http://www.linuxbox.com/~taylor/4ltrwrd/. It is a general introduction to Unix operating systems and is not Linux specific.

Additionally, here is a certainly incomplete list of Web pages devoted to Linux:

Searching for ``Linux'' on Web Search Engines, like Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/) or Google (http://www.google.com/) will provide copious references to Linux Web sites. Further information about about Web search engines is in the Web and Internet Search Engine Faq: http://www.infobasic.com/pagefaq.html.

Refer also to the answer for: ``What Other FAQ's Are There for Linux?''

3.4. What News Groups Are There for Linux?

Comp.os.linux.announce is the moderated announcements group. You should read this if you intend to use Linux. It contains information about software updates, new ports, user group meetings, and commercial products. It is the only newsgroup that may carry commercial postings. Submissions for that group should be e-mailed to linux-announce@news.ornl.gov.

Comp.os.linux.announce is archived at: http://www.iki.fi/mjr/linux/cola.html, and ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/comp.os.linux.announce/.

Also worth reading are the following other groups in the comp.os.linux.* and alt.uu.comp.os.linux.* hierarchies—you may find many common problems too recent for the documentation but are answered in the newsgroups.

Remember that Linux is POSIX compatible, and most all of the material in the comp.unix.* and comp.windows.x.* groups will be relevant. Apart from hardware considerations, and some obscure or very technical low-level issues, you'll find that these groups are good places to start.

Information about e-mail clients (MUA's), mail transfer agents (MTA's), and other related software are in the comp.mail.* groups, especially:

Questions and information about News reading software are in: news.software.readers.

Please read ``You Still Haven't Answered My Question!'' before posting. Cross posting between different comp.os.linux.* groups is rarely a good idea.

There may well be Linux groups local to your institution or area—check there first.

See also ``I Don't Have Usenet Access. Where Do I Get Information?''

Other regional and local newsgroups also exist—you may find the traffic more manageable there. The French Linux newsgroup is fr.comp.os.linux. In Germany there is de.comp.os.linux.*. In Australia, try aus.computers.linux. In Croatia there is hr.comp.linux. In Italy, there is it.comp.linux.

A search of http://www.deja.com/ can provide an up-to-date list of News groups.

[Axel Boldt, Robert Kiesling]

3.5. What Other FAQ's Are There for Linux?

There are a number of special-interest FAQ's on different subjects related to system administration and use, and also on miscellaneous topics like Flying Saucer Attacks (the music) and support for recovering sysadmins.

The official Usenet FAQ archives are at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/.

The Internet FAQ Consortium, a private Web site, provides a searchable Web site at http://www.faqs.org/.

Here are some FAQ's and documents that might be especially useful, and their network addresses:

3.6. Where Can I Get Linux Material by FTP?

There are three main archive sites for Linux:

The best place to get the Linux kernel is ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/. Linus Torvalds uploads the most recent kernel versions to this site.

Of the U.S. distributions, Debian GNU/Linux is available at ftp://ftp.debian.org/pub/debian/. Red Hat Linux's home site is ftp://ftp.redhat.com/, and Linux Slackware's is ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/.

The Small Linux distribution, which can run in 2 MB of RAM, is located at http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/.

The contents of these sites is mirrored (copied, usually approximately daily) by a number of other sites. Please use a site close to you—it will be faster for you and easier on the network.

Please send updates and corrections to this list to the Linux FAQ maintainer, rkiesling@mainmatter.com. Not all of these mirror all of the other ``source'' sites, and some have material not available on the ``source'' sites.

3.7. I Don't Have FTP Access. Where Do I Get Linux?

The easiest thing is probably to find a friend with FTP access. If there is a Linux user's group near you, they may be able to help.

If you have a reasonably good email connection, you could try the FTP-by-mail servers at ftpmail@ftp.sunet.se, or ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de.

Linux is also available via traditional mail on CD-ROM. The file ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO, and the file ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Distribution-HOWTO contain information on these distributions.

3.8. I Don't Have Usenet Access. Where Do I Get Information?

A digest of comp.os.linux.announce is available by mailing the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) as the body of a message to linux-announce-REQUEST@news-digests.mit.edu. Subscribing to this list is a good idea, as it carries important information and documentation about Linux.

Please remember to use the *-request addresses for your subscribe and unsubscribe messages; mail to the other address is posted to the news group.

3.9. What Mailing Lists Are There?

The Linux developers now mainly use the Majordomo server at majordomo@vger.redhat.com. Send a message with the word "lists" (without the quotes) in the body to get a list of lists there. Add a line with the word, "help," to get the standard Majordomo help file that lists instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing to the lists.

Currently, the kernel list is archived at: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/, and http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/archive/

Please do not post off-topic material to the mailing lists. Most of them are used by Linux developers to talk about technical issues and future developments. They are not intended for new users' questions, advertisements, or public postings that are not directly related to the mailing list's subject matter. Comp.os.linux.announce is the place for all public announcements. This is a common Internet policy. If you don't observe this guideline, there's a good chance that you'll be flamed.

There is a linux-newbie list where, "no question is too stupid." Unfortunately, it seems that few experienced users read that list, and it has very low volume.

There are numerous Linux related mailing lists at http://www.onelist.com/. Go to the categories page and choose "Linux." There are also mailing list subscription links at: http://oslab.snu.ac.kr/~djshin/linux/mail-list/.

The Mailing Lists Available in Usenet page is: http://paml.net/. The list information is also on: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/, and is posted to the groups: news.announce.newgroups, news.lists, and news.groups, among others.

3.10. Where Are Linux Legal Issues Discussed?

On the linux-legal mailing list, of course. You can subscribe to it, as with many of the other Linux related lists, by sending a message with the word "help" in the body of the message to majordomo@vger.redhat.com.

3.11. Where Can I Find Out About Unmaintained Free Software?

There are Web pages at: http://unmaintained.sourceforge.net, and: http://www.orphansource.org/.

Please try to contact the original author(s) via e-mail, or the person who listed the software as unmaintained, before even thinking to place a license on the package.

3.12. Are the News Groups Archived Anywhere?

The Usenet Linux news groups are archived at http://www.deja.com/, and http://altavista.digital.com/.

ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/linux-announce.archive contains archives of comp.os.linux.announce. These are mirrored from ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/, which also archives comp.os.linux, comp.os.linux.development.apps, and comp.os.linux.development.system.

3.13. Where Can I Find Out About Security Related Issues?

There's a page of Linux related security information at: http://www.linuxsecurity.com/.

Another site is: http://www.rootshell.com/, which has information about Internet security and privacy issues.

3.14. Where Can I Find Linux System Specifications?

As a start, look at the Linux Standards Base, http://www.linuxbase.org/. The site contains information about test software, file system organization, and shared library naming conventions.

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Topics of Current Interest. Compatibility with Other Operating Systems