Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers


  October 4, 1998

  This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions for Linux, the free
  Unix for just about every computer hardware platform on the planet.
  Originally written for 386/486/586 Intel/ISA bus machines, versions
  exist for Alpha, MIPS, ARM, 680x0, and PPC processors, and many
  others. (See the question, "What is Linux? " below.) This
  document should be read in conjunction with the Linux Documentation
  Project's HOWTO series. ("Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
  " and, "Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? ")
  The INFO-SHEET and META-FAQ, which are found in the same place, als
  list sources of Linux information. Please look at these documents,
  and, "You still haven't answered my question! " before posting
  to a Usenet news group. You can also get Postscript, HTML, SGML, an
  plain ASCII versions of this document. ("Formats in which this
  FAQ is available. ")

1. Introduction and General Information

    * 1.1 What is Linux?
    * 1.2 Where do I start?
    * 1.3 What software does Linux support?
    * 1.4 Does Linux run on my computer? What hardware is supported?
    * 1.5 What ports to other processors are there?
    * 1.6 How much hard disk space does Linux need?
    * 1.7 How much memory does Linux need?
    * 1.8 How much memory can Linux use?
    * 1.9 Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted?

2. Network sources and resources.

    * 2.1 Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation?
    * 2.2 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff?
    * 2.3 What newsgroups are there for Linux?
    * 2.4 Where can I find out about Linux and the Millennium (Y2K)
      bug?
    * 2.5 Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
    * 2.6 I don't have FTP access. Where do I get Linux?
    * 2.7 I don't have Usenet access. Where do I get information?
    * 2.8 What mailing lists are there?
    * 2.9 Are the newsgroups archived anywhere?

3. Compatibility with other operating systems.

    * 3.1 Can Linux share my disk with DOS? OS/2? 386BSD? Win95?
    * 3.2 How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy?
    * 3.3 Does Linux support compressed ext2 file systems?
    * 3.4 Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive?
    * 3.5 Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux?
    * 3.6 Can Linux access Amiga file systems?
    * 3.7 Can Linux access BSD, SysV, etc. UFS?
    * 3.8 Can Linux access SMB file systems?
    * 3.9 Can Linux access Macintosh file systems?
    * 3.10 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux?
    * 3.11 How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager?
    * 3.12 How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS
      Windows?

4. Linux's handling of file systems, disks, and drives

    * 4.1 How can I get Linux to work with my disk?
    * 4.2 How can I undelete files?
    * 4.3 Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc.?
    * 4.4 How do I format and create a file system on a floppy?
    * 4.5 I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the like.
    * 4.6 My swap area isn't working.
    * 4.7 How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again?
    * 4.8 Why can't I use fdformat except as root?
    * 4.9 My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.
    * 4.10 My root file system is read-only!
    * 4.11 I have a huge /proc/kcore! Can I delete it?
    * 4.12 My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.

5. Porting, compiling and obtaining programs

    * 5.1 How do I compile programs?
    * 5.2 How do I port XXX to Linux?
    * 5.3 What is ld.so and where do I get it?
    * 5.4 How do I upgrade the libraries withough trashing my
      system?
    * 5.5 Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux?
    * 5.6 Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386?
    * 5.7 What does gcc -O6 do?
    * 5.8 Where are linux/*.h and asm/*.h?
    * 5.9 I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.
    * 5.10 How do I make a shared library?
    * 5.11 My executables are (very) large.
    * 5.12 Does Linux support threads or lightweight processes?
    * 5.13 Where can I get `lint' for Linux?
    * 5.14 Where can I find kermit for Linux?

6. Solutions to common miscellaneous problems.

    * 6.1 free dumps core.
    * 6.2 My clock is very wrong.
    * 6.3 Setuid scripts don't seem to work.
    * 6.4 Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.
    * 6.5 When I add more memory, the system slows to a crawl.
    * 6.6 Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.
    * 6.7 Some programs let me log in with no password.
    * 6.8 My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...
    * 6.9 I can only log in as root.
    * 6.10 My screen is all full of weird characters instead of
      letters.
    * 6.11 I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.
    * 6.12 I've discovered a huge security hole in rm!
    * 6.13 lpr(1) and/or lpd(8) don't work.
    * 6.14 Timestamps on files on MS-DOS partitions are set
      incorrectly.
    * 6.15 How do I get LILO to boot the vmlinux file?

7. How do I do this or find out that ... ?

    * 7.1 How can I get scrollback in text mode?
    * 7.2 How do I switch virtual consoles? How do I enable them?
    * 7.3 How do I set the time zone?
    * 7.4 What version of Linux and what machine name am I using?
    * 7.5 How can I enable or disable core dumps?
    * 7.6 How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel?
    * 7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts?
    * 7.8 How do I make a bootable floppy?
    * 7.9 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc.?
    * 7.10 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on?
    * 7.11 How do I set (or reset) my initial terminal colors?
    * 7.12 How can I have more than 128Mb of swap?

8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered.

    * 8.1 How do I program XYZ under Linux?
    * 8.2 What's all this about ELF?
    * 8.3 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?
    * 8.4 What does VFS stand for?
    * 8.5 What is a BogoMip?
    * 8.6 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it?
    * 8.7 What online/free periodicals exist for Linux?
    * 8.8 How many people use Linux?
    * 8.9 How should I pronounce Linux?

9. Frequently encountered error messages.

    * 9.1 Modprobe can't locate module, "XXX," and similar
      messages.
    * 9.2 Unknown terminal type linux and similar.
    * 9.3 lp1 on fire
    * 9.4 INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!
    * 9.5 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'
    * 9.6 GCC says Internal compiler error.
    * 9.7 make says Error 139
    * 9.8 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.
    * 9.9 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.
    * 9.10 Warning--bdflush not running.
    * 9.11 Warning: obsolete routing request made.
    * 9.12 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.
    * 9.13 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached.
    * 9.14 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached.
    * 9.15 df says Cannot read table of mounted file systems.
    * 9.16 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical
      ...
    * 9.17 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary.
    * 9.18 fdisk says partition n has an odd number of sectors.
    * 9.19 mtools says cannot initialize drive XYZ
    * 9.20 At the start of booting: Memory tight
    * 9.21 My syslog says `end_request: I/O error, ...'.
    * 9.22 You don't exist. Go away.

10. The X Window System.

    * 10.1 Does Linux support X Windows?
    * 10.2 Where can I get an XF86Config for my system?
    * 10.3 xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger.
    * 10.4 I can't get X Windows to work right.

11. Questions applicable to very out-of-date software.

    * 11.1 fdisk says cannot use nnn sectors of this partition.
    * 11.2 GCC sometimes uses huge amounts of virtual memory and
      thrashes.

12. How to get further assistance.

    * 12.1 You still haven't answered my question!
    * 12.2 What to put in a request for help.
    * 12.3 I want to mail someone about my problem.

13. Administrative information and acknowledgments.

    * 13.1 Feedback is invited.
    * 13.2 Formats in which this FAQ is available.
    * 13.3 Authorship and acknowledgments.
    * 13.4 Disclaimer and Copyright.



1. Introduction and General Information

1.1 What is Linux?

  Linux is the free Unix written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with
  assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers from across the
  Internet. Linux aims towards POSIX compliance, and has all of the
  features you would expect of a modern, fully fledged Unix: true
  multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading,
  shared, copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, and
  TCP/IP networking.

  Linux runs mainly on 386/486/586-based PC's, using the hardware
  facilities of the 80386 processor family (TSS segments, et al.) to
  implement these features. Ports to other architectures are underway
  (See, "What ports to other processors are there? ")

  See the Linux INFO-SHEET for more details. ("Where can I get
  the HOWTO's and other documentation? ")

  The Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU General Public Licens
  ("Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted? ")


1.2 Where do I start?

  There are a handful of major Linux distributions. For information
  about them, and how they are installed, see Matthew Welsh's
  Installation and Getting Started, or IGS for short. It's located at
  the Linux Documentation Project Home Page,
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP.

  There is also an Installation HOWTO on the LDP Home Page.

  Most of the distributions are available via anonymous FTP from vari
  Linux archive sites. ("Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
  ") There are also a large number of other releases which are
  distributed less globally that suit special local and national need


1.3 What software does Linux support?

  Linux supports GCC, Emacs, the X Window System, all the standard Un
  utilities, TCP/IP (including SLIP and PPP), and all of the hundreds
  programs that people have compiled or ported to it.

  There is a DOS emulator, called DOSEMU. The latest stable release i
  0.98.1. The FTP archives are at ftp://ftp.dosemu.org/dosemu. The
  Web site is htmlurl url="http://www.dosemu.org"
  name="http://www.dosemu.org">.

  The emulator can run DOS itself and some (but not all) DOS
  applications. Be sure to look at the README file to determine which
  version you should get. Also, see the DOSEMU-HOWTO (slightly dated
  this point--it doesn't cover the most recent version of the program
  at sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.

  Work has been progressing on an emulator for Microsoft Windows
  binaries. ("Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux?
  ")

  iBCS2 (Intel Binary Compatibility Standard) emulator code for SVR4
  and SVR3.2 COFF binaries can be included in the kernel as a
  compile-time option. There is information at
  tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/BETA/ibcs2/README.

  For more information see the INFO-SHEET, which is one of the HOWTO'
  ("Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? " and,
  "How do I port XXX to Linux? ")

  Some companies have commercial software available, including Motif.
  They announce their availability in comp.os.linux.announce--try
  searching the archives. ("Are the newsgroups archived anywhere?
  ")


1.4 Does Linux run on my computer? What hardware is supported?

  Giving Linux a try requires a machine with an Intel '386, '486, or
  '586 processor with at least 2Mb of RAM and a single floppy drive.
  do anything useful, more RAM and disk space is needed. ("How
  much memory does Linux need? ")

  VESA Local Bus and PCI are supported.

  MCA (IBM's proprietary bus) and ESDI hard drives are mostly support
  There is further information on the MCA bus and what cards Linux
  supports on the Micro Channel Linux Web page,
  http://glycerine.itsmm.uni.edu/mca.

  Linux runs on '386 family based laptops, with X on most of them. Th
  is a Web page at
  http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/.

  For details of exactly which PC's, video cards, disk controllers, e
  work see the INFO-SHEET and the Hardware-HOWTO. (See "Where can
  I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? ")

  There is a port of Linux to the 8086, known as the Embeddable Linux
  Kernel Subset (ELKS). This is a 16-bit subset of the Linux kernel
  which will mainly be used for embedded systems. See
  http://www.linux.org.uk/Linux8086.html for more information.
  Linux will never run fully on an 8086 or '286, because it requires
  task-switching and memory management facilities not found on these
  processors.

  Linux supports multiprocessing with Intel MP architecture. See the
  file Documentation/smp.tex in the Linux kernel source code
  distribution.

  See the next question for a (probably incomplete) list of hardware
  platforms Linux has been ported to.


1.5 What ports to other processors are there?

  There is a reasonably complete list of Linux ports at
  http://www.ctv.es/USERS/xose/linux/linux_ports.html, and at
  http://www.linuxhq.com/dist-index.html.

  A project has been underway for a while to port Linux to suitable
  68000-series based systems like Amigas and Ataris. The Linux/m68K F
  is located at www.clark.net/pub/lawrencc/linux/faq/faq.html. The
  URL of the Linux/m68k home page is www.linux-m68k.

  There is a linux-680x0 mailing list. ("What mailing lists are
  there? ")

  There is (or was) a FTP site for the Linux-m68k project on
  ftp.phil.uni-sb.de/pub/atari/linux-68k, but this address may no
  longer be current.

  Debian GNU/Linux is being ported to Alpha, Sparc, PowerPC, and ARM
  platforms. There are mailing lists for all of them. See
  http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe.

  One of the Linux-PPC project pages has moved recently. Its location
  http://www.linuxppc.org, and the archive site is
  ftp.linuxppc.org/linuxppc.

  There is a Linux-PPC support page at www.cs.nmt.edu/~linuxppc/.
  There you will find the kernel that is distributed with Linux.

  Apple now supports MkLinux development on Power Macs, based on OSF
  the Mach microkernel. See http://www.mklinux.apple.com.

  A port to the 64-bit DEC Alpha/AXP is at
  http://www.azstarnet.com/~axplinux/. There is a mailing list at
  vger.rutgers.edu. ("What mailing lists are there? ")

  Ralf Baechle is working on a port to the MIPS, initially for the R4
  on Deskstation Tyne machines. The Linux-MIPS FTP sites are
  ftp.fnet.fr/linux-mips and
  ftp://ftp.linux.sgi.com/pub/mips-linux. Interested people may
  mail their questions and offers of assistance to
  [email protected].

  There is also a MIPS channel on the Linux Activists mail server and
  linux-mips mailing list. ("What mailing lists are there? ")

  There are currently two ports of Linux to the ARM family of
  processors. One of these is for the ARM3, fitted to the Acorn A5000
  and it includes I/O drivers for the 82710/11 as appropriate. The ot
  is to the ARM610 of the Acorn RISC PC. The RISC PC port is currentl
  in its early to middle stages, owing to the need to rewrite much of
  the memory handling. The A5000 port is in restricted beta testing.
  release is likely soon.

  For more, up-to-date information, read the newsgroup
  comp.sys.acorn.misc. There is a FAQ at
  http://www.arm.uk.linux.org

  The Linux SPARC project is a hotbed of activity. There is a FAQ
  available from Jim Mintha's Linux for SPARC Processors page,
  http://www.geog.ubc.ca/sparclinux.html. The SPARC/Linux archives
  are at vger.rutgers.edu/pub/linux/Sparc.

  There is also a port ("Hardhat") to SGI/Indy machines. The URL is
  http://www.linux.sgi.com.


1.6 How much hard disk space does Linux need?

  About 10Mb for a very minimal installation, suitable for trying Lin
  and not much else.

  You can fit an installation that includes X into 80Mb. Installing
  Debian GNU/Linux takes 500Mb--1GB, including kernel source code, so
  space for user files, and spool areas.


1.7 How much memory does Linux need?

  At least 4MB, and then you will need to use special installation
  procedures until the disk swap space is installed. Linux will run
  comfortably in 4MB of RAM, although X Windows Apps will run slowly
  because they need to swap out to disk.

  Some recent applications, like Netscape, require 64MB of physical
  memory.


1.8 How much memory can Linux use?

  A number of people have asked how to address more than 64 MB of
  memory, which is the default upper limit. Place the following in yo
  lilo.conf file:
append="mem=XXM"

  Where "XX" is the amount of memory, specified as megabytes; for
  example, '128M'. For further details, see the lilo manual page.


1.9 Is Linux public domain? Copyrighted?

  The Linux kernel copyright belongs to Linus Torvalds. He has placed
  under the GNU General Public License, which basically means that yo
  may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but you may not impose
  restrictions on further distribution, and you must make the source
  code available.

  This is not the same as Public Domain. See the Copyright FAQ,
  rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/law/copyright, for details.

  Full details are in the file COPYING in the Linux kernel sources
  (probably in /usr/src/linux on your system).

  The licenses of the utilities and programs which come with the
  installations vary. Much of the code is from the GNU Project at the
  Free Software Foundation, and is also under the GPL.

  Note that discussion about the merits or otherwise of the GPL shoul
  be posted to the news group gnu.misc.discuss, and not to the
  comp.os.linux hierarchy.




2. Network sources and resources.


2.1 Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation?

  Look in the following places, and the sites that mirror them.
    * ftp.funet.fi : /pub/OS/Linux/doc/HOWTO
    * tsx-11.mit.edu : /pub/linux/docs/HOWTO
    * sunsite.unc.edu : /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO

  For a complete list of Linux FTP sites, see, "Where can I get
  Linux material by FTP? "

  If you don't have access to FTP, try the FTP-by-mail servers at
  [email protected], [email protected], or
  [email protected].

  A complete list of HOWTO's and Mini-HOWTO's is available in the fil
  HOWTO-INDEX in the docs/HOWTO directory at the FTP sites, and on th
  Web at http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX.html, but
  here is a (possibly incomplete) list:
AX25-HOWTO                             Access-HOWTO
Assembly-HOWTO                         Benchmarking-HOWTO
BootPrompt-HOWTO                       Bootdisk-HOWTO
CD-Writing-HOWTO                       CDROM-HOWTO
Chinese-HOWTO                          Commercial-HOWTO
Consultants-HOWTO                      Cyrillic-HOWTO
DNS-HOWTO                              DOS-to-Linux-HOWTO
DOSEMU-HOWTO                           Danish-HOWTO
Distribution-HOWTO                     ELF-HOWTO
Emacspeak-HOWTO                        Ethernet-HOWTO
Finnish-HOWTO                          Firewall-HOWTO
Ftape-HOWTO                            GCC-HOWTO
German-HOWTO                           HAM-HOWTO
HOWTO-INDEX                            Hardware-HOWTO
Hebrew-HOWTO                           IPX-HOWTO
ISP-Hookup-HOWTO                       Installation-HOWTO
Intranet-Server-HOWTO                  Italian-HOWTO
Java-CGI-HOWTO                         Kernel-HOWTO
Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO             MGR-HOWTO
MILO-HOWTO                             Mail-HOWTO
NET-3-HOWTO                            NFS-HOWTO
NIS-HOWTO                              News-HOWTO
Optical-Disk-HOWTO                     PCI-HOWTO
PCMCIA-HOWTO                           PPP-HOWTO
Pilot-HOWTO                            Polish-HOWTO
Printing-HOWTO                         Printing-Usage-HOWTO
RPM-HOWTO                              Reading-List-HOWTO
SCSI-HOWTO                             SCSI-Programming-HOWTO
SMB-HOWTO                              Serial-HOWTO
Serial-Programming-HOWTO               Shadow-Password-HOWTO
Slovenian-HOWTO                        Sound-HOWTO
Sound-Playing-HOWTO                    Spanish-HOWTO
TeTeX-HOWTO                            Thai-HOWTO
Tips-HOWTO                             UMSDOS-HOWTO
UPS-HOWTO                              UUCP-HOWTO
User-Group-HOWTO                       VAR-HOWTO
VMS-to-Linux-HOWTO                     XFree86-HOWTO
XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO
3-Button-Mouse

  The following Mini-HOWTO's are available from
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/HOWTO/mini:
ADSM-Backup                            AI-Alife
Advocacy                               Backup-With-MSDOS
Battery-Powered                        Boca
BogoMips                               Bridge
Bridge+Firewall                        Clock
Colour-ls                              Comeau-C++
DHCPd                                  Dial-On-Demand
Diald                                  Dip+SLiRP+CSLIP
Diskless                               Dynamic-IP-Hacks
Ext2fs-Undeletion                      GTEK-BBS-550
HTML-Validation                        IO-Port-Programming
IP-Alias                               IP-Masquerade
IP-Subnetworking                       JE
Jaz-Drive                              Kerneld
Key-Setup                              LBX
Large-Disk                             Linux+DOS+Win95
Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2                    Linux+NT-Loader
Linux+OS2+DOS                          Linux+Win95
Loadlin+Win95                          Locales
MIDI+SB                                Mail-Queue
Mail2News                              Man-Page
Multiple-Disks-Layout                  Multiple-Ethernet
NFS-Root                               NFS-Root-Client
Netscape+Proxy                         Offline-Mailing
Online-Support                         PLIP
PPP-over-minicom                       Pager
Partition                              Print2Win
Process-Accounting                     Proxy-ARP
Public-Web-Browser                     Qmail+MH
Quota                                  RCS
Remote-Boot                            Remote-X-Apps
SLIP+proxyARP                          SLIP-PPP-Emulator
Sendmail+UUCP                          Software-Building
Software-RAID                          Soundblaster-16
Soundblaster-AWE64                     StarOffice
Swap-Space                             Term-Firewall
Tiny-News                              Token-Ring
Upgrade                                VPN
Virtual-wu-ftpd                        Visual-Bell
Win95+Win+Linux                        Windows-Modem-Sharing
WordPerfect                            X-Big-Cursor
XFree86-XInside                        Xterm-Title
Xterminal                              ZIP-Drive
ZIP-Install

  In addition, translations of the HOWTO's are available from
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/translations and mirrors
  worldwide. Translations in the following languages are available:

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

  The HOWTO's are also on the Web, at the Linux Documentation Project
  Home Page, http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP.

  More of these documents are always in preparation. Please get in to
  with Timothy Bynum, [email protected], the HOWTO
  coordinator, if you are interested in writing one. The file
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX contains guidelines
  for writing a HOWTO. He has a Web page that lists current HOWTO
  updates and additions at
  wallybox.cei.net/~tjbynum/HOWTO/projects.

  The Guide Series produced by the Linux Documentation Project is
  available from http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP. Please read them if
  you are new to Unix and Linux. Here is a list of those available so
  far:

    * The Linux Documentation Project Manifesto, by Matt Welsh.
    * Installation and Getting Started Guide, by Matt Welsh.
    * The Linux Kernel, by David Rusling.
    * The Network Administrator's Guide, by Olaf Kirch.
    * The Linux Programmer's Guide, by Sven Goldt, Sven van der
      Meer, Scott Burkett, and Matt Welsh.
    * The Linux System Administrator's Guide, Version 0.5, by Lars
      Wirzenius.

  In addition, there is a FAQ for Linux kernel developers at
  http://www.tux.org/html/.


2.2 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for Linux stuff?

  Two Web pages in particular provide 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, an
  news.

  Greg Hankins, [email protected], maintains the Linux
  Documentation Project Home Page, at http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP.
  This page refers to all of the HOWTO's and FAQ's, both those which
  available in HTML (WWW) format, and those which aren't.


2.3 What newsgroups 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 informatio
  about software updates, new ports, user group meetings, and commerc
  products. It is the ONLY newsgroup that may carry commercial postin
  Submissions for that group should be e-mailed to
  [email protected].

  comp.os.linux.announce, however, is not archived on DejaNews or Alt
  Vista. The only archive for the news group seems to be
  www.iki.fi/mjr/linux/cola.html.

  [Axel Boldt]

  Also worth reading are the following other groups in the
  comp.os.linux.* hierarchy--you may find many common problems too
  recent for the documentation but are answered in the newsgroups.
comp.os.linux.setup
comp.os.linux.hardware
comp.os.linux.networking
comp.os.linux.x
comp.os.linux.development.apps
comp.os.linux.development.system
comp.os.linux.advocacy
comp.os.linux.misc

  Remember that Linux is POSIX compatible, and most all of the materi
  in 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.

  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. The German one is de.comp.os.linux. In Australia,
  try aus.computers.linux. In Croatia there is hr.comp.linux. In Ital
  there is it.comp.linux.


2.4 Where can I find out about Linux and the Millennium (Y2K) bug?

  The Debian/GNU Linux people have a statement on their Web site at
  http://www.debian.org

  Essentially, Linux uses libraries that store dates as 32-bit intege
  which count the seconds since 1970. This counter will not overflow
  until the year 2038, by which time the library programmers will
  (hopefully) have upgraded the system software to store dates as 64-
  integers.

  This, of course, does not mean that applications are not susceptibl
  to the millennium bug, if they do not use the standard library
  routines.

  The Free Software Foundation has a Web page about Y2K issues in GNU
  software at http://www.fsf.org/software/year2000.html

  There is also a Usenet newsgroup, comp.software.year-2000, for gene
  discussion of Y2K issues.


2.5 Where can I get Linux material by FTP?

  There are three main archive sites for Linux:
    * ftp.funet.fi (Finland) : /pub/OS/Linux
    * sunsite.unc.edu (US) : /pub/Linux
    * tsx-11.mit.edu (US) : /pub/linux

  The best place to get the Linux kernel is
  ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/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.debian.org/pub/debian. Red Hat Linux's home site is
  ftp.redhat.com, and Linux Slackware's is ftp.cdrom.com.

  The contents of these sites is mirrored (copied, usually approximat
  daily) by a number of other sites. Please use a site close to you--
  will be faster for you and easier on the network.
    * ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/linux/sunsite/ (South Africa)
    * ftp.is.co.za/linux/sunsite/ (South Africa)
    * ftp.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/Linux/ (Hong Kong)
    * ftp.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/Linux/ (Hong Kong)
    * ftp.spin.ad.jp/pub/linux/sunsite.unc.edu/ (Japan)
    * ftp.nuri.net/pub/Linux/ (Korea)
    * ftp.jaring.my/pub/Linux/ (Malaysia)
    * ftp.nus.sg/pub/unix/Linux/ (Singapore)
    * ftp.nectec.or.th/pub/mirrors/linux/ (Thailand)
    * mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linux/ (Australia)
    * sunsite.anu.edu.au/pub/linux/ (Australia)
    * ftp.monash.edu.au/pub/linux/ (Australia)
    * ftp.univie.ac.at/systems/linux/sunsite/ (Austria)
    * ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/UNIX/linux/ (Czech Republic)
    * ftp://sunsite.fri.uni-lj.si/pub/linux/ (Slovenia)
    * ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/sunsite/ (Finland)
    * ftp.univ-angers.fr/pub/Linux/ (France)
    * ftp.iut-bm.univ-fcomte.fr (France)
    * ftp.ibp.fr/pub/linux/sunsite/ (France)
    * ftp.loria.fr/pub/linux/sunsite/ (France)
    * ftp.dfv.rwth-aachen.de/pub/linux/sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.germany.eu.net/pub/os/Linux/Mirror.SunSITE/ (Germany)
    * ftp.tu-dresden.de/pub/Linux/sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/Linux/MIRROR.sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/mirrors/sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/linux/mirror.sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.ba-mannheim.de/pub/linux/mirror.sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.uni-paderborn.de/pub/Mirrors/sunsite.unc.edu/ (Germany)
    * ftp.uni-rostock.de/Linux/sunsite/ (Germany)
    * tp.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/unix/systems/linux/MIRROR.sunsite
      / (Germany)
    * ftp.uni-tuebingen.de/pub/linux/Mirror.sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.rz.uni-ulm.de/pub/mirrors/linux/sunsite/ (Germany)
    * ftp.kfki.hu/pub/linux/ (Hungary)
    * linux.italnet.it/pub/Linux/ (Italy)
    * ftp.unina.it/pub/linux/sunsite/ (Italy)
    * giotto.unipd.it/pub/unix/Linux/ (Italy)
    * cnuce-arch.cnr.it/pub/Linux/ (Italy)
    * ftp.flashnet.it/mirror2/sunsite.unc.edu/ (Italy)
    * ftp.nijenrode.nl/pub/linux/sunsite.unc-mirror/ (Netherlands)
    * ftp.LeidenUniv.nl/pub/linux/sunsite/ (Netherlands)
    * ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/linux/sunsite/ (Norway)
    * ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/sunsite.unc.edu/ (Poland)
    * ftp.rediris.es/software/os/linux/sunsite/ (Spain)
    * sunsite.rediris.es/software/linux/ (Spain)
    * ftp.cs.us.es/pub/Linux/sunsite-mirror/ (Spain)
    * ftp.etse.urv.es/pub/mirror/linux/ (Spain)
    * ftp.etsimo.uniovi.es/pub/linux/ (Spain)
    * ftp.luna.gui.es/pub/linux.new/ (Spain)
    * ftp.switch.ch/mirror/linux/ (Switzerland)
    * ftp.metu.edu.tr/pub/linux/sunsite/ (Turkey)
    * unix.hensa.ac.uk/mirrors/sunsite/pub/Linux/ (UK)
    * ftp.maths.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/linux/sunsite.unc-mirror/
      (UK)
    * ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/Linux/sunsite.unc-mirror/ (UK)
    * sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/linux/sunsite.unc-mirror/ (UK)
    * ftp.dungeon.com/pub/linux/sunsite-mirror/ (UK)
    * ftp.io.org/pub/mirrors/linux/sunsite/ (Canada)
    * ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/linux/ (US)
    * ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux/sunsite/ (US)
    * ftp.siriuscc.com/pub/Linux/Sunsite/ (US)
    * ftp.engr.uark.edu/pub/linux/sunsite/ (US)
    * ftp.infomagic.com/pub/mirrors/linux/sunsite/ (US)
    * linux.if.usp.br/pub/mirror/sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/
      (Brazil)
    * farofa.ime.usp.br/pub/linux/ (Brazil)

  Not all of these mirror all of the other "source" sites, and some
  have material not available on the "source" sites.


2.6 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 [email protected],
  [email protected], or [email protected].

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


2.7 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
  [email protected]. 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 a
  unsubscribe messages; mail to the other address is posted to the ne
  group.


2.8 What mailing lists are there?

  The Linux developers now mainly use the Majordomo server at
  [email protected]. 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.

  Most of the lists are used by Linux developers to talk about techni
  issues and future developments. These are not intended for new user
  questions.

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


2.9 Are the newsgroups archived anywhere?

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

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

  There is an `easy to access' archive of comp.os.linux.announce on t
  World Wide Web at
  http://www.leo.org/archiv/linux/archiv/ann_index.html which
  supports searching and browsing.


  contents


3. Compatibility with other operating systems.


3.1 Can Linux share my disk with DOS? OS/2? 386BSD? Win95?

  Yes. Linux uses the standard MS-DOS partitioning scheme, so it can
  share your disk with other operating systems. Note, however, that m
  other operating systems may not be exactly compatible. DOS's FDISK.
  and FORMAT.EXE, for example, can overwrite data in a Linux partitio
  because they sometimes incorrectly use partition data from the
  partition's boot sector rather than the partition table.

  In order to prevent programs from doing this, it is a good idea to
  zero out--under Linux--the start of a partition you created, before
  you use MS-DOS--or whatever--to format it. Type:
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdXY bs=512 count=1

  where hdXY is the relevant partition; e.g., /dev/hda1 for the first
  partition of the first (IDE) disk.

  Linux can read and write the files on your DOS and OS/2 FAT partiti
  and floppies using either the DOS file system type built into the
  kernel or mtools. There is kernel support for the VFAT file system
  used by Windows 9x and Windows NT.

  For information about FAT32 partition support, see
  http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/fat32.html.

  See, "What software does Linux support? " for details and
  status of the emulators for DOS, MS Windows, and System V programs.

  See also, "Can Linux access Amiga file systems? ", "Can
  Linux access Macintosh file systems? ", "Can Linux access BSD,
  SysV, etc., UFS? ", and "Can Linux access SMB file systems? "

  There are said to be NTFS drivers under development, which should
  support compression as a standard feature.


3.2 How do I access files on my DOS partition or floppy?

  Use the DOS file system, type, for example:
$ mkdir /dos
$ mount -t msdos -o conv=text,umask=022,uid=100,gid=100 /dev/hda3 /dos

  If it's a floppy, don't forget to umount it before ejecting it!

  You can use the conv=text/binary/auto, umask=nnn, uid=nnn, and gid=
  options to control the automatic line-ending conversion, permission
  and ownerships of the files in the DOS file system as they appear
  under Linux. If you mount your DOS file system by putting it in you
  /etc/fstab, you can record the options (comma-separated) there,
  instead of defaults.

  Alternatively, you can use mtools, available in both binary and sou
  form on the FTP sites. ("Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
  ")

  A kernel patch (known as the fd-patches) is available which allows
  floppies with nonstandard numbers of tracks and/or sectors to be us
  this patch is included in the 1.1 alpha testing kernel series.


3.3 Does Linux support compressed ext2 file systems?

  As of recently, it does. Information about them is located at
  http://www.netspace.net.au/~reiter/e2compr/.

  There is also a Web site for the e2compr patches The code is still
  experimental and consists of patches for the 2.0 and 2.1 kernels. F
  more information about the project, including the latest patches, a
  the address of the mailing list, look up the URL at
  http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/.

  [Roderich Schupp]

  Zlibc is a program that allows existing applications to read
  compressed (GNU gzip'ed) files as if they were not compressed. Look
  sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/libs/. The author is Alain Knuff.

  There is also a compressing block device driver, "DouBle," by
  Jean-Marc Verbavatz, which can provide on-the-fly disk compression
  the kernel. The source-only distribution is located at sunsite.unc.
  in the directory /pub/Linux/patches/diskdrives/. This driver
  compresses inodes and directory information as well as files, so an
  corruption of the file system is likely to be serious.

  There is also a package called tcx (Transparently Compressed
  Executables), which allows you to keep infrequently compressed
  executables compressed and only uncompress them temporarily when in
  use. It is located on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory
  /pub/Linux/utils/compress/.


3.4 Can I use my Stacked/DBLSPC/etc. DOS drive?

  Until recently, not very easily. You can access DOS 6.X volumes fro
  the DOS emulator ("What software does Linux support? "), but
  it's harder than accessing a normal DOS volume via the DOS kernel
  option, a module, or mtools.

  There is a recently added package, dmsdos, which reads and writes
  compressed file systems like DoubleSpace/DriveSpace in MS-DOS 6.x a
  Win95, as well as Stacker versions 3 and 4. It is available in the
  archives on
  ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Filesystem/dosfs.

  There is a module available for the Linux kernel which can do
  read-only access of compressed volume. Look at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/.


3.5 Can I access OS/2 HPFS partitions from Linux?

  Yes, but Linux access to HPFS partitions is read-only. HPFS file
  system access is available as an option when compiling the kernel o
  as a module. See the Documentation/filesystems/hpfs.txt file in the
  kernel source distribution. ("How do I upgrade/recompile my
  kernel? ") Then you can mount HPFS partition, using, for example:
$ mkdir /hpfs
$ mount -t hpfs /dev/hda5 /hpfs


3.6 Can Linux access Amiga file systems?

  The Linux kernel has support for the Amiga Fast File System (AFFS)
  version 1.3 and later, both as a compile-time option and as a modul
  The file Documentation/filesystems/affs.txt in the Linux kernel sou
  distribution has more information.

  See "How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? ".

  Linux supports AFFS hard-drive partitions only. Floppy access is no
  supported due to incompatibilities between Amiga floppy controllers
  and PC and workstation controllers. The AFFS driver can also mount
  disk partitions used by the Un*x Amiga Emulator, by Bernd Schmidt.


3.7 Can Linux access BSD, SysV, etc. UFS?

  Recent kernels can mount (read only) the UFS file system used by
  System V; Coherent; Xenix; BSD; and derivatives like SunOS, FreeBSD
  NetBSD, and NeXTStep. UFS support is available as a kernel
  compile-time option and a module.

  See, "How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? "


3.8 Can Linux access SMB file systems?

  Linux supports read/write access of Windows for Workgroups and Wind
  NT SMB volumes. See the file Documentation/filesystems/smbfs.txt of
  the Linux kernel source distribution, and "How do I
  upgrade/recompile my kernel? " in this FAQ.

  There is also a suite of programs called Samba which provide suppor
  for WfW networked file systems (provided they're for TCP/IP).
  Information is available in the README file at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/network/samba/.

  There is a SMB Web site at samba.anu.edu.au/samba/.


3.9 Can Linux access Macintosh file systems?

  There is a set of user-level programs that read and write the
  Macintosh Hierarchical File System (HFS). It is available at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/utils/disk-management.


3.10 Can I run Microsoft Windows programs under Linux?

  WINE, a MS Windows emulator for Linux, is still not ready for gener
  distribution. If you want to contribute to its development, look fo
  the status reports in the comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine newsgroup.

  There is also a FAQ, compiled by P. David Gardner, at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/faqs/Wine-FAQ/.

  In the meantime, if you need to run MS Windows programs, the best
  bet--seriously--is to reboot. LILO, the Linux boot loader, can boot
  one of several operating systems from a menu. See the LILO
  documentation for details.

  Also, LOADLIN (a DOS program to load a Linux, or other OS, kernel i
  one way to make Linux co-exist with DOS. LOADLIN is particularly ha
  when you want to install Linux on a 3rd or 4th drive on a system (o
  when you're adding a SCSI drive to a system with an existing IDE).

  In these cases, it is common for LILO's boot loader to be unable to
  find or load the kernel on the "other" drive. So you just create a
  C:\LINUX directory (or whatever), put LOADLIN in it with a copy of
  your kernel, and use that.

  LOADLIN is a VCPI compliant program. Win95 will want to, "shutdown
  into DOS mode," to run it (as it would with certain other DOS
  protected-mode programs).

  Earlier versions of LOADLIN sometimes required a package called
  REALBIOS.COM, which required a boot procedure on an (almost) blank
  floppy to map the REALBIOS interrupt vectors (prior to the loading
  any software drivers). (Current versions don't seem to ship with it
  and don't seem to need it).

  [Jim Dennis]


3.11 How can I boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager?

   1. Create a partition using OS/2's FDISK.EXE (Not Linux's fdisk).
   2. Format the partition under OS/2, either with FAT or HPFS. This
      so that OS/2 knows about the partition being formatted. (This s
      is not necessary with OS/2 `warp' 3.0.)
   3. Add the partition to the Boot Manager.
   4. Boot Linux, and create a file system on the partition using mkf
      -t ext2 or mke2fs. At this point you may, if you like, use Linu
      fdisk to change the code of the new partition to type 83 (Linux
      Native)--this may help some automated installation scripts find
      the right partition to use.
   5. Install Linux on the partition.
   6. Install LILO on the Linux partition--NOT on the master boot rec
      of the hard drive. This installs LILO as a second-stage boot
      loader on the Linux partition itself, to start up the kernel
      specified in the LILO configuration file. To do this, you shoul
      put
boot = /dev/hda2
      (where /dev/hda2 is the partition you want to boot from) in you
      /etc/lilo/config or /etc/lilo.config file.
   7. Make sure that it is the Boot Manager partition that is marked
      active, so that you can use Boot Manager to choose what to boot

  There is a set of HOWTO's on the subject of multi-boot systems on t
  LDP Home Page, http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/.


3.12 How can I share a swap partition between Linux and MS Windows?

  See the Mini-HOWTO on the subject. The Mini-HOWTO is currently
  unmaintained but is available at
  ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/unmaintained.


  contents


4. Linux's handling of file systems, disks, and drives


4.1 How can I get Linux to work with my disk?

  If your disk is an IDE or EIDE drive, you should read the file
  /usr/src/linux/drivers/block/README.ide (part of the Linux kernel
  source code). This README contains many helpful hints about IDE
  drives. Many modern IDE controllers do translation between `physica
  cylinders/heads/sectors, and `logical' ones.

  SCSI disks are accessed by linear block numbers. The BIOS invents s
  `logical' cylinder/head/sector fiction to support DOS.

  An IBM PC-compatible BIOS will usually not be able to access
  partitions which extend beyond 1024 logical cylinders, and will mak
  booting a Linux kernel from such partitions using LILO problematic
  best.

  You can still use such partitions for Linux or other operating syst
  that access the controller directly.

  It's recommend that you create at least one Linux partition entirel
  under the 1024 logical cylinder limit, and boot from that. The othe
  partitions will then be okay.

  Also there seems to be a bit of trouble with the newer Ultra-DMA
  drives. I haven't gotten the straight scoop on them--but they are
  becoming a very common problem at the SVLUG installfests. When you
  get 8 to 12 Gig drives for $200 to $300 it's no wonder.

  [Jim Dennis]


4.2 How can I undelete files?

  In general, this is very hard to do on Unices because of their
  multitasking nature. Undelete functionality for the ext2fs file sys
  is being worked on, but don't hold your breath.

  There are a number of packages available which instead provide new
  commands for deleting and copying which move deleted files into a
  `wastebasket' directory. The files can be recovered until cleaned o
  automatically by background processing.

  Alternatively, you can search the raw disk device which holds the f
  system in question. This is hard work, and you will need to be logg
  in as root to do this.


4.3 Is there a defragmenter for ext2fs etc.?

  Yes. There is defrag, a Linux file system defragmenter for ext2,
  Minix, and old-style ext file systems. It is available at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/defrag-0.70.tar.gz.

  Users of the ext2 file system can probably do without defrag, becau
  ext2 contains extra code to keep fragmentation reduced even in very
  full file systems.


4.4 How do I format and create a file system on a floppy?

  To format a 3.5-inch, high density floppy:
$ fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
$ mkfs -t ext2 -m 0 /dev/fd0H1440 1440

  For a 5.25 inch floppy, use fd0h1200 and 1200 as appropriate. For t
  `B' drive use fd1 instead of fd0.

  The -m 0 option tells mkfs.ext2 not to reserve any space on the dis
  for the superuser--usually the last 10% is reserved for root.

  The first command performs a low-level format. The second creates a
  empty file system. You can mount the floppy like a hard disk partit
  and simply cp and mv files, etc.

  Device naming conventions generally are the same as for other Unice
  They can be found in Matt Welsh's Installation and Getting Started
  Guide. (See "Where can I get the HOWTO's and other
  documentation? ") A more detailed and technical description is Linu
  Allocated Devices by H. Peter Anvin, [email protected], which is
  included in LaTeX and ASCII form in the kernel source distribution
  (probably in /usr/src/kernel/Documentation), as devices.tex and
  devices.txt.


4.5 I get nasty messages about inodes, blocks, and the like.

  You may have a corrupted file system, probably caused by not shutti
  Linux down properly before turning off the power or resetting. You
  need to use a recent shutdown program to do this--for example, the
  included in the util-linux package, available on sunsite and tsx-11

  If you're lucky, the program fsck (or e2fsck or xfsck as appropriat
  if you don't have the automatic fsck front-end) will be able to rep
  your file system. If you're unlucky, the file system is trashed, an
  you'll have to re-initialize it with mkfs (or mke2fs, mkxfs, etc.),
  and restore from a backup.

  NB: don't try to check a file system that's mounted read/write--thi
  includes the root partition, if you don't see
  VFS: mounted root ... read-only

  at boot time.


4.6 My swap area isn't working.

  When you boot (or enable swapping manually) you should see
       Adding Swap: NNNNk swap-space

  If you don't see any messages at all you are probably missing
swapon -av

  (the command to enable swapping) in your /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d
  (the system startup scripts), or have forgotten to make the right
  entry in /etc/fstab:

/dev/hda2       none       swap       sw

  for example.

  If you see
Unable to find swap-space signature

  you have forgotten to run mkswap. See the manual page for details;
  works much like mkfs.

  Running, 'free' in addition to showing free memory, should display:
            total       used       free
Swap:        10188       2960       7228

  [Andy Jefferson]

  Take a look also at the Installation HOWTO for detailed instruction
  of how to set up a swap area.


4.7 How do I remove LILO so my system boots DOS again?

  Using DOS (MS-DOS 5.0 or later, or OS/2), type FDISK /MBR (which is
  not documented). This will restore a standard MS-DOS Master Boot
  Record. If you have DR-DOS 6.0, go into FDISK in the normal way and
  then select the `Re-write Master Boot Record' option.

  If you don't have MS-DOS or DR-DOS, you need to have the boot secto
  that LILO saved when you first installed it. You did keep that file
  didn't you? It's probably called boot.0301 or some such. Type
  dd if=boot.0301 of=/dev/hda bs=445 count=1

  (or /dev/sda if you're using a SCSI disk). This may also wipe out y
  partition table, so beware! If you're desperate, you could use
  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

  This will erase your partition table and boot sector completely: yo
  can then reformat the disk using your favorite software. But this w
  render the contents of your disk inaccessible--you'll lose it all
  unless you're an expert.

  Note that the DOS MBR boots whichever (single!) partition is flagge
  as `active'. You may need to use fdisk to set and clear the active
  flags on partitions appropriately.


4.8 Why can't I use fdformat except as root?

  The system call to format a floppy can only be done as root,
  regardless of the permissions of /dev/fd0*. If you want any user to
  able to format a floppy, try getting the fdformat2 program. This wo
  around the problems by being setuid to root.


4.9 My ext2fs partitions are checked each time I reboot.

  See "EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.".


4.10 My root file system is read-only!

  Remount it. If /etc/fstab is correct, you can simply
mount -n -o remount /

  If /etc/fstab is wrong, you must give the device name and possibly
  type, too: e.g.
mount -n -o remount -t ext2 /dev/hda2 /

  To understand how you got into this state, see, "EXT2-fs:
  warning: mounting unchecked file system."


4.11 I have a huge /proc/kcore! Can I delete it?

  None of the files in /proc are really there--they're all, "pretend,
  files made up by the kernel, to give you information about the syst
  and don't take up any hard disk space.

  /proc/kcore is like an `alias' for the memory in your computer. Its
  size is the same as the amount of RAM you have, and if you read it
  a file, the kernel does memory reads.


4.12 My AHA1542C doesn't work with Linux.

  The option to allow disks with more than 1024 cylinders is only
  required as a workaround for a PC-compatible BIOS misfeature and
  should be turned `off' under Linux. For older Linux kernels you nee
  to turn off most of the `advanced BIOS' options--all but the one ab
  scanning the bus for bootable devices.


  contents


5. Porting, compiling and obtaining programs


5.1 How do I compile programs?

  Most Linux software is written in C and compiled with the GNU C
  compiler. GCC is a part of every Linux distribution. The latest
  compiler version, documentation, and patches are on
  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/.

  Programs that are written in C++ must be compiled with the GNU G++
  compiler, which is also included in Linux distributions and availab
  from the same place as GCC.

  To build version 2.0.x kernels, you will need GCC version 2.7.2.x.
  Trying to build a Linux kernel with a different compiler, like GCC
  2.8.x, EGCS, or PGCC, may cause problems until code dependencies of
  the 2.7.2.x compilers are fixed.

  Information on the EGCS compiler is at htmlurl
  url="http://egcs.cygnus.com" name="http://egcs.cygnus.com">.

  Note that at this time, the kernel developers are not answering bug
  requests for 2.0.x version kernels, but instead are concentrating o
  developing 2.1.x version kernels.

  [J.H.M. Dassen]


5.2 How do I port XXX to Linux?

  In general, Unix programs need very little porting. Simply follow t
  installation instructions. If you don't know--and don't know how to
  find out--the answers to some of the questions asked during the
  installation procedure, you can guess, but this tends to produce bu
  programs. In this case, you're probably better off asking someone e
  to do the port.

  If you have a BSD-ish program, you should try using -I/usr/include/
  and -lbsd on the appropriate parts of the compilation lines.


5.3 What is ld.so and where do I get it?

  Ld.so is the dynamic library loader. Each binary using shared
  libraries used to have about 3K of start-up code to find and load t
  shared libraries. Now that code has been put in a special shared
  library, /lib/ld.so, where all binaries can look for it, so that it
  wastes less disk space, and can be upgraded more easily.

  Ld.so can be obtained from tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/GCC/
  and mirror sites. The latest version at the time of writing is
  ld.so.1.9.5.tar.gz.

  /lib/ld-linux.so.1 is the same thing for ELF ("What's all this
  about ELF? ") and comes in the same package as the a.out loader.


5.4 How do I upgrade the libraries withough trashing my system?

  Note: You should always have a rescue disk set ready when you perfo
  this procedure, in the likely event that something goes wrong!

  This procedure is especially difficult if you're upgrading very old
  libraries like libc4. But you should be able to keep libc4 on the s
  system with libc5 libraries for the programs that still need them.
  same holds true for upgrading from libc5 to the newer-yet glibc2
  libraries.

  The problem with upgrading dynamic libraries is that, the moment yo
  remove the old libraries, the utilities that you need to upgrade to
  the new version of the libraries don't work. There are ways around
  around this. One is to temporarily place a spare copy of the run ti
  libraries, which are in /lib/, in /usr/lib/, or /usr/local/lib/, or
  another directory that is listed in the /etc/ld.so.conf file.

  For example, when upgrading libc5 libraries, the files in /lib/ mig
  look something like:

libc.so.5
libc.so.5.4.33
libm.so.5
libm.so.5.0.9

  These are the C libraries and the math libraries. Copy them to anot
  directory that is listed in /etc/ld.so.conf, like /usr/lib/.

cp -df /lib/libc.so.5* /usr/lib/
cp -df /lib/libm.so.5* /usr/lib/
ldconfig

  Be sure to run ldconfig to upgrade the library configuration.

  The files libc.so.5 and libm.so.5 are symbolic links to the actual
  library files. When you upgrade, the new links will not be created
  the old links are still there, unless you use the -f flag with cp.
  -d flag to cp will copy the symbolic link itself, and not the file
  points to.

  If you need to overwrite the link to the library directly, use the
  flag with ln.

  For example, to copy new libraries over the old ones, try this. Mak
  symbolic link to the new libraries first, then copy both the librar
  and the links to /lib/, with the following commands.
ln -sf ./libm.so.5.0.48 libm.so.5
ln -sf ./libc.so.5.0.48 libc.so.5
cp -df libm.so.5* /lib
cp -df libc.so.5* /lib

  Again, remember to run ldconfig after you copy the libraries.

  If you are satisfied that everything is working correctly, you can
  remove the temporary copies of the old libraries from /usr/lib/ or
  wherever you copied them.


5.5 Has anyone ported / compiled / written XXX for Linux?

  First, look in the Linux Software Map--it's at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/linux-software-map, and on the
  other FTP sites. A search engine is available on the World Wide Web
  http://www.boutell.com/lsm/.

  Check the FTP sites ("Where can I get Linux material by FTP?
  ") first--search the ls-lR or INDEX files for appropriate strings.

  Also look at the Linux Projects Map,
  ftp.ix.de/pub/ix/Linux/docs/Projects-Map.gz.

  There's a search engine for Linux FTP archives at
  http://lfw.linuxhq.com/

  Also check out the Freshmeat Web site http://www.freshmeat.org,
  which is really cool. ("What online/free periodicals exist for
  Linux? "

  If you don't find anything, you could download the sources to the
  program yourself and compile them. See "How do I port XXX to
  Linux? " If it's a large package that may require some porting, pos
  a message to comp.os.linux.development.apps.

  If you compile a large-ish program, please upload it to one or more
  the FTP sites, and post a message to comp.os.linux.announce (submit
  your posting to [email protected]).

  If you're looking for an application program, the chances are that
  someone has already written a free version. The comp.sources.wanted
  FAQ has instructions for finding the source code.


5.6 Can I use code or a compiler compiled for a 486 on my 386?

  Yes, unless it's the kernel.

  The -m486 option to GCC, which is used to compile binaries for x486
  machines, merely changes certain optimizations. This makes for
  slightly larger binaries that run somewhat faster on a 486. They st
  work fine on a 386, though, with a small performance hit.

  However, from version 1.3.35 the kernel uses 486 or Pentium-specifi
  instructions if configured for a 486 or Pentium, thus making it
  unusable on a 386.

  GCC can be configured for a 386 or 486; the only difference is that
  configuring it for a 386 makes -m386 the default and configuring fo
  486 makes -m486 the default. In either case, these can be overridde
  on a per-compilation basis or by editing
  /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i*-linux/n.n.n/specs.

  There is an Alpha version of GCC which knows how to do optimization
  well for the 586, but it is quite unreliable, especially at high
  optimization settings. The Pentium GCC can be found on tsx-11.mit.e
  in /pub/linux/ALPHA/pentium-gcc. I'd recommend using the ordinary 4
  GCC instead; word has it that using -m386 produces code that's bett
  for the Pentium, or at least slightly smaller.


5.7 What does gcc -O6 do?

  Currently, the same as -O2 (GCC 2.5) or -O3 (GCC 2.6, 2.7). Any num
  greater than that does the same thing. The Makefiles of newer kerne
  use -O2, and you should probably do the same.


5.8 Where are linux/*.h and asm/*.h?

  The files /usr/include/linux/ and /usr/include/asm/ are often soft
  links to the directories where the kernel headers are. They are
  usually under /usr/src/kernel*/.

  If you don't have the kernel sources, download them--see, "How
  do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? "

  Then, use rm to remove any garbage, and ln to create the links:
rm -rf /usr/include/linux /usr/include/asm
ln -sf /usr/src/linux/include/linux /usr/include/linux
ln -sf /usr/src/linux/include/asm /usr/include/asm

  /usr/src/linux/include/asm/ is a symbolic link to an
  architecture-specific asm directory--if you have a freshly unpacked
  kernel source tree, you must make symlinks. You'll also find that y
  may need to do `make config' in a newly-unpacked kernel source tree
  to create linux/autoconf.h.


5.9 I get errors when I try to compile the kernel.

  See the previous question regarding the header files.

  Remember that when you apply a patch to the kernel, you must use th
  -p0 or -p1 option: otherwise, the patch may be misapplied. See the
  patch manual page for details.

  "ld: unrecognized option `-qmagic"' means that you should get a
  newer linker, from ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/GCC/,
  in the file binutils-2.8.1.0.1.bin.tar.gz.


5.10 How do I make a shared library?

  For ELF,
  gcc -fPIC -c *.c
  gcc -shared -Wl,-soname,libfoo.so.1 -o libfoo.so.1.0 *.o

  For a.out, get tools-n.nn.tar.gz from tsx-11.mit.edu, in
  /pub/linux/packages/GCC/src/. It comes with documentation that will
  tell you what to do. Note that a.out shared libraries are a very
  tricky business. Consider upgrading your libraries to ELF shared
  libraries. See the ELF HOWTO, at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/


5.11 My executables are (very) large.

  With an ELF compiler ("What's all this about ELF? "), the most
  common cause of large executables is the lack of an appropriate .so
  library link for one of the libraries you're using. There should be
  link like libc.so for every library like libc.so.5.2.18.

  With an a.out compiler the most common cause of large executables i
  the -g linker (compiler) flag. This produces (as well as debugging
  information in the output file) a program which is statically
  linked--one which includes a copy of the C library instead of a
  dynamically linked copy.

  Other things worth investigating are -O and -O2, which enable
  optimization (check the GCC documentation), and -s (or the strip
  command) which strip the symbol information from the resulting bina
  (making debugging totally impossible).

  You may wish to use -N on very small executables (less than 8K with
  the -N), but you shouldn't do this unless you understand its
  performance implications, and definitely never with daemons.


5.12 Does Linux support threads or lightweight processes?

  As well as the Unix multiprocessing model involving heavyweight
  processes, which is of course part of the standard Linux kernel, th
  are several implementations of lightweight processes or threads.
  Recent kernels implement a thread model, kthreads. In addition, the
  are the following packages available for Linux.
    * GNU glibc2 for Linux has optional support for threads. The arch
      is available from the same place as glibc2,
      ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu
    * In sipb.mit.edu:/pub/pthread or
      ftp.ibp.fr:/pub/unix/threads/pthreads. Documentation isn't in t
      package, but is available on the World Wide Web at
      http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/proven/home_page.html. Newer Lin
      libc's contain the pthreads source. The GNU Ada compiler on
      sunsite.unc.edu in
      /pub/Linux/devel/lang/ada/gnat-3.01-linux+elf.tar.gz contains
      binaries made from that source code.
    * In ftp.cs.washington.edu:/pub/qt-001.tar.Z is QuickThreads. Mor
      information can be found in the technical report, available on
      same site as /tr/1993/05/UW-CSE-93-05-06.PS.Z.
    * In gummo.doc.ic.ac.uk/rex/ is lwp, a very minimal implementatio
    * In ftp.cs.fsu.edu:/pub/PART/, an Ada implementation. This is
      useful mainly because it has a lot of Postscript papers that
      you'll find useful in learning more about threads. This is not
      directly usable under Linux.

  Please contact the authors of the packages in question for details.


5.13 Where can I get `lint' for Linux?

  Roughly equivalent functionality is built into GCC. Use the -Wall
  option to turn on most of the useful extra warnings. See the GCC
  manual for more details (type control-h followed by i in Emacs and
  select the entry for GCC).

  There is a freely available program called `lclint' that does much
  same thing as traditional lint. The announcement and source code ar
  available at on larch.lcs.mit.edu in /pub/Larch/lclint/; on the Wor
  Wide Web, look at http://larch-www.lcs.mit.edu:8001/larch/lclint.ht


5.14 Where can I find kermit for Linux?

  Kermit is distributed under a non-GPL copyright that makes its term
  of distribution somewhat different. The sources and some binaries a
  available on kermit.columbia.edu.

  The WWW Home Page of the Columbia University Kermit project is
  http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/.


  contents


6. Solutions to common miscellaneous problems.


6.1 free dumps core.

  In Linux 1.3.57 and later, the format of /proc/meminfo was changed
  a way that the implementation of free doesn't understand.

  Get the latest version, from sunsite.unc.edu, in
  /pub/Linux/system/Status/ps/procps-0.99.tgz.


6.2 My clock is very wrong.

  There are two clocks in your computer. The hardware (CMOS) clock ru
  even when the computer is turned off, and is used when the system
  starts up and by DOS (if you use DOS). The ordinary system time, sh
  and set by "date," is maintained by the kernel while Linux is
  running.

  You can display the CMOS clock time, or set either clock from the
  other, with /sbin/clock program--see "man 8 clock."

  There are various other programs that can correct either or both
  clocks for system drift or transfer time across the network. Some o
  them may already be installed on your system. Try looking for adjti
  (corrects for drift), netdate, and getdate (get the time from the
  network), or xntp (accurate, full-featured network time daemon).


6.3 Setuid scripts don't seem to work.

  That's right. This feature has been disabled in the Linux kernel on
  purpose, because setuid scripts are almost always a security hole.
  Sudo and SuidPerl can provide more security that setuid scripts or
  binaries, especially if execute permissions are limited to a certai
  user ID or group ID.

  If you want to know why setuid scripts are a security hole, read th
  FAQ for comp.unix.questions.


6.4 Free memory as reported by free keeps shrinking.

  The "free" figure printed by free doesn't include memory used as a
  disk buffer cache--shown in the "buffers" column. If you want to
  know how much memory is really free add the "buffers" amount to
  "free"--newer versions of free print an extra line with this info.

  The disk buffer cache tends to grow soon after starting Linux up. A
  you load more programs and use more files, the contents get cached.
  will stabilize after a while.


6.5 When I add more memory, the system slows to a crawl.

  This is a common symptom of a failure to cache the additional memor
  The exact problem depends on your motherboard.

  Sometimes you have to enable caching of certain regions in your BIO
  setup. Look in the CMOS setup and see if there is an option to cach
  the new memory area which is currently switched off. This is
  apparently most common on a '486.

  Sometimes the RAM has to be in certain sockets to be cached.

  Sometimes you have to set jumpers to enable caching.

  Some motherboards don't cache all of the RAM if you have more RAM p
  amount of cache than the hardware expects. Usually a full 256K cach
  will solve this problem.

  If in doubt, check the manual. If you still can't fix it because th
  documentation is inadequate, you might like to post a message to
  comp.os.linux.hardware giving all of the details--make, model numbe
  date code, etc., so other Linux users can avoid it.


6.6 Some programs (e.g. xdm) won't let me log in.

  You are probably using non-shadow password programs and are using
  shadow passwords.

  If so, you have to get or compile a shadow password version of the
  programs in question. The shadow password suite can be found at
  tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/shadow/. This is the sour
  code. The binaries are probably in linux/binaries/usr.bin/.


6.7 Some programs let me log in with no password.

  You probably have the same problem as in "Some programs (e.g.
  xdm) won't let me log in. ", with an added wrinkle.

  If you are using shadow passwords, you should put a letter `x' or a
  asterisk in the password field of /etc/passwd for each account, so
  that if a program doesn't know about the shadow passwords it won't
  think it's a passwordless account and let anyone in.


6.8 My machine runs very slowly when I run GCC / X / ...

  You may have too little real memory. If you have less RAM than all
  programs you're running at once, Linux will swap to your hard disk
  instead and thrash horribly. The solution in this case is to not ru
  so many things at once or buy more memory. You can also reclaim som
  memory by compiling and using a kernel with less options configured
  See "How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? ".

  You can tell how much memory and swap you're using with the free
  command, or by typing:
cat /proc/meminfo

  If your kernel is configured with a RAM disk, this is probably wast
  space and will cause things to go slowly. Use LILO or rdev to tell
  kernel not to allocate a RAM disk (see the LILO documentation or ty
  man rdev).


6.9 I can only log in as root.

  You probably have some permission problems, or you have a file
  /etc/nologin.

  In the latter case, put rm -f /etc/nologin in your /etc/rc.local or
  /etc/rc.d/* scripts.

  Otherwise, check the permissions on your shell, and any file names
  that appear in error messages, and also the directories that contai
  these files, up to and including the root directory.


6.10 My screen is all full of weird characters instead of letters.

  You probably sent some binary data to your screen by mistake. Type
  echo '\033c' to fix it. Many Linux distributions have a command,
  "reset," that does this.

  If that doesn't help, try a direct screen escape command.
echo <Ctrl-V><Ctrl-O>

  This resets the default font of a Linux console. Remember to hold d
  the Control key and type the letter, instead of, for example,
  `Ctrl-V'. The sequence
echo <Ctrl-V><Esc>c

  causes a full screen reset. If there's data left on the shell comma
  line after typing a binary file, press Ctrl-C a few times to restor
  the shell command line.

  [Bernhard Gabler]


6.11 I have screwed up my system and can't log in to fix it.

  Reboot from an emergency floppy or floppy pair. For example, the
  Slackware boot and root disk pair in the install subdirectory of th
  Slackware distribution.

  There are also two, do-it-yourself rescue disk creation packages in
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Recovery. These are better
  because they have your own kernel on them, so you don't run the ris
  of missing devices and file systems.

  Get to a shell prompt and mount your hard disk with something like
mount -t ext2 /dev/hda1 /mnt

  Then your file system is available under the directory /mnt and you
  can fix the problem. Remember to unmount your hard disk before
  rebooting (cd somewhere else first, or it will say it's busy).


6.12 I've discovered a huge security hole in rm!

  No you haven't. You are obviously new to Unix and need to read a go
  book to find out how things work. Clue: the ability to delete files
  under Unix depends on permission to write in that directory.


6.13 lpr(1) and/or lpd(8) don't work.

  First make sure that your /dev/lp* port is correctly configured. It
  IRQ (if any) and port address need to match the settings on the
  printer card. You should be able to dump a file directly to the
  printer.
cat the_file >/dev/lp1

  If lpr gives you a message like "myname@host: host not found," it
  may mean that the TCP/IP loopback interface, lo, isn't working
  properly. Loopback support is compiled into most distribution kerne
  Check that the interface is configured with the ifconfig command. B
  Internet convention, the network number is 127.0.0.0, and the local
  host address is 127.0.0.1. If everything is configured correctly, y
  should be able to telnet to your own machine and get a login prompt

  Make sure that /etc/hosts.lpd contains the machine's host name.

  If your machine has a network-aware lpd, like the one that comes wi
  LPRng, make sure that /etc/lpd.perms is configured correctly.

  Also look at the Printing-HOWTO "Where can I get the HOWTO's
  and other documentation? ".


6.14 Timestamps on files on MS-DOS partitions are set incorrectly.

  There is a bug in the program "clock" (often found in /sbin). It
  miscounts a time zone offset, confusing seconds with minutes or
  something like that. Get a recent version.


6.15 How do I get LILO to boot the vmlinux file?

  >From kernel versions 1.1.80 on, the compressed kernel image, which
  what LILO needs to find, is in arch/i386/boot/zImage. The vmlinux f
  in the root directory is the uncompressed kernel, and you shouldn't
  try to boot it.

  This was changed to make it easier to build kernel versions for
  several different processors from one source tree.


  contents


7. How do I do this or find out that ... ?


7.1 How can I get scrollback in text mode?

  With the default US keymap, you can use Shift with the PageUp and
  PageDown keys. (The gray ones, not the ones on the numeric keypad.)
  With other keymaps, look in /usr/lib/keytables. You can remap the
  ScrollUp and ScrollDown keys to be whatever you like. For example,
  remap them to the keys on an 84-key, AT keyboard.

  The "screen" program,
  http://vector.co.jp/vpack/browse/person/an010455.html provides a
  searchable scrollback buffer and the ability to take "snapshots" of
  text-mode screens.

  You can't increase the amount of scrollback, because it is implemen
  using the video memory to store the scrollback text. You may be abl
  to get more scrollback in each virtual console by reducing the tota
  number of VC's. See linux/tty.h.


7.2 How do I switch virtual consoles? How do I enable them?

  In text mode, press Left Alt-F1 to Alt-F12 to select the consoles t
  to tty12; Right Alt-F1 gives tty13 and so on. To switch out of X
  Windows you must press Ctrl-Alt-F1, etc; Alt-F5 or whatever will
  switch back.

  If you want to use a VC for ordinary login, it must be listed in
  /etc/inittab, which controls which terminals and virtual consoles h
  login prompts. The X Window System needs at least one free VC in or
  to start.


7.3 How do I set the time zone?

  Change directory to /usr/lib/zoneinfo/. Get the time zone package i
  you don't have this directory. The source is available as
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/admin/time/timesrc-1.2.tar.gz.

  Then make a symbolic link named localtime pointing to one of the fi
  in this directory (or a subdirectory), and one called posixrules
  pointing to localtime. For example:
  ln -sf US/Mountain localtime
  ln -sf localtime posixrules

  This change will take effect immediately--try date(1).

  The manual page for tzset describes setting the time zone. Some
  programs recognize the TZ environment variable, but this is not
  POSIX-correct.

  You should also make sure that your Linux kernel clock is set to th
  correct GMT time--type date -u and check that the correct UTC time
  displayed. ("My clock is very wrong. ")


7.4 What version of Linux and what machine name am I using?

  Type:
uname -a


7.5 How can I enable or disable core dumps?

  By using the ulimit command in bash, the limit command in tcsh, or
  rlimit command in ksh. See the appropriate manual page for details.

  This setting affects all programs run from the shell (directly or
  indirectly), not the whole system.

  If you wish to enable or disable core dumping for all processes by
  default, you can change the default setting in linux/sched.h--see t
  definition of INIT_TASK, and look also in linux/resource.h.


7.6 How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel?

  See the Kernel HOWTO or the README files which come with the kernel
  release on ftp.cs.helsinki.fi, in /pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/ and
  mirrors. (See "Where can I get Linux material by FTP? ") You
  may already have a version of the kernel source code installed on y
  system, but if it is part of a standard distribution it is likely t
  be somewhat out of date (this is not a problem if you only want a
  custom configured kernel, but it probably is if you need to upgrade

  With newer kernels you can (and should) make all of the following
  targets. Don't forget that you can specify multiple targets with on
  command.
make clean dep install modules modules_install

  Also remember to update the module dependencies.
depmod -a

  Remember that to make the new kernel boot you must run LILO after
  copying the kernel into your root partition--the Makefile in recent
  kernels has a special zlilo target for this; try:
make zlilo

  Kernel version numbers with an odd minor version (ie, 1.1.x, 1.3.x)
  are the testing releases; stable production kernels have even minor
  versions (1.0.x, 1.2.x). If you want to try the testing kernels you
  should probably subscribe to the linux-kernel mailing list. (See "
  What mailing lists are there? .")


7.7 Can I have more than 3 serial ports by sharing interrupts?

  Yes, but you won't be able to use simultaneously two ordinary ports
  which share an interrupt (without some trickery). This is a limitat
  of the ISA Bus architecture.

  See the Serial HOWTO for information about possible solutions and
  workarounds for this problem.


7.8 How do I make a bootable floppy?

  Make a file system on it with bin, etc, lib and dev
  directories--everything you need. Install a kernel on it and arrang
  to have LILO boot it from the floppy (see the LILO documentation, i
  lilo.u.*.ps).

  If you build the kernel (or tell LILO to tell the kernel) to have a
  RAM disk the same size as the floppy the RAM disk will be loaded at
  boot time and mounted as root in place of the floppy.

  See the Bootdisk HOWTO.


7.9 How do I remap my keyboard to UK, French, etc.?

  For recent kernels, get /pub/Linux/system/Keyboards/kbd-0.90.tar.gz
  from sunsite.unc.edu. Make sure you get the appropriate version; yo
  have to use the right keyboard mapping package for your kernel
  version.

  For older kernels you have to edit the top-level kernel Makefile, i
  /usr/src/linux.

  You may find more helpful information in The Linux Keyboard and
  Console HOWTO, by Andries Brouwer, at
  sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.


7.10 How do I get NUM LOCK to default to on?

  Use the setleds program, for example (in /etc/rc.local or one of th
  /etc/rc.d/* files):
for t in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
do
   setleds +num < /dev/tty$t > /dev/null
done

  Setleds is part of the kbd package ("How do I remap my keyboard
  to UK, French, etc.? ").

  Alternatively, patch your kernel. You need to arrange for KBD_DEFLE
  to be defined to (1 << VC_NUMLOCK) when compiling
  drivers/char/keyboard.c.


7.11 How do I set (or reset) my initial terminal colors?

  The following shell script should work for VGA consoles:
for n in 1 2 4 5 6 7 8; do
       setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > /dev/tty$n
       done

  Substitute your favorite colors, and use /dev/ttyS$n for serial
  terminals.

  To make sure they are reset when people log out (if they've been
  changed):

  Replace the references to "getty" (or "mingetty" or "uugetty" or
  whatever) in /etc/inittab with references to "/sbin/mygetty."
#!/bin/sh
setterm -fore yellow -bold on -back blue -store > $1
exec /sbin/mingetty $@

  [Jim Dennis]

7.12 How can I have more than 128Mb of swap?

  Use several swap partitions or swap files--Linux supports up to 16
  swap areas, each of up to 128Mb.

  Very old kernels only supported swap partition sizes up to 16Mb.

  Linux on machines with 8KB paging, like Alpha and Sparc64, support
  swap partition up to 512KB. The 128KB limitation comes from
  PAGE_SIZE*BITSPERBYTE on machines with 4KB paging, but is 512KB on
  machines with 8KB paging. The limit is due to the use of a single p
  allocation map.

  The file mm/swapfile.c has all of the gory details.

  [Peter Moulder, Gordon Weast]


  contents


8. Miscellaneous information and questions answered.


8.1 How do I program XYZ under Linux?

  Read the manuals, or a good book on Unix. Manual pages (type "man
  man") are usually a good source of reference information on exactly
  how to use a particular command or function.

  There is also a lot of GNU Info documentation, which is often more
  useful as a tutorial. Run Emacs and type C-h i, or type info info i
  you don't have or don't like Emacs. Note that the Emacs libc node m
  not exactly describe the latest Linux libc, or GNU glibc2. But the
  progject and LDP are always looking for volunteers to upgrade their
  library documentation.

  Anyway, between the existing Texinfo documentation, and the manual
  pages in sections 2 and 3, should provide enough information to get
  started.

  As with all free software, the best tutorial is the source code
  itself.

  The latest release of the Linux manual pages, a collection of usefu
  GNU Info documentation, and various other information related to
  programming Linux, can be found on sunsite.unc.edu in
  /pub/Linux/docs/man-pages.


8.2 What's all this about ELF?

  See the ELF HOWTO by Daniel Barlow--note, this is not the file
  move-to-elf, which is a blow-by-blow account of how to upgrade to E
  manually.

  Linux has two different formats for executables, object files, and
  object code libraries, known as, "ELF." (The old format is called
  `a.out'.) They have advantages, including better support for shared
  libraries and dynamic linking.

  Both a.out and ELF binaries can coexist on a system. However, they
  different shared C libraries, both of which have to be installed.

  If you want to find out whether your system can run ELF binaries, l
  in /lib for a file named, "libc.so.5." If it's there, you probably
  have ELF libraries. If you want to know whether your installation
  actually is ELF you can pick a representative program, like ls, and
  run file on it:
-chiark:~> file /bin/ls
/bin/ls: Linux/i386 impure executable (OMAGIC) - stripped

valour:~> file /bin/ls
/bin/ls: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1, stripped

  There is a patch to get 1.2.x to compile using the ELF compilers, a
  produce ELF core dumps, at tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/packages/GCC/. Yo
  do not need the patch merely to run ELF binaries. 1.3.x and later d
  not need the patch at all.


8.3 What is a .gz file ? And a .tgz ? And ... ?

  .gz (and .z) files are compressed using GNU gzip. You need to use
  gunzip (which is a symlink to the gzip command which comes with mos
  Linux installations) to unpack the file.

  .taz and .tz are tar files (made with Unix tar) compressed using
  standard Unix compress.

  .tgz (or .tpz) is a tar file compressed with gzip.

  .lsm is a Linux Software Map entry, in the form of a short text fil
  Details about the LSM and the LSM itself are available in the docs
  subdirectory on sunsite.unc.edu.

  .deb is a Debian Binary Package - the binary package format used by
  the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. It is manipulated using dpkg and
  dpkg-deb (available on Debian systems and from ftp.debian.org).

  .rpm is a Red Hat RPM package, which is used in the Red Hat
  distribution. They can be found on ftp.redhat.com.

  .bz2 is a file compressed by the more recent bzip program.

  The "file" command can often tell you what a file is.

  If you find that gzip complains when you try to uncompress a gzip'e
  file you probably downloaded it in ASCII mode by mistake. You must
  download most things in binary mode--remember to type binary as a
  command in FTP before using, "get," to get the file.


8.4 What does VFS stand for?

  Virtual File System. It's the abstraction layer between the user an
  real file systems like ext2, Minix and MS-DOS. Among other things,
  job is to flush the read buffer when it detects a disk change on th
  floppy disk drive.
VFS: Disk change detected on device 2/0


8.5 What is a BogoMip?

  "BogoMips" is a contraction of "Bogus MIPS." MIPS stands for
  (depending who you listen to) Millions of Instructions per Second,
  Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed.

  The number printed at boot time is the result of a kernel timing
  calibration, used for very short delay loops by some device drivers

  As a very rough guide, the BogoMips rating for your machine will be
  approximately:
    386SX              clock * 0.14
    386DX              clock * 0.18
    486Cyrix/IBM       clock * 0.33
    486SX/DX/DX2       clock * 0.50
    586                clock * 0.39

  If the number is wildly lower, you may have the Turbo button or CPU
  speed set incorrectly, or have some kind of caching problem (as
  described in "When I add more memory, the system slows to a
  crawl. .")

  For values people have seen with other, rarer, chips, see the BogoM
  Mini-HOWTO, on sunsite.unc.edu in
  /pub/Linux/docs/howto/mini/BogoMips/.


8.6 What is the Linux Journal and where can I get it?

  The Linux Journal is a monthly magazine (printed on paper) that is
  available on news stands and via subscription worldwide. Email
  [email protected] for details. Their URL is http://www.ssc.com/.


8.7 What online/free periodicals exist for Linux?

  There are a number of recent additions to the list of periodicals
  devoted to Linux.
    * Linux Gazette. http://www.linuxgazette.com.
    * Linux Weekly News. http://www.lwn.net.
    * Slashdot. http://www.slashdot.org.
    * Freshmeat. http://www.freshmeat.org.

  [Jim Dennis, Robert Kiesling]


8.8 How many people use Linux?

  Linux is freely available, and no one is required to register their
  copy with any central authority, so it is difficult to know. Severa
  businesses survive solely on selling and supporting Linux. The Linu
  newsgroups are some of the most heavily read on Usenet, so the numb
  is likely in the hundreds of thousands. Accurate numbers probably
  don't exist.

  However, one brave soul, Harald T. Alvestrand,
  [email protected], has decided to try, and asks that
  if you use Linux, send a message to [email protected] with
  one of the following subjects: "I use Linux at home," "I use Linux
  at work," or, "I use Linux at home and at work." He will also
  accept `third party' registrations--ask him for details.

  Alternatively, you can register using the WWW forms found at
  http://domen.uninett.no/~hta/linux/counter.html.

  He posts his counts to aun.uninett.no in /pub/misc/linux-counter/ o
  at the web page above.


8.9 How should I pronounce Linux?

  This is a matter of religious debate, of course!

  If you want to hear Linus himself say how he pronounces it, downloa
  english.au or swedish.au from ftp.funet.fi (in
  /pub/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/SillySounds/). If you have a sound card or
  PC-speaker audio driver you can hear them by typing
cat english.au >/dev/audio

  The difference isn't in the pronunciation of Linux but in the langu
  Linus uses to say, "hello."

  For the benefit of those who don't have the equipment or inclinatio
  Linus pronounces Linux approximately as Leenus, where the "ee" is
  pronounced as in "feet," but rather shorter, and the "u" is like a
  much shorter version of the French "eu" sound in "peur"
  (pronouncing it as the "u" in "put" is probably passable).


  contents


9. Frequently encountered error messages.


9.1 Modprobe can't locate module, "XXX," and similar messages.

  These types of messages mostly occur at boot time or shutdown. If
  modprobe, insmod, or rmmod complain about not being able to find a
  module, add the following to the /etc/modules.conf or
  /etc/modutils/aliases file, whichever is present on your system.
alias <module-name> off

  And use the name of the module that appears in the error message.

  [J.H.M. Dassen]


9.2 Unknown terminal type linux and similar.

  In early kernels the default console terminal type has changed from
  "console" to "linux." You must edit /etc/termcap to change the
  line reading:
console|con80x25:\

  to
linux|console|con80x25:\

  (there may be an additional dumb in there--if so it should be
  removed.)

  To get the editor to work you may need say
TERM=console

  (for bash and ksh), or
setenv TERM console

  for csh or tcsh.

  Some programs use /usr/lib/terminfo instead of /etc/termcap. For th
  programs you should upgrade your terminfo, which is part of ncurses


9.3 lp1 on fire

  This is a joke/traditional error message indicating that some sort
  error is being reported by your printer, but that the error status
  isn't a valid one. It may be that you have some kind of I/O or IRQ
  conflict-- check your cards' settings. Some people report that they
  get this message when their printer is switched off. Hopefully it
  isn't really on fire ...

  In newer kernels, this message reads, "lp1 reported invalid error
  status (on fire, eh?)"


9.4 INET: Warning: old style ioctl... called!

  You are trying to use the old network configuration utilities. The
  ones can be found on ftp.linux.org.uk in
  /pub/linux/Networking/PROGRAMS/NetTools/ (source only, I'm afraid).

  Note that they cannot be used just like the old-style programs. See
  the NET-2 HOWTO for instructions on how to set up the old-style
  networking programs correctly. Even better, see the NET-3 HOWTO and
  upgrade your networking software.


9.5 ld: unrecognized option '-m486'

  You have an old version of ld. Install a newer binutils package--th
  will contain an updated ld. Look on tsx-11.mit.edu in
  /pub/linux/packages/GCC/ for binutils-2.6.0.2.bin.tar.gz.


9.6 GCC says Internal compiler error.

  If the fault is repeatable (i.e., it always happens at the same pla
  in the same file--even after rebooting and trying again, using a
  stable kernel) you have discovered a bug in GCC. See the GCC Info
  documentation (type Control-h i in Emacs, and select GCC from the
  menu) for details on how to report the error--make sure you have th
  latest version, though.

  Note that this is probably not a Linux-specific problem. Unless you
  are compiling a program many other Linux users also compile, you
  should not post your bug report to any of the comp.os.linux groups.

  If the problem is not repeatable, you may be experiencing memory
  corruption--see make says Error 139 .


9.7 make says Error 139

  Your compiler driver (gcc) dumped core. You probably have a corrupt
  buggy, or old version of GCC--get the latest release. Alternatively
  you may be running out of swap space--see My machine runs very
  slowly when I run GCC / X / ... .

  If this doesn't fix the problem, you are probably having problems w
  memory or disk corruption. Check that the clock rate, wait states,
  refresh timing for your SIMMS and cache are correct (hardware manua
  are sometimes wrong, too). If so, you may have some marginal SIMMS,
  a faulty motherboard or hard disk or controller.

  Linux, like any Unix, is a very good memory tester--much better tha
  MS-DOS based memory test programs.

  Reportedly, some clone x87 math coprocessors can cause problems. Tr
  compiling a kernel with math emulation ( How do I
  upgrade/recompile my kernel? .) You may need to use the "no387"
  kernel command line flag on the LILO prompt to force the kernel to
  math emulation, or it may be able to work and still use the '387, w
  the math emulation compiled in but mainly unused.

  More information about this problem is available on the Web at
  http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/.


9.8 shell-init: permission denied when I log in.

  Your root directory and all the directories up to your home directo
  must be readable and executable by everybody. See the manual page f
  chmod or a book on Unix for how to fix the problem.


9.9 No utmp entry. You must exec ... when I log in.

  Your /var/run/utmp is screwed up. You should have
> /var/run/utmp

  in your /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*. See ("I have screwed up
  my system and can't log in to fix it. ") Note that the utmp may als
  be found in /var/adm/ or /etc/ on some older systems.


9.10 Warning--bdflush not running.

  Modern kernels use a better strategy for writing cached disk blocks
  In addition to the kernel changes, this involves replacing the old
  update program which used to write everything every 30 seconds with
  more subtle daemon (actually a pair), known as bdflush.

  Get bdflush-n.n.tar.gz from the same place as the kernel source cod
  How do I upgrade/recompile my kernel? ) and compile and install
  it. Bdflush should be started before the usual boot-time file syste
  checks. It will work fine with older kernels as well, so there's no
  need to keep the old update around.


9.11 Warning: obsolete routing request made.

  This is nothing to worry about. The message means that your version
  route is a little out of date, compared to the kernel. You can make
  the message go away by getting a new version of route from the same
  place as the kernel source code. ( How do I upgrade/recompile my
  kernel? )


9.12 EXT2-fs: warning: mounting unchecked file system.

  You need to run e2fsck (or fsck -t ext2 if you have the fsck front
  program) with the -a option to get it to clear the `dirty' flag, an
  then cleanly unmount the partition during each shutdown.

  The easiest way to do this is to get the latest fsck, umount, and
  shutdown commands, available in Rik Faith's util-linux package (`
  Where can I get Linux material by FTP? ") You have to make sure
  that your /etc/rc*/ scripts use them correctly.

  NB: don't try to check a file system that's mounted read/write--thi
  includes the root partition if you don't see
VFS: mounted root ... read-only

  at boot time. You must arrange to mount the root file system read/o
  to start with, check it if necessary, and then remount it read/writ
  Read the documentation that comes with util-linux to find out how t
  do this.

  Note that you need to specify the -n option to mount so it won't tr
  to update /etc/mtab, since the root file system is still read-only,
  and this will otherwise cause it to fail.


9.13 EXT2-fs warning: maximal count reached.

  This message is issued by the kernel when it mounts a file system
  that's marked as clean, but whose "number of mounts since check"
  counter has reached the predefined value. The solution is to get th
  latest version of the ext2fs utilities (e2fsprogs-0.5b.tar.gz at th
  time of writing) from the usual sites. (` Where can I get Linux
  material by FTP? ")

  The maximal number of mounts value can be examined and changed usin
  the tune2fs program from this package.


9.14 EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached.

  Kernels from 1.0 onwards support checking a file system based on th
  elapsed time since the last check as well as by the number of mount
  Get the latest version of the ext2fs utilities. "( EXT2-fs
  warning: maximal count reached. ")


9.15 df says Cannot read table of mounted file systems.

  There is probably something wrong with your /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab
  files. If you have a reasonably new version of mount, /etc/mtab sho
  be emptied or deleted at boot time (in /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/*
  using something like
rm -f /etc/mtab*

  Some versions of SLS have an entry for the root partition in /etc/m
  made in /etc/rc* by using rdev. This is incorrect--the newer versio
  of mount do this automatically.

  Other versions of SLS have a line in /etc/fstab that looks like:
/dev/sdb1   /root   ext2   defaults

  This is wrong. /root should read simply /.


9.16 fdisk says Partition X has different physical/logical ...

  If the partition number (X, above) is 1, this is the same problem a
  in "fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary. "

  If the partition begins or ends on a cylinder numbered greater than
  1024, this is because the standard DOS disk geometry information
  format in the partition table can't cope with cylinder numbers with
  more than 10 bits. You should see "How can I get Linux to work
  with my disk? "


9.17 fdisk: Partition 1 does not start on cylinder boundary.

  The version of fdisk that comes with many Linux systems creates
  partitions that fail its own validity checking. Unfortunately, if
  you've already installed your system, there's not much you can do
  about this, apart from copying the data off the partition, deleting
  and remaking it, and copying the data back.

  You can avoid the problem by getting the latest version of fdisk, f
  Rik Faith's util-linux package (available on all the usual FTP site
  Alternatively, if you are creating a new partition 1 that starts in
  the first cylinder, you can do the following to get a partition tha
  fdisk likes.
    * Create partition 1 in the normal way. A `p' listing will produc
      the mismatch complaint.
    * Type `u' to set sector mode and do `p' again. Copy down the num
      from the "End" column.
    * Delete partition 1.
    * While still in sector mode, re-create partition 1. Set the firs
      sector to match the number of sectors per track. This is the
      sector number in the first line of the `p' output. Set the last
      sector to the value you wrote down in the step above.
    * Type `u' to reset cylinder mode and continue with other
      partitions.

  Ignore the message about unallocated sectors--they refer to the
  sectors on the first track apart from the Master Boot Record, and t
  are not used if you start the first partition in track 2.


9.18 fdisk says partition n has an odd number of sectors.

  The PC disk partitioning scheme works in 512-byte sectors, but Linu
  uses 1K blocks. If you have a partition with an odd number of secto
  the last sector is wasted. Ignore the message.


9.19 mtools says cannot initialize drive XYZ

  This means that mtools is having trouble accessing the drive. This
  be due to several things.

  Often this is due to the permissions on floppy drive devices
  (/dev/fd0* and /dev/fd1*) being incorrect--the user running mtools
  must have the appropriate access. See the manual page for chmod for
  details.

  Most versions of mtools distributed with Linux systems (not the
  standard GNU version) use the contents of a file /etc/mtools to
  determine which devices and densities to use, in place of having th
  information compiled into the binary. Mistakes in this file often
  cause problems. There is often no documentation about this.

  For the easiest way to access your MS-DOS files (especially those o
  hard disk partition) see How do I access files on my DOS
  partition or floppy? Note--you should never use mtools to access fi
  on an msdosfs mounted partition or disk!


9.20 At the start of booting: Memory tight

  This means that you have an extra-large kernel, which means that Li
  has to do some special memory-management magic to be able to boot
  itself from the BIOS. It isn't related to the amount of physical
  memory in your machine. Ignore the message, or compile a kernel
  containing only the drivers and features you need. ("How do I
  upgrade/recompile my kernel? )"


9.21 My syslog says `end_request: I/O error, ...'.

  This error message, and messages like it, almost always indicate a
  hardware error with a hard drive.

  This commonly indicates a hard drive defect. The only way to avoid
  further data loss is to completely shut own the system. You must al
  make sure that whatever data is on the drive is backed up, and rest
  it to a non-defective hard drive.

  This error message may also indicate a bad connection to the drive,
  especially with homebrew systems. If you install an IDE drive, ALWA
  use new cables. It's probably is a good idea with SCSI drives, too.

  In one instance, this error also seemed to coincide with a bad grou
  between the system board and the chassis. Be sure that all electric
  connections are clean and tight before placing the blame on the har
  drive itself.

  [Peter Moulder, Theodore T'so]


9.22 You don't exist. Go away.

  This is not a viral infection :-). It comes from programs like writ
  talk, and wall, if your invoking UID doesn't correspond to a valid
  user (probably due to /etc/passwd being corrupted), or if the sessi
  (pseudoterminal, specifically) you're using isn't properly register
  in the utmp file (probably because you invoked it in a funny way).


  contents


10. The X Window System.


10.1 Does Linux support X Windows?

  Yes. Linux uses XFree86 (the current version is 3.3.2, which is bas
  on X11R6). You need to have a video card which is supported by
  XFree86. See the Linux XFree86 HOWTO for more details.

  Most Linux distributions nowadays come with an X installation.

  However, you can install or upgrade your own, from
  /pub/Linux/X11/Xfree86-* on sunsite.unc.edu and its mirror sites.


10.2 Where can I get an XF86Config for my system?

  See the Linux XFree86 HOWTO, recent versions of Installation and
  Getting Started, and the instructions for the XF86Setup program.

  The contents of the XF86Config file depend on the your exact
  combination of video card and monitor. It can either be configured
  hand, or using the XF86Setup utility. Read the instructions that ca
  with XFree86, in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/etc. The file you probably need
  look at most is README.Config.

  You should not use the sample XF86Config.eg file which is included
  with newer versions of XFree86 verbatim, because the wrong video cl
  settings can damage your monitor.

  Please don't post to comp.os.linux.x asking for an XF86Config, and
  please don't answer such requests.


10.3 xterm logins show up strangely in who, finger.

  The xterm that comes with XFree86 2.1 and earlier doesn't correctly
  understand the format that Linux uses for the /var/adm/utmp file,
  where the system records who is logged in. It therefore doesn't set
  all the information correctly.

  The Xterms in XFree86 3.1 and later versions fix this problem.


10.4 I can't get X Windows to work right.

  Read the XFree86 HOWTO--note the question and answer section.

  Try reading comp.windows.x.i386unix--specifically read the the FAQ
  that group.

  Please don't post X Windows or XFree86 related questions to
  comp.os.linux.x unless they are Linux-specific.


  contents


11. Questions applicable to very out-of-date software.

  The questions in this section are only relevant to users of softwar
  that is at least three months old.

  Please let me know if you find the answer to a problem you had here
  as unused questions in this section will eventually disappear. (See
  Feedback is invited. ")


11.1 fdisk says cannot use nnn sectors of this partition.

  Originally Linux only supported the Minix file system, which cannot
  use more than 64Mb per partition. This limitation is not present in
  the more advanced file systems that are now available, such as ext2
  (the 2nd version of the Extended File System, the `standard' Linux
  file system).

  If you intend to use ext2fs you can ignore the message.


11.2 GCC sometimes uses huge amounts of virtual memory and thrashes.

  Older versions of GCC had a bug which made them use lots of memory
  you tried to compile a program which had a large static data table
  it.

  You can either upgrade your version of GCC, or add more swap space
  necessary, or just wait for the program to finish compiling.


  contents


12. How to get further assistance.


12.1 You still haven't answered my question!

  Please read all of this answer before posting. I know it's a bit lo
  but you may be about to make a fool of yourself in front of 50,000
  people and waste hundreds of hours of their time. Don't you think i
  worth spending some of your time to read and follow these
  instructions?

  If you think an answer is incomplete or inaccurate, please e-mail
  Robert Kiesling at [email protected].

  Read the appropriate Linux Documentation Project books--see "
  Where can I get the HOWTO's and other documentation? "

  If you're a Unix newbie, read the FAQ for comp.unix.questions, and
  those for any of the other comp.unix.* groups that may be relevant.

  Linux has so much in common with commercial Unices, that almost
  everything you read there will apply to Linux. The FAQs, like all
  FAQs, be found on rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/news.answers (the
  [email protected] can send you these files, if you don't
  have FTP access). There are mirrors of rtfm's FAQ archives on vario
  sites--check the Introduction to *.answers posting, posted, or look
  news-answers/introduction in the directory above.

  Check the relevant HOWTO for the subject in question, if there is o
  or an appropriate old style sub-FAQ document. Check the FTP sites.

  Try experimenting--that's the best way to get to know Unix and Linu

  Read the documentation. Check the manual pages (type "man man" if
  you don't know about manual pages. Try "man -k subject"--it often
  lists useful and relevant manual pages.

  Check the Info documentation (type C-h i, i.e. Control H followed b
  in Emacs). This isn't just for Emacs. For example, the GCC
  documentation lives here as well.

  There will also often be a README file with a package that gives
  installation and/or usage instructions.

  Make sure you don't have a corrupted or out-of-date copy of the
  program in question. If possible, download it again and re-install
  it--you probably made a mistake the first time.

  Read comp.os.linux.announce--this often contains very important
  information for all Linux users.

  General X Window System questions belong in comp.windows.x.i386unix
  not in comp.os.linux.x. But read the group first (including the FAQ
  before you post.

  Only if you have done all of these things and are still stuck, shou
  you post to the appropriate comp.os.linux.* newsgroup. Make sure yo
  read the next question first. "( What to put in a request for
  help. )"


12.2 What to put in a request for help.

  Please read the following advice carefully about how to write your
  posting or email. Making a complete posting will greatly increase t
  chances that an expert or fellow user reading it will have enough
  information and motivation to reply.

  This advice applies both to postings asking for advice and to perso
  email sent to experts and fellow users.

  Make sure you give full details of the problem, including:
    * What program, exactly, you are having problems with. Include th
      version number if known and say where you got it. Many standard
      commands tell you their version number if you give them a
      --version option.
    * Which Linux release you're using (Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, o
      whatever) and what version of that release.
    * The exact and complete text of any error messages printed.
    * Exactly what behavior you expected, and exactly what behavior y
      observed. A transcript of an example session is a good way to s
      this.
    * The contents of any configuration files used by the program in
      question and any related programs.
    * What version of the kernel and shared libraries you have
      installed. The kernel version can be found by typing uname -a,
      the shared library version by typing ls -l /lib/libc.so.4.
    * Details of what hardware you're running on, if it seems
      appropriate.

  You are in little danger of making your posting too long unless you
  include large chunks of source code or uuencoded files, so err on t
  side of giving too much information.

  Use a clear, detailed Subject line. Don't put things like `doesn't
  work', `Linux', `help', or `question' in it--we already know that.
  Save the space for the name of the program, a fragment of an error
  message, or summary of the unusual behavior.

  If you report an `unable to handle kernel paging request' message,
  follow the instructions in the Linux kernel sources README file for
  turning the numbers into something more meaningful. If you don't do
  this, no one who reads your post will be able to do it for you. The
  mapping from numbers to function names varies from one kernel to
  another.

  Put a summary paragraph at the top of your posting.

  At the bottom of your posting, ask for responses by email and say
  you'll post a summary. Back this up by using Followup-To: poster.
  Then, actually post the summary in a few days or a week or so. Don'
  just concatenate the replies you got--summarize. Putting the word
  SUMMARY in your summary's Subject line is also a good idea. Conside
  submitting the summary to comp.os.linux.announce.

  Make sure your posting doesn't have an inappropriate References:
  header line. This marks your article as part of the thread of the
  article referred to, which will often cause it to be junked by
  readers, along with the rest of a boring thread.

  You might like to say in your posting that you've read this FAQ and
  the appropriate HOWTO's--this may make people less likely to skip y
  posting.

  Remember that you should not post email sent to you personally with
  the sender's permission.


12.3 I want to mail someone about my problem.

  Try to find the author or developer of whatever program or componen
  is causing you difficulty. If you have a contact point for your Lin
  distribution, you should use it.

  Please put everything in your e-mail message that you would put in
  posting asking for help.

  Finally, remember that, despite the fact that most of the Linux
  community are very helpful and responsive to e-mailed questions,
  you're asking for help from unpaid volunteers, so you have no right
  expect an answer.




13. Administrative information and acknowledgments.


13.1 Feedback is invited.

  Please send me your comments on this FAQ.

  I accept contributions to the FAQ in any format. All contributions,
  comments, and corrections are gratefully received. Please send e-ma
  to [email protected].

  If you wish to refer to a question in the FAQ, it's better for me i
  you do so by the question heading, rather than number. The question
  numbers are generated automatically, and I don't see them in the
  source file I edit.

  I prefer comments in English to patch files--context diff is not my
  first language.


13.2 Formats in which this FAQ is available.

  This document is available as an ASCII text file, an HTML World Wid
  Web page, Postscript, and as a USENET news posting.

  All of these formats are generated from SGML source using SGML Tool
  and the LinuxDoc DTD.

  The HTML version of this FAQ is available as
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/ at other sites.

  The Usenet version is posted regularly to news.answers, comp.answer
  comp.os.linux.misc, and comp.os.linux.announce. It is archived at
  ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/os/linux/misc/.

  The most recent text, HTML, SGML, and Postscript versions are
  available from the Linux archives at sunsite.unc.edu, and from
  http://www.terracom.net/~kiesling


13.3 Authorship and acknowledgments.

  This FAQ is compiled and maintained by Robert Kiesling
  [email protected], with assistance and comments from Linux
  activists all over the world.

  Special thanks are due to Matt Welsh, who moderated
  comp.os.linux.announce and comp.os.linux.answers, coordinated the
  HOWTO's and wrote substantial portions of many of them, Greg Hankin
  and Timothy Bynum, the former and current Linux Documentation Proje
  HOWTO maintainers, Lars Wirzenius and Mikko Rauhala, the former and
  current moderators of comp.os.linux.announce, Marc-Michel Corsini,
  wrote the original Linux FAQ, and Ian Jackson, the previous FAQ
  maintainer. Thanks also to Roman Maurer for his many updates and
  additions, especially with European Web sites, translations, and
  general miscellany.

  Last but not least, thanks to Linus Torvalds and the other
  contributors to Linux for giving us something to talk about!


13.4 Disclaimer and Copyright.

  Note that this document is provided `as is'. The information in it
  not warranted to be correct. Use it at your own risk.

  Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers is Copyright (c) 1997
  1998 by Robert Kiesling [email protected], under the
  copyright of the Linux Documentation Project. The full text of the
  copyright is available via anonymous FTP from sunsite.unc.edu, in t
  directory /pub/Linux/docs/LDP, and is included below.

  Portions are Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 by Ian Jackson, the
  previous Linux FAQ maintainer.

  Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers may be reproduced and
  distributed in its entirety (including this authorship, copyright,
  permission notice), provided that no charge is made for the documen
  itself, without the author's consent. This includes "fair use"
  excerpts like reviews and advertising, and derivative works like
  translations.

  Note that this restriction is not intended to prohibit charging for
  the service of printing or copying the document.

  Exceptions to these rules may be granted. I would be happy to answe
  any questions regarding this copyright. E-mail me at
  [email protected]. As the license below says, these
  restrictions are here to protect the contributors, not to restrict
  as educators and learners.

                 LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT COPYING LICENSE

  Last modified 6 January 1997


  The following copyright license applies to all works by the Linux
  Documentation Project.

  Please read the license carefully---it is somewhat like the GNU
  General Public License, but there are several conditions in it that
  differ from what you may be used to. If you have any questions, ple
  email the LDP coordinator, [email protected].

  The Linux Documentation Project manuals may be reproduced and
  distributed in whole or in part, subject to the following condition

  All Linux Documentation Project manuals are copyrighted by their
  respective authors. THEY ARE NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
    * The copyright notice above and this permission notice must be
      preserved complete on all complete or partial copies.
    * Any translation or derivative work of Linux Installation and
      Getting Started must be approved by the author in writing befor
      distribution.
    * If you distribute Linux Installation and Getting Started in par
      instructions for obtaining the complete version of this manual
      must be included, and a means for obtaining a complete version
      provided.
    * Small portions may be reproduced as illustrations for reviews o
      quotes in other works without this permission notice if proper
      citation is given.
    * The GNU General Public License referenced below may be reproduc
      under the conditions given within it.

  Exceptions to these rules may be granted for academic purposes: Wri
  to the author and ask. These restrictions are here to protect us as
  authors, not to restrict you as educators and learners. All source
  code in Linux Installation and Getting Started is placed under the
  General Public License, available via anonymous FTP from the GNU
  archive site.



                           PUBLISHING LDP MANUALS

   If you're a publishing company interested in distributing any of t
  LDP manuals, read on.

  By the license given in the previous section, anyone is allowed to
  publish and distribute verbatim copies of the Linux Documentation
  Project manuals. You don't need our explicit permission for this.
  However, if you would like to distribute a translation or derivativ
  work based on any of the LDP manuals, you must obtain permission fr
  the author, in writing, before doing so.

  All translations and derivative works of LDP manuals must be placed
  under the Linux Documentation License given in the previous section
  That is, if you plan to release a translation of one of the manuals
  it must be freely distributable by the above terms.

  You may, of course, sell the LDP manuals for profit. We encourage y
  to do so. Keep in mind, however, that because the LDP manuals are
  freely distributable, anyone may photocopy or distribute printed
  copies free of charge, if they wish to do so.

  We do not require to be paid royalties for any profit earned from
  selling LDP manuals. However, we would like to suggest that if you
  sell LDP manuals for profit, that you either offer the author
  royalties, or donate a portion of your earnings to the author, the
  as a whole, or to the Linux development community. You may also wis
  to send one or more free copies of the LDP manual that you are
  distributing to the author. Your show of support for the LDP and th
  Linux community will be very appreciated.

  We would like to be informed of any plans to publish or distribute
  manuals, just so we know how they're becoming available. If you are
  publishing or planning to publish any LDP manuals, please send emai
  to Matt Welsh (email [email protected]).

  We encourage Linux software distributors to distribute the LDP manu
  (such as the Installation and Getting Started Guide) with their
  software. The LDP manuals are intended to be used as the "official"
  Linux documentation, and we'd like to see mail-order distributors
  bundling the LDP manuals with the software. As the LDP manuals matu
  hopefully they will fulfill this goal more adequately.


   Matt Welsh, [email protected]

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