[ previous ] [ Abstract ] [ Copyright Notice ] [ Contents ] [ next ]

The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
Chapter 11 Getting support for Debian GNU/Linux


11.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?

Note that you may access a lot of documentation on your system by using a WWW browser, through `dwww' or `dhelp' commands, found in respective packages.


11.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?

There are a lot of Debian-related mailing lists.

On a system with the doc-debian package installed there is a complete list of mailing lists in /usr/share/doc/debian/mailing-lists.txt.

To subscribe to debian-X (for X in announce, user, etc.), send mail to debian-X-request@lists.debian.org with the word "subscribe" in the Subject: header. If you have a forms-capable World Wide Web browser, you can subscribe the mailing lists using the WWW form. You can also un-subscribe using that form.

The list manager's e-mail address is listmaster@lists.debian.org, in case you have any trouble.

Archives of the Debian mailing lists are available via WWW at http://lists.debian.org/.

Users can address questions to individual package maintainers, since their e-mail addresses are provided in the Debian control file (see section What is a Debian control file?, Section 6.4) that is included within each package. One can also learn the maintainers' names and e-mail addresses by searching the "Packages" file, since this file is just a concatenation of all the available package control files in a particular directory tree. To extract a control file from a particular Debian package, use the command:

     dpkg --info packageName_VVV-RRR.deb

Users should post non-Debian-specific questions to one of the Linux USENET groups, which are named comp.os.linux.* or linux.*. There are several lists of Linux Usenet newsgroups and other related resources on the WWW, e.g. on the Linux Online and LinuxJournal sites.


11.3 What is the code of conduct for the mailing lists?

When using the Debian mailing lists, please follow these rules:


11.3.1 Mailing list advertising policy

The Debian GNU/Linux mailing lists accept commercial advertising for payment. We offer a fee waiver if you can show us the cancelled check for a $1000 (U.S.) or more donation to the Free Software Foundation earmarked for "Debian". One donation per advertisement, please. If you do not wish to donate, simply post your advertisement to the list, and the operator of the mailing lists will bill $1999 (U.S). The list operator will donate this amount, minus the expense of collecting it, to FSF.

By the act of posting your advertisement you agree to accept responsibility for the fee, you agree to indemnify the mailing-list operator against any legal claims from you or others in connection with your advertisement, and you agree to pay any legal and business expenses incurred in collecting late payment. Our liability to you is limited to a good-faith effort to deliver your message.

Reduced rates and/or waiver of fee are available for Debian-related advertisements. You must consult the mailing-list operator in advance of posting for any reduction or fee waiver.


11.4 Is there a quick way to search for information on Debian GNU/Linux?

There are a variety of search engines that serve documentation related to Debian:


11.5 Are there logs of known bugs?

The Debian GNU/Linux distribution has a bug tracking system (BTS) which files details of bugs reported by users and developers. Each bug is given a number, and is kept on file until it is marked as having been dealt with.

Copies of this information are available at http://www.debian.org/Bugs/.

A mail server provides access to the bug tracking system database via e-mail. In order to get the instructions, send an e-mail to request@bugs.debian.org with "help" in the body.


11.6 How do I report a bug in Debian?

If you have found a bug in Debian, please read the instructions for reporting a bug in Debian. These instructions can be obtained in one of several ways:

You can use the packages bug or reportbug that will guide you through the reporting process and mail the message to the proper address, with some extra details about your system added automatically.

If you want to mail the report with a MUA, send a message to submit@bugs.debian.org, first line of which containing a line like

     Package: packagename

(replace "packagename" with the name of the package). The rest of the message should contain the description of the bug (please make it moderately detailed), Debian release you are using, and versions of that and relevant packages.

Expect to get an automatic acknowledgement of your bug report. It will also be automatically given a bug tracking number, entered into the bug log and forwarded to the debian-bugs-dist mailing list.

If one were to identify a bug that was common to many programs, then rather than entering dozens of very similar bug reports, one might prefer to send individual bugs to maintonly@bugs.debian.org (instead of the submit@... address) to reach only the respective package maintainers, and then send a summary report to debian-devel and/or debian-bugs-dist mailing lists.

Additionally, there exists a Debian package checker, called Lintian, which is designed to mechanically check Debian packages for policy violations and common packaging errors. Thus, if you detect a bug in a package which is likely to appear in other packages too, it might be better to get in contact with the Lintian maintainers at lintian-maint@debian.org so that a new check is written for Lintian instead of reporting the bug directly. This will most likely prevent the bug to appear in future versions of the package again, or in any other package of the distribution.

You can also use quiet@bugs.debian.org, to submit bug reports to the BTS only, without having them sent either to debian-bugs-dist or to the maintainer. This `quiet' address is used very rarely, e.g. when you want to send some minor data to your report, that should just be recorded in the log, or when you want to record something in the BTS log but you already sent it to the maintainer.


[ previous ] [ Abstract ] [ Copyright Notice ] [ Contents ] [ next ]
The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
version 2.2.2, 24 September 2000
Authors, Section 15.1