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[howto] navigating Debian's documentation

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wizard10000
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[howto] navigating Debian's documentation

#1 Post by wizard10000 »

Debian is extensively documented and navigating that documentation can be a little daunting at times so we've created this short guide to help folks find the answers they need.

We're gonna start out by recommending that Debian's resources be the *first* place you look when trying to resolve an issue. Random websites and YouTube videos are nice but they're not Debian and will not work for all people so we recommend going to the source when looking for answers. To reinforce this point let's create a little strawman argument:

Let's say you have an old BCM43XX wireless chipset in your computer and you want to install Debian. You find Billy Bob Basementdweller's YouTube channel, follow the instructions and at the end of it all Wireless Doesn't Work. Installing firmware for this particular chipset *requires* an internet connection so if you're not plugged into a LAN or tethered to an Android phone Billy Bob's video isn't gonna help you at all. Best to go straight to the source if you need help.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now and let's get to the important stuff:

Debian's installation manual

and the obligatory don't break debian :mrgreen:

A lot of Debian's documentation is organized by URL/packagename as you'll see in this article. For this exercise we're gonna play with the libreoffice metapackage a little bit.

https://packages.debian.org/libreoffice

You'll use packages.debian.org more than most other Debian resources - if you look here you'll see what version is current, any dependencies, recommends or suggests, lists of files in the package and download links listed by architecture. Check it out - clickable screenshot has some interesting links -
a-packages.png

Next, https://tracker.debian.org/libreoffice

Debian's package tracker is a helpful resource. If you want to know what the current status of a package might be this is the place to look :)
a-tracker.png

Having an issue and need to check bug reports to see if anyone else has the issue? Check out https://bugs.debian.org/libreoffice

You can search for bug reports here.
a-bugs.png

And last but certainly not least, Debian's mailing lists are an amazing resource for learning exactly what's going on with dozens of Debian teams - you can find the mailing lists at https://lists.debian.org - the full index of mailing lists is at https://lists.debian.org/completeindex.html and if you want to know what's current with Debian developers the debian-devel list is highly recommended.

As you can see the debian-devel mailing list archive goes all the way back to February 1994 :)

I hope this helps folks navigate Debian's fairly extensive documentation. Enjoy!
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