Getting Started with Linux Novells Guide to Comp

Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) Section 3 Locate and Use Help Resources in the Linux System Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course

Objectives • • • Access and Use Manual Pages Use info Pages Access Release Notes and White Papers Use GUI-Based Help in the Linux System Find Help on the Web Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 2

Access and Use Manual Pages • The most important command for online help is man • If the English manual pages are not shown automatically with man, you can set LANG=en_EN • The header of each manual page contains the command name at the left and right sides and the section number to which the manual page belongs • The center of the header shows the section name • The last line usually contains the date of the last changes Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 3

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 4

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) • A manual page is always divided into the parts shown in Table 3 -1 • Not every manual page has all parts Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 5

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 6

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) • The manual pages are organized into sections shown in Table 3 -2 • For example, the following displays information about crontab: – man 1 crontab – man 5 crontab Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 7

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 8

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) • It is important to know to which section a command belongs when there is more than one manual page for a command • To display a brief description of all the available manual pages for a command or utility: tux@da 10: ~ > whatis uname (1) - print system information uname (2) - get name and information about current kernel uname (1 p) - return system name uname (3 p) - get the name of the current system tux@da 10: ~> • man uses the program less, which displays one screen of information at a time Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 9

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 10

Access and Use Manual Pages (continued) • In SLES, the man pages are in /usr/share/man/ • Enter man -k keyword or apropos keyword to display a list of man pages in which the keyword appears in the NAME section tux@da 10: ~ > man -k printf vasprintf (3) - print to allocated string vwprintf (3 p) - wide-character formatted output of a stdarg argument list vfprintf (3) - formatted output conversion snprintf (3) - formatted output conversion format (n) - format a string in the style of sprintf swprintf (3) - formatted wide character output conversion asprintf (3) - print to allocated string … Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 11

Exercise 3 -1 Access and Use Manual Pages • Manual pages are ideal for getting a quick information on command-line commands • This is a resource you will probably use very often • In this exercise you practice using the manual pages Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 12

Use info Pages • A whole series of GNU programs no longer have manual pages (or are outdated) • Instead, info files are used, which can be read with the command info • In SLES 9, the info files are in /usr/share/info/ • The following are advantages of the info file format: – It uses a structured document setup – Specific sections can be reached directly from the table of contents – Specific sections can be linked Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 13

Use info Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 14

Use info Pages (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 15

Exercise 3 -2 Access and Use info Pages • Sometimes manual pages have only very little information and refer to info pages for more complete information • The purpose of this exercise is for you to get used to the format, which might need a little time Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 16

Access Release Notes and White Papers • Release notes, white papers, and other helpful information are stored in the directory /usr/share/doc/ • This directory contains the following: – Release Notes – Howto Files – Help for Installed Packages Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 17

Release Notes • When you complete the SLES 9 installation (just before the Login screen is displayed), the release notes appear in a window • If you want to access these release notes later, you can find them in the directory /usr/share/doc/release-notes/ • Two release note files are available: – RELEASE-NOTES. en. html – RELEASE-NOTES. en. rtf • The content of these files is identical; only the file format is different Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 18

Howto Files • For additional information, see the howto files – There is a howto for almost every topic in Linux – Available in different formats (e. g. ASCII, Post. Script) – Many have been translated into various languages • The howto files of the Linux Documentation Project in HTML are installed during the SLES 9 installation: /usr/share/doc/howto/en/html/ • You can also install the howto files in ASCII format (package howto, ASCII format) • You can find a list of all current howto files at: www. tldp. org/ Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 19

Help for Installed Packages • Help files are available in the following directory for most installed packages: – /usr/share/doc/packages/package-name • These help files are written by the programmers of the package • The format of these files is not standardized – Some packages provide help files in HTML, while others are in pure ASCII Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 20

Exercise 3 -3 Access Release Notes and White Papers • Sometimes you may want to look at the release notes again after installation • The purpose of this exercise is to show you how to access them, as well as to give you a first idea on how to navigate in the Linux file system and use the file manager Konqueror Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 21

Use GUI-Based Help in the Linux System • Two important applications for getting help in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are the SUSE Help. Center and Konqueror • To get help, you can do the following: – Display the SUSE Help. Center – Use Help Commands with Konqueror Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 22

Display the SUSE Help. Center Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 23

Display the SUSE Help. Center (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 24

Use Help Commands with Konqueror Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 25

Use Help Commands with Konqueror (continued) Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 26

Exercise 3 -4 Use GUI-Based Help • Most of the time you will probably get along fine with manual and info pages • The purpose of this exercise is to show you additional help resources, in case, for example, the manual pages don’t fit your needs Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 27

Find Help on the Web • You can find information about Linux on the Internet – – – – www. novell. com/linux/suse www. linux. org www. linux. com www. tldp. org www. linuxplanet. com www. cert. org (security issues) www. securityfocus. com (security issues) www. kernel. org (Linux kernel issues) • Google offers a special Web search site for questions about Linux at www. google. com/linux Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 28

Exercise 3 -5 Find Help on the Web • The help information on the installation CD-ROMs or DVD mirrors what was known at the time of the release – However, since that time things have likely happened —errors were found, as well as solutions or workarounds for these errors, etc. • Most of this information can be found via the Internet • The purpose of this exercise is to give you a first start into using this resource Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 29

Summary • Several help resources are available locally on your SLES system as well as on the Internet • The manual pages contain the syntax and usage of most commands and files on your system • The info pages are an alternative to the manual pages; they can contain links to other sections • The /usr/share/doc directory contains release notes for the installation, howto files, and help files for installed software packages • Use F 1 or the SUSE Help. Center to obtain more help Getting Started with Linux: Novell’s Guide to Comp. TIA’s Linux+ (Course 3060) 30