Browsing Venda translation

5.

If You Are New to Unix

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If you are new to Unix, you probably should go out and buy some books and do some reading. A lot of valuable information can also be found in the <ulink url="&url-debian-reference;">Debian Reference</ulink>. This <ulink url="&url-unix-faq;">list of Unix FAQs</ulink> contains a number of UseNet documents which provide a nice historical reference.

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Linux is an implementation of Unix. The <ulink url="&url-ldp;">Linux Documentation Project (LDP)</ulink> collects a number of HOWTOs and online books relating to Linux. Most of these documents can be installed locally; just install the <classname>doc-linux-html</classname> package (HTML versions) or the <classname>doc-linux-text</classname> package (ASCII versions), then look in <filename>/usr/share/doc/HOWTO</filename>. International versions of the LDP HOWTOs are also available as Debian packages.

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Orienting Yourself to Debian

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Debian is a little different from other distributions. Even if you're familiar with Linux in other distributions, there are things you should know about Debian to help you to keep your system in a good, clean state. This chapter contains material to help you get oriented; it is not intended to be a tutorial for how to use Debian, but just a very brief glimpse of the system for the very rushed.

10.

Debian Packaging System

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The most important concept to grasp is the Debian packaging system. In essence, large parts of your system should be considered under the control of the packaging system. These include: <itemizedlist> <listitem><para> <filename>/usr</filename> (excluding <filename>/usr/local</filename>) </para></listitem> <listitem><para> <filename>/var</filename> (you could make <filename>/var/local</filename> and be safe in there) </para></listitem> <listitem><para> <filename>/bin</filename> </para></listitem> <listitem><para> <filename>/sbin</filename> </para></listitem> <listitem><para> <filename>/lib</filename> </para></listitem> </itemizedlist> For instance, if you replace <filename>/usr/bin/perl</filename>, that will work, but then if you upgrade your <classname>perl</classname> package, the file you put there will be replaced. Experts can get around this by putting packages on <quote>hold</quote> in <command>aptitude</command>.

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One of the best installation methods is apt. You can use the command line version <command>apt-get</command> or full-screen text version <application>aptitude</application>. Note apt will also let you merge main, contrib, and non-free so you can have export-restricted packages as well as standard versions.

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Application Version Management

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Alternative versions of applications are managed by update-alternatives. If you are maintaining multiple versions of your applications, read the update-alternatives man page.