Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Tue, 18 Jun 96 22:15:58 EDT | From | Tom Dyas <> | Subject | META FAQ |
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Linux-Kernel META-FAQ
Updated: June 18, 1996 Maintainer: Tom Dyas <tdyas@eden.rutgers.edu>
This document provides information about the linux-kernel mailing list that members of the list (espcially newcomers) may find extremely helpful. The META-FAQ will be posted weekly to the mailing list. Please send any updates or corrections to the maintainer at the address listed above.
1. "How do I unsubscribe from linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu?"
Send email to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu from the account that receives linux-kernel mail. The subject line does not matter. The body of the message should contain the following line and nothing else:
unsubscribe linux-kernel
It may take vger a few days to process your unsubscribe request. Vger is a Sun 4/280 and never has a load average below 4. In other words, it is one stressed out little machine.
2. "I tried unsubscribing just like you said above, but it didn't work!"
If the outgoing address that appears in your mail to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu does not match the address that vger sends linux-kernel mail to, then the unsubscribe will fail. Send another message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu with the following line as the body of the message:
unsubscribe linux-kernel email_address
Replace "email_address" with the exact address that vger sends mail to. This type of unsubscribe request requires intervention from the list owner. It may take a while especially since the list owner gets flooded with 500 messages a day in bounces and other things.
3. "Where do I find patches and source code archives for the kernel?"
The following list only includes the major sites that mirror Linus' site directly. Please leave the main site alone and always use a mirror to save network bandwidth.
Primary: - ftp://ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/
Mirrors (North America): - ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/ - ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/system/
Mirrors (Europe): - ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/Kernel/src/
4. "What is the latest stable version of the kernel?"
The latest stable version of the kernel is 2.0.0. It can be found in v2.0/linux-2.0.tar.gz at any of the URLs listed in question #3.
5. "What is the latest development version of the kernel?"
Currently, no development version exists. Linus will not be starting another development series of the kernel for at least a month. He has encouraged everyone including developers to try out 2.0.0 so any bugs can be found.
6. "I upgraded my kernel and after I rebooted, some things were broken! What will I ever do?"
Congratulations! You have become a Kernel Victim (TM). :) Seriously, many userland utilities have been broken by changes in the kernel. You will need to upgrade to the most recent version of the affected utilities.
Read Documentation/Changes in the kernel source tree for an overview of some problems that you may encounter and a list of the latest userland packages that you will need. The following sites also provide useful information (more sites welcome):
- Software Victims of the 1.3 Kernel Development http://www2.nether.net/~jared/victim.html
7. "I hate all this mail! Is linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu available anywhere else other than as a mailing list?"
Yes. You can read linux-kernel as the newsgroup linux.dev.kernel. Posts to the newsgroup will be seen by people on the mailing list and vice versa.
There are also many WWW sites that provide online message digests. URLs for this META-FAQ are welcome.
8. "Does vger.rutgers.edu support message digests?"
Message digests are not currently working on vger and probably won't be for the forseeable future. It takes too much processing time to create the digests. This is CPU time that vger does not have to spare. Please use the resources listed in question #7 in the place of mailed message digests.
9. "Are there any specific guidelines or policy regarding topics that can be discussed?"
The only guideline is that a message should concern a topic that is remotely concerned with the Linux kernel and/or its development. You may find that some of the other vger lists provide more focused coverage of particular topics and less traffic overall.
This should not have to be said, but it must. Flames and other insulting messages are explicitly forbidden. Differences of opinion are fine, but threads should not turn into shouting matches. Please always be polite in any message you send. Not everyone on linux-kernel is at the same level of technical expertise.
The sole authority that determines what messages violate this guideline is the list owner. If you receive a "stop thread" message, please cease to post messages on that specific topic. These "stop" messages will only come if a thread has really become heated. Multiple violations may result in an unsubscribe from the list.
10. "I would like to complain about vger.rutgers.edu and the linux lists in general. Is anybody going to listen to me?"
The linux lists at vger.rutgers.edu are a free service to the Linux and Internet communities. You use them at your own risk. All of the list maintainers are volunteers. If you are polite, we will try to help you as best we can given our finite amount of time. If not, then everything will go down /dev/null.
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