Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Sun, 28 Jul 96 23:53:23 EDT | From | Tom Dyas <> | Subject | META FAQ |
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Linux-Kernel META-FAQ
Updated: July 22, 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 list. Please send any updates or corrections to the maintainer at the address listed above.
All references to outside information are given in the form of URLs. The latest version of this document can always be found at ftp://vger.rutgers.edu/pub/linux/linux-kernel-meta-faq.
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 that never has a load average below 4. In other words, it is one very 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. The "email_address" should ONLY be an email address without any other information like your full name since majordomo may choke on the address otherwise.
This type of unsubscribe request requires intervention from the list maintainer. It may take a while especially since the list maintainer gets flooded with 500 messages a day in bounces and other things. (And yes, the list maintainer does run procmail.)
3. "Where do I find patches and source code archives for the kernel?"
The following list only includes major sites that mirror the primary site directly. Many other sites mirror the mirror sites. Please leave the main site alone and always use a mirror to save network bandwidth.
Primary: - ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/kernel/src/ (symlink for ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/)
Mirrors (North America): - ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/ - ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/system/
Mirrors (Europe): - ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/Linux/funet-mirror/PEOPLE/Linus/
4. "How do I update my existing kernel source tree to the latest version by using patches?"
Read the file README in the root of the kernel source tree. Also, the shell script scripts/patch-kernel in the kernel source tree provides some automation to the patching process.
5. "What is the latest stable version of the kernel?"
The latest stable version of the kernel is 2.0.8. It can be found as v2.0/linux-2.0.8.tar.gz at any of the URLs listed in question #3.
6. "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.x so that any bugs can be found and squashed.
7. "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 (please send site URLs):
- Software Victims of the 1.3 Kernel Development http://www2.nether.net/~jared/victim.html
- http://www.netrom.com/~soul/
8. "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.
Here are few sites that provide online message digests. More URLs are welcome.
- http://www.linux.ncm.com/ - http://summer.snu.ac.kr/~djshin/linux/mail-list/index.shtml - http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/
9. "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 cannot spare. Please use the resources listed in question #8 in the place of mailed message digests from vger.
10. "Are there any specific guidelines or policy regarding topics that can be discussed?"
NOTE: The linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu mailing list is **NOT** moderated. You are on your honor to follow the guidelines.
The only guideline is that a message should concern a topic that is remotely concerned with some aspect of 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.
Also, if a person asks a question about a problem that was answered weeks ago, please do not send a response to the list in order to save bandwidth. One perfect example that comes to mind was when the procps utilities broke during the 1.3.x series.
This should not have to be said, but it must. Flames and other insulting messages make people extremely unhappy. Differences of opinion are fine and lead to interesting threads. However, threads should not turn into shouting matches. Please always be polite in any message you send. Please remember that not everyone on linux-kernel is at the same level of technical expertise or experience.
The list maintainer is **NOT** a moderator and does not really care what is discussed on the list. However, if the list maintainer sees a flame war and if he is already in a bad mood, he might ask the instigators to tone down their messages. The list maintainer is the sole authority regarding what messages constitute a "flame". If you do happen to receive a "tone it down" message, please follow the directions in the message.
In the extreme cases that may arise from time to time, whatever action that will be taken is left entirely to the discretion of the list maintainer.
11. "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 with very little spare time. If you are polite, we will try to help you as best as we can given our finite amount of time. If not, then everything will go down /dev/null.
If you **REALLY** need to talk to the people running the Linux lists at vger.rutgers.edu, then send mail to:
vger-lists@vger.rutgers.edu
However, please only send mail to this alias as a last resort when all other methods have failed.
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