| 1 | <sect1 id="intro-welcome-askhelp">
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| 2 | <?dbhtml filename="askhelp.html" dir="introduction"?>
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| 3 | <title>Asking for help and the FAQ</title>
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| 4 |
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| 5 | <para>If you encounter a problem while using this book, and your problem
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| 6 | is not listed in the FAQ (<ulink
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| 7 | url="http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq"/>), you will find that most
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| 8 | of the people on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and
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| 9 | on the mailing lists are willing to help you. An
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| 10 | overview of the LFS mailing lists can be found in
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| 11 | <xref linkend="intro-welcome-maillists"/>. To assist us in diagnosing and solving
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| 12 | your problem, include as much relevant information as possible in your
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| 13 | request for help.</para>
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| 14 |
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| 15 | <sect2>
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| 16 | <title>Things to mention</title>
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| 17 |
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| 18 | <para>Apart from a brief explanation of the problem you're having, the
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| 19 | essential things to include in your request are:</para>
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| 20 |
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| 21 | <itemizedlist>
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| 22 | <listitem><para>the version of the book you are using (being
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| 23 | &version;),</para></listitem>
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| 24 | <listitem><para>the package or section giving you
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| 25 | problems,</para></listitem>
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| 26 | <listitem><para>the exact error message or symptom you are
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| 27 | receiving,</para></listitem>
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| 28 | <listitem><para>whether you have deviated from the book or LFS at
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| 29 | all.</para></listitem>
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| 30 | </itemizedlist>
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| 31 |
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| 32 | <para>(Note that saying that you've deviated from the book doesn't mean
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| 33 | that we won't help you. It'll just help us to see other possible causes of your problem.)</para>
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| 34 |
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| 35 | <para>An excellent article on asking for help on the Internet in general
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| 36 | has been written by Eric S. Raymond. It is available online at <ulink
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| 37 | url="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"/>.
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| 38 | Read and follow the hints in that document and you are much more likely
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| 39 | to get a response to start with and also to get the help you actually
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| 40 | need.</para>
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| 41 | </sect2>
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| 42 |
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| 43 | </sect1>
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| 44 |
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