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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