1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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2 | <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
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3 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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4 | %general-entities;
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5 | ]>
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6 | <sect1 id="prepare-askforhelp">
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7 | <title>Help</title>
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8 | <?dbhtml filename="askforhelp.html"?>
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9 |
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10 | <para>If an issue or a question is encountered while working
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11 | through this book, check the FAQ page at <ulink url="&faq-root;#generalfaq"/>.
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12 | Questions are often already answered there. If your question is
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13 | not answered on this page, try to find the source of the problem. The
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14 | following hint will give you some guidance for troubleshooting: <ulink
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15 | url="&hints-root;errors.txt"/>.</para>
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16 |
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17 | <para>If you cannot find your problem listed in the FAQ, search the mailing
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18 | lists at <ulink url="&lfs-root;search.html"/>.</para>
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19 |
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20 | <para>We also have a wonderful LFS community that is willing to offer assistance
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21 | through the mailing lists and IRC (see the <xref
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22 | linkend="ch-scatter-administrativa"/> section of this book). However, we get
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23 | several support questions everyday and many of them can be easily answered by
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24 | going to the FAQ and by searching the mailing lists first. So for us to offer
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25 | the best assistance possible, you need to do some research on your own first.
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26 | That allows us to focus on the more unusual support needs. If your searches do
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27 | not produce a solution, please include all relevant information (mentioned
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28 | below) in your request for help.</para>
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29 |
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30 | <sect2>
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31 | <title>Things to Mention</title>
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32 |
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33 | <para>Apart from a brief explanation of the problem being experienced,
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34 | the essential things to include in any request for help are:</para>
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35 |
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36 | <itemizedlist>
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37 | <listitem><para>The version of the book being used (in this case
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38 | &version;)</para></listitem>
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39 | <listitem><para>The host distribution and version being used to
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40 | create LFS</para></listitem>
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41 | <listitem><para>The package or section the problem was encountered in</para></listitem>
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42 | <listitem><para>The exact error message or symptom being received</para></listitem>
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43 | <listitem><para>Note whether you have deviated from the book at all </para></listitem>
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44 | </itemizedlist>
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45 |
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46 | <note><para>Deviating from this book does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
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47 | mean that we will not help you. After all, LFS is about personal
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48 | preference. Being upfront about any changes to the established
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49 | procedure helps us evaluate and determine possible causes of your
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50 | problem.</para></note>
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51 | </sect2>
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52 |
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53 | <sect2>
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54 | <title>Configure Script Problems</title>
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55 |
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56 | <para>If something goes wrong while running the <command>configure</command>
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57 | script, review the <filename>config.log</filename> file. This file may
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58 | contain errors encountered during <command>configure</command> which were not
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59 | printed to the screen. Include the <emphasis>relevant</emphasis> lines if you
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60 | need to ask for help.</para>
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61 | </sect2>
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62 |
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63 | <sect2>
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64 | <title>Compilation Problems</title>
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65 |
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66 | <para>Both the screen output and the contents of various files are
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67 | useful in determining the cause of compilation problems. The screen output
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68 | from the <command>configure</command> script and the
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69 | <command>make</command> run can be helpful. It
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70 | is not necessary to include the entire output, but do include enough
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71 | of the relevant information. Below is an example of the type of
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72 | information to include from the screen output from <command>make</command>:</para>
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73 |
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74 | <beginpage/>
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75 |
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76 | <screen><computeroutput>gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
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77 | -DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale\"
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78 | -DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/lib\"
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79 | -DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
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80 | -g -O2 -c getopt1.c
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81 | gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o
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82 | expand.o file.o function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o
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83 | misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o signame.o variable.o vpath.o
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84 | default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
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85 | -lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
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86 | /lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference
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87 | to `getloadavg'
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88 | collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
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89 | make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
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90 | make[2]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
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91 | make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
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92 | make[1]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
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93 | make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2</computeroutput></screen>
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94 |
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95 | <para>In this case, many people would just include the bottom
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96 | section:</para>
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97 |
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98 | <screen><computeroutput>make [2]: *** [make] Error 1</computeroutput></screen>
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99 |
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100 | <para>This is not enough information to properly diagnose the problem
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101 | because it only notes that something went wrong, not
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102 | <emphasis>what</emphasis> went wrong. The entire section, as in the
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103 | example above, is what should be saved because it includes the command
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104 | that was executed and the associated error message(s).</para>
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105 |
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106 | <para>An excellent article about asking for help on the Internet is
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107 | available online at <ulink
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108 | url="http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"/>. Read and
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109 | follow the hints in this document to increase the likelihood of getting
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110 | the help you need.</para>
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111 | </sect2>
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112 |
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113 | </sect1>
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114 |
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