1 | <sect1 id="ch02-askforhelp">
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2 | <title>How to ask for help</title>
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3 | <?dbhtml filename="askforhelp.html" dir="chapter02"?>
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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="ch01-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 &version;),</para></listitem>
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23 | <listitem><para>the host distribution and version you are using to create
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24 | LFS from,</para></listitem>
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25 | <listitem><para>the package or section giving you problems,</para></listitem>
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26 | <listitem><para>the exact error message or symptom you are receiving,</para></listitem>
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27 | <listitem><para>whether you have deviated from the book at all.</para></listitem>
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28 | </itemizedlist>
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29 |
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30 | <para>(Note that saying that you've deviated from the book doesn't mean
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31 | that we won't help you. After all, LFS is about choice. It'll just
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32 | help us to see other possible causes of your problem.)</para>
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33 |
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34 | </sect2>
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35 |
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36 | <sect2>
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37 | <title>Configure problems</title>
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38 |
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39 | <para>When something goes wrong during the stage where the configure script
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40 | is run, look through the <filename>config.log</filename> file. This file
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41 | may contain errors encountered during configure which weren't printed to
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42 | the screen. Include those relevant lines if you decide to ask for
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43 | help.</para>
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44 |
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45 | </sect2>
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46 |
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47 | <sect2>
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48 | <title>Compile problems</title>
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49 |
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50 | <para>To help us find the cause of the problem, both screen output and
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51 | the contents of various files are useful. The screen output from both
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52 | the ./configure script and the make run can be useful. Don't blindly
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53 | include the whole thing but on the other hand, don't include too little.
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54 | As an example, here is some screen output from make:</para>
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55 |
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56 | <screen>gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
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57 | -DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale\" -DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/lib\"
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58 | -DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
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59 | -g -O2 -c getopt1.c
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60 | gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o expand.o file.o
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61 | function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o
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62 | signame.o variable.o vpath.o default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
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63 | -lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
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64 | /lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference to `getloadavg'
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65 | collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
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66 | make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
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67 | make[2]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
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68 | make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
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69 | make[1]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
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70 | make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2</screen>
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71 |
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72 | <para>In this case, many people just include the bottom section where it
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73 | says:</para>
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74 |
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75 | <screen>make [2]: *** [make] Error 1</screen>
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76 |
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77 | <para>and onwards. This isn't enough for us to diagnose the problem because it
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78 | only tells us that <emphasis>something</emphasis> went wrong, not
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79 | <emphasis>what</emphasis> went wrong. The whole section, as in the example
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80 | above, is what should be included to be helpful, because it includes the
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81 | command that was executed and the command's error message(s).</para>
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82 |
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83 | <para>An excellent article on asking for help on the Internet in general
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84 | has been written by Eric S. Raymond. It is available online at <ulink
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85 | url="http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"/>.
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86 | Read and follow the hints in that document and you are much more likely
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87 | to get a response to start with and also to get the help you actually
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88 | need.</para>
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89 |
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90 | </sect2>
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91 |
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92 | <sect2>
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93 | <title>Test suite problems</title>
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94 |
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95 | <para>Many packages provide a test suite which, depending on the importance
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96 | of the package, we may encourage you to run. Sometimes packages will
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97 | generate false or expected failures. If you encounter these, you can check
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98 | the LFS Wiki page at <ulink url="http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/"/> to see
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99 | whether we have already investigated and noted them. If we already know
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100 | about them, then usually there is no need to be concerned.</para>
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101 |
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102 | </sect2>
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103 |
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104 |
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105 | </sect1>
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106 |
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