[1407] in linux-announce channel archive
FUAQ [Frequently Unasked Questions]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Fri Dec 8 01:09:19 1995
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 21:24:03 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: Peter Fillingham <pete@panix.com>
Subject: FUAQ [Frequently Unasked Questions]
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.misc
Organization: ?
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Sometime ago I started a list of DON'Ts, DON'T EVER's but this bogged
down in a series of disagreements/flames; I NOW think a better contribution
to the LINUX mob may be a series of Frequently Unasked Questions and
Answers. If you have suggestions/criticism or more FUAQ, pls send them to
me <<pete@panix.com>> and I'll try to incorporate them. I don't want to hear
about Frequently Unanswered Questions.
This is a file of the most Frequently Unasked Questions [FUAQ]
They are unasked because people are afraid of sounding dumb, SO,
they don't ASK. The result is often a MAJOR Crash of someone's O/S,
or possibly even sterility.
(1) Why shouldn't I simply delete the stuff I never use, it's just taking
up space ?
This question is in the category of Famous Last Words, since several
other programs (e.g. daemons) may be using the "stuff" you never "use";
with this attitude it is possible to end up with an unbootable/unrunnable sys.
The "stuff" is taking up "space", but not just; it may well be NECESSARY.
(2) What's the big deal about rm, I have been deleting stuff for years?...
and never lost anything...oops....
Exactiment ! you may think "rm *foo" but enter "rm * foo" and lose
everything in your current directory; attempts to work around this, such as
adding a program like "trash" and using aliases like rm='trash' and remove=
'/usr/bin' are clever but dangerous: if you spawn another process, or login
to another shell, your aliases may not be recognized and 'rm' may NOT just
move a file/files to a directory ~/.trash, but delete them forever.
(3) If one more person advises me to RTFM, I'll paste him/her....What's so great
about manuals ?
Most often, manuals are written as reminders for the initiated; i.e.
not as tutorials, but as succinct descriptions of the boundaries of usage
for users that already are familiar with a command, but need to check on
the details. For the layperson/newbie, the FAQ's or HOWTO's or even "info"
files are much better sources; also whenever you unzip [gunzip] a package,
take the time to read all the README's, text files, and docs BEFORE doing a
"make" or "make install" or running precompiled binaries.
Sometime ago I started a list of DON'Ts, DON'T EVER's but this bogged
down in a series of disagreements/flames; I NOW think a better contribution
to the LINUX mob may be a series of Frequently Unasked Questions and
Answers. If you have suggestions/criticism or more FUAQ, pls send them to
me <<pete@panix.com>> and I'll try to incorporate them. I don't want to hear
about Frequently Unanswered Questions.
Peter Fillingham <<pete@panix.com>>
KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING !!
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