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| author | Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org> | 2007-09-23 10:04:46 +0200 |
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| committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org> | 2011-03-09 18:14:51 +0100 |
| commit | fe6eb1c593e2df135c8807bf94df614984b4d6ec (patch) | |
| tree | 693b803dcc6473a8699f0c605c92b10c24755e28 /includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-software.en.html | |
| parent | 470cf1764bf56b32addff591cfe3fd69af0e5760 (diff) | |
| download | live-build-fe6eb1c593e2df135c8807bf94df614984b4d6ec.zip live-build-fe6eb1c593e2df135c8807bf94df614984b4d6ec.tar.gz | |
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diff --git a/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-software.en.html b/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-software.en.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bedb65f --- /dev/null +++ b/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-software.en.html @@ -0,0 +1,410 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN"> + +<html> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<title>The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Software available in the Debian system</title> + +</head> + +<body> + +<p><a name="ch-software"></a></p> +<hr> + +<p> +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ] +[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-getting.en.html">2</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ] +[ 4 ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">next</a> ] +</p> + +<hr> + +<h1> +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +<br>Chapter 4 - Software available in the Debian system +</h1> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-apps"></a>4.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?</h2> + +<p> +Like most Linux distributions, Debian GNU/Linux provides: +</p> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +the major GNU applications for software development, file manipulation, and +text processing, including gcc, g++, make, texinfo, Emacs, the Bash shell and +numerous upgraded Unix utilities, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk and various related programs, modules and libraries for +each of them, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +TeX (LaTeX) and Lyx, dvips, Ghostscript, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +the X Window System, which provides a networked graphical user interface for +Linux, and countless X applications including GNOME and KDE as well as the GIMP +GNU Image Manipulation Program, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +a full suite of networking applications, including servers for Internet +protocols such as HTTP (WWW), FTP, NNTP (news), SMTP and POP (mail) and name +server; relational databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL; also provided are web +browsers including the various Mozilla producs, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +a complete set of office applications, including the OpenOffice.org +productivity suite, Gnumeric and other spreadsheets, WYSIWYG editors, +calendars. +</p> +</li> +</ul> + +<p> +More than 15180 packages, ranging from news servers and readers to sound +support, FAX programs, database and spreadsheet programs, image processing +programs, communications, net, and mail utilities, Web servers, and even +ham-radio programs are included in the distribution. Another 450 software +suites are available as Debian packages, but are not formally part of Debian +due to license restrictions. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-softwareauthors"></a>4.2 Who wrote all that software?</h2> + +<p> +For each package the <em>authors</em> of the program(s) are credited in the +file <samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright</samp>, where PACKAGE is to be +substituted with the package's name. +</p> + +<p> +<em>Maintainers</em> who package this software for the Debian GNU/Linux system +are listed in the Debian control file (see <a +href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-controlfile">What is a Debian control file?, +Section 6.4</a>) that comes with each package. The Debian changelog, in +<samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/changelog.Debian.gz</samp>, mentions the people +who've worked on the Debian packaging too. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-pkglist"></a>4.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?</h2> + +<p> +A complete list is available from any of the <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/ftplist">Debian mirrors</a></code>, in the +file <samp>indices/Maintainers</samp>. That file includes the package names +and the names and e-mails of their respective maintainers. +</p> + +<p> +The <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/">WWW interface to the Debian +packages</a></code> conveniently summarizes the packages in each of about +twenty "sections" of the Debian archive. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-missing"></a>4.4 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?</h2> + +<p> +A list of packages which are still needed to be packaged for Debian exists, the +<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/">Work-Needing and Prospective +Packages list</a></code>. +</p> + +<p> +For more details about adding the missing things, see <a +href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contrib">How can I become a Debian software +developer?, Section 12.1</a>. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-no-devs"></a>4.5 Why do I get "ld: cannot find -lfoo" messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?</h2> + +<p> +Debian Policy requires that such symbolic links (to libfoo.so.x.y.z or similar) +are placed in separate, development packages. Those packages are usually named +libfoo-dev or libfooX-dev (presuming the library package is named libfooX, and +X is a whole number). +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-java"></a>4.6 (How) Does Debian support Java?</h2> + +<p> +Since the official Java Development kit and Runtime Environment from Sun +Microsystems is non-free software, even undistributeable by Debian, it cannot +properly be included in Debian. If you want those installed anyway, please +refer to the <code>java-package</code> package in contrib. +</p> + +<p> +However, both the JDK and several <em>free</em> implementations of Java +technology are available as Debian packages. You can write, debug and run Java +programs using Debian. +</p> + +<p> +Running a Java applet requires a web browser with the capability to recognize +and execute them. Several web browsers available in Debian, such as Mozilla or +Konqueror, support Java plug-ins that enable running Java applets within them. +Netscape Navigator, while non-free, is also available as a Debian package and +it can run Java applets. +</p> + +<p> +Please refer to the <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-java-faq/">Debian Java +FAQ</a></code> for more information. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-isitdebian"></a>4.7 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?</h2> + +<p> +In order to make sure that your system has been installed from the real Debian +base disks check for the existence of <samp>/etc/debian_version</samp> file, +which contains a single one-line entry giving the version number of the +release, as defined by the package <samp>base-files</samp>. +</p> + +<p> +The existence of the program <samp>dpkg</samp> shows that you should be able to +install Debian packages on your system, but as the program has been ported to +many other operating systems and architectures, this is no longer a reliable +method of determining is a system Debian GNU/Linux. +</p> + +<p> +Users should be aware, however, that the Debian system consists of many parts, +each of which can be updated (almost) independently. Each Debian +"release" contains well defined and unchanging contents. Updates are +separately available. For a one-line description of the installation status of +package <samp>foo</samp>, use the command <samp>dpkg --list foo</samp>. To +view versions of all installed packages, run: +</p> + +<pre> + dpkg -l +</pre> + +<p> +For a more verbose description, use: +</p> + +<pre> + dpkg --status foo +</pre> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-nonenglish"></a>4.8 How does Debian support non-English languages?</h2> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Debian GNU/Linux is distributed with keymaps for nearly two dozen keyboards, +and with utilities (in the <samp>kbd</samp> package) to install, view, and +modify the tables. +</p> + +<p> +The installation prompts the user to specify the keyboard he will use. +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Vast majority of the software we packaged supports entering non-US-ASCII +characters used in other Latin languages (e.g. ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-2), and +a number of programs support multi-byte languages such as Japanese or Chinese. +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Currently, support for German-, Spanish-, Finnish-, French-, Hungarian-, +Italian-, Japanese-, Korean- and Polish-language manual pages is provided +through the <samp>manpages-LANG</samp> packages (where LANG is the two-letter +ISO country code). To access an NLS manual page, the user must set the shell +LC_MESSAGES variable to the appropriate string. +</p> + +<p> +For example, in the case of the Italian-language manual pages, LC_MESSAGES +needs to be set to 'italian'. The <code>man</code> program will then search +for Italian manual pages under <samp>/usr/share/man/it/</samp>. +</p> +</li> +</ul> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-usexports"></a>4.9 What about the US export regulation limitations?</h2> + +<p> +US laws placed restrictions on the export of defense articles, which includes +some types of cryptographic software. PGP and ssh, among others, fall into +this category. For the <em>sarge</em> release packages in this archive were +moved to the main archive (or to <em>non-free</em>, if applicable) due to the +US relaxing its regulations on the export of cryptography. +</p> + +<p> +To prevent anyone from taking unnecessary legal risks, certain Debian GNU/Linux +packages were only available from a non-US site <code><a +href="ftp://non-US.debian.org/debian-non-US/">ftp://non-US.debian.org/debian-non-US/</a></code>, +with numerous mirror sites all of which are also outside of the US, see +<code><a +href="ftp://non-US.debian.org/debian-non-US/README.non-US">ftp://non-US.debian.org/debian-non-US/README.non-US</a></code> +for a full list. These sites still exist (for the benefit of users of +<em>woody</em>) but its contents are no longer supported and are considered +obsolete. Please remove any mentions to non-US from your sources in your +<code>/etc/apt/sources.list</code> configuration file. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-pine"></a>4.10 Where is pine?</h2> + +<p> +Due to its restrictive license, it's in the non-free area. Moreover, since +license does not even allow modified binaries to be distributed, you have to +compile it yourself from the source and the Debian patches. +</p> + +<p> +The source package name is <code>pine</code>. You can use the +<code>pine-tracker</code> package to be notified about when you need to +upgrade. +</p> + +<p> +Note that there are many replacements for both pine and pico, such as +<code>mutt</code> and <code>nano</code>, that are located in the main section. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-qmail"></a>4.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?</h2> + +<p> +Dan J. Bernstein distributes <code><a href="http://cr.yp.to/software.html">all +software he has written</a></code> with a restrictive license, consequently, +it's in the non-free area. Since the license he uses does not allow modified +binaries to be distributed, you have to compile it yourself from the source and +the Debian patches to obtain a binary package you can install in your Debian +GNU/Linux system. +</p> + +<p> +The source package names are <code>qmail-src</code>, <code>ezmlm-src</code> and +<code>djbdns-installer</code>, respectively. +</p> + +<p> +For <code>qmail</code> you need to install <code>qmail-src</code> first and +then run <code>build-qmail</code> to build the Debian package. You also need +to do install the <code>ucspi-tcp-src</code> package to get ucspi-tcp, which +<code>qmail</code> depends on. +</p> + +<p> +Dan J. Bernstein maintains a <code><a +href="http://cr.yp.to/distributors.html">FAQ from distributors</a></code> page +if you are interested in reading his reasons (one of which is <code><a +href="http://cr.yp.to/compatibility.html">Cross-platform +compatibility</a></code>) +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ] +[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-getting.en.html">2</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ] +[ 4 ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">next</a> ] +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +</p> + +<address> +version 3.1.3, 25 April 2006<br> +<br> +Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br> +<br> +</address> +<hr> + +</body> + +</html> + |