Note that this page is in no way official or authoritive, and no ops in #freebsd have sanctioned it
$Amigan: public_html/irc/pound_freebsd.html,v 1.12 2004/12/25 07:38:31 dcp1990 Exp $
Welcome to the #FreeBSD page. You may have been sent here by one of the kind members of #freebsd. This page is intended to educate you on how things are done in #freebsd, effective googling and documentation reading, and what/what not to ask in channel.
The FreeBSD Documentation Project puts out an excellent set of documentation for developer and novice alike. One of the most referenced pieces is the Handbook, which should be your first destination when you have a question. Another good source of information is the manpages, available both on your own system and online at http://freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi. You may not know the exact name of the manpage you want. First, try apropos (invoked as apropos <some keyword>). If you still cannot find it, google it or ask in the channel. (many people will gladly provide a manpage reference if you ask).
Some other excellent resources are the FreeBSD FAQs
Some other good resources if you are looking to contribute to the project are the Porter's Handbook, the Developer's Handbook, and the FDP Primer. Also, the Contributing to FreeBSD article provides some good information.
Another excellent source of information is Google and Google Groups (try them both). Effective googling is more of an art than anything, but here are a few tips:
Yet another good source of information is the mailing list archives. Search the lists that you think are pertinent to the problem at hand.
Firstly, if you haven't bothered to read any documentation, do any googling, etc, then do not ask at all until you have done so. Asking a clearly documented question in channel is an almost sure fire way to get scolded and flamed.
Secondly, asking for pointers to documentation is usually fine, but make sure you have put some effort in to look for yourself.
Also, do not bitch excessively about things being broken or otherwise hard for you to comprehend; you have no reasonable expectation for anything to work at all without you paying someone (and even then only someone who has guaranteed that things will work). If you care so much, fix it yourself.
Inability to comprehend is ultimately your own fault; when you do figure something out, send-pr(1) a clarification patch for the appropriate documentation or otherwise write about it on your website or other resource. The best piece of software is a piece of software where its users can contribute to it until it meets their standards.
Also, note that #freebsd isn't the place to ask about applications that run on FreeBSD. Use the app's respective channel for that. #FreeBSD deals with stuff in base, and also with issues regarding the ports system itself, and occasionally certain ports that directly pertain to FreeBSD (ie portupgrade).
Lastly, general IRC netiquette applies, as always. This includes reading the topic upon entering the channel.
Firstly, ask yourself this question: "What was I trying to do, what documentation was I reading, and where did I get stuck?" Then, formulate a question based on this info. If you are going to ask if something will happen, try it and see first (within reasonable limits, of course). And lastly, "If something is missing feature xyzzy, send patches." (thanks flynn).
This page brought to you by Dan Ponte, BossMC, and others from the gang in #freebsd-ontopic.
Suggestions? Send them to me.
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