Introduction

There are a wide variety of sources for documentation on Linux. The quality of the information provided ranges from nearly poetic in its eloquence and usefulness all the way down to misleading, or even blatantly wrong. Caveat emptor!

Most commercial packages provide a variety of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and HOWTOs in addition to the standard online documentation (man, info, etc.). These documents are generally centered around some non-trivial task (e.g., running X-Windows and communicating with the lesser operating systems).

Usenet has dozens, if not hundreds, of newsgroups devoted to the various facets of Linux. Be advised that they are usually segregated according to level of expertise, and the locals can be grumpy about inappropriate newbie questions; you should (as always) read the FAQs before posting.

Similarly, diverse information can be found on the Web. Probably the best site is metalab.unc.edu/LDP, the official Linux Documentation Project Web site.

Because Linux is a variation of the UNIX operating system, the published UNIX references will, for the most part, apply to Linux as well. Also, as Linux gains popularity, more Linux-specific periodicals are available at bookstores.

Of course, your first source of information should be your own machine. Most questions can be answered by a careful reading of the on-line documentation.

The commands covered in this section tell you how to use the resources on your machine to answer questions. They include the following:

`apropos`	Search the whatis database.
`info`	Provide hypertext documentation.
`locate`	Search for a file in the locate database.
`man`	Access on-line manual pages.
`makewhatis`	Create the whatis database.
`manpath`	Specify the search path for the man command.
`updatedb`	Update the locate database.
`whatis`	Search the whatis database for information.
`whereis`	Locate source files and documentation.