[techtalk] last straw (was directory that is writable...)

[kallicat at linuxfreemail.com]

On Mon, 23 Oct 2000 14:59:57 -0400
stephanie1200 at netscape.net wrote:

> Ok, I really need to say something.  For the past few weeks I've seen 
> requests for help come in about pretty basic stuff.  No problem with that, 
> everyone starts somewhere, but it strikes me as a little out of hand when 
> instructions on making and changing permissions on directories are necessary. 

They are necessary if you've never used unix before and you've never
even *heard* of chmod. Four years ago I was in that position, and I
couldn't even find a manual. Luckily back then I had a friend who sorta
kinda used unix and could occasionally help me find directions, but
mostly it was sink or swim and mostly I sank. I would have *killed* for
a place to ask how to change permissions.

Even if you *can* find a manual, or a relevant man page, sometimes it
doesn't help... I'm supposed to run ldconfig after make and make install
for a program I want to have, and on my red hat box, I get a not found
error message. Funny, there is a man page for the command (it even makes
sense!)... Funny, I am running as root for this compile and install job...
Funny, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. (please note, this isn't a
plea for help... I'm at that brain dead point where I can't think
clearly enough to even identify where to start on the problem, so I am
going to sleep on it and try stuff in the morning).

Oh, and to my fellow new linux users... Before you send a "help, I'm
stuck" message sit down and note down a few things:

1. what you are trying to do

As an example, I'm trying to get rid of gnome and run windowmaker
instead (my box is old and slow, and gnome is painful on it. windowmaker
is much more tolerable and I think it is prettier. The last is a stupid
reason to use something, but it makes me happy).

2. how you are attempting to achieve this goal

In my case, I followed the instructions in the INSTALL file in the
program's directory and hit a snag. My system appears to not have the
program ldconfig installed (I'm not assuming anything tho... I'm too
sleepy to trust that I've tried everything I know how to do and I
haven't been taking notes the way I usually do, so I *really* don't
trust myself. By the way, take notes in a set notebook and keep it
handy... it can be really useful).

3. the full text of any error messages you encounter

This is where that notebook comes in handy. Write down the error
messages in it so when you send an email asking for help, other people
can see what you saw.

4. notes about things that seem potentially relevant about the system
you're working with 

Distribution name and version number are generally relevant. The fact
that the sound card doesn't work when you are trying to install samba is
not. The fact that you aren't sure how to get stuff off your
distribution cd without rerunning the install is relevant. Using me as
an example again, I'm running RedHat 6.2's download version on a 64 MB
Cyrix 233 system. I'm attempting to compile WindowMaker 0.62.1, and that
part works fine. It's just that last bit about ldconfig that is blowing
me out of the water. But I haven't checked windowmaker.org and
redhat.com yet, and I can't remember whether I've looked at certain bits
of documentation that are likely to be useful, so I'm not ready to ask
for help.

Emily

PS I have found that some distributions come with directories that
 have incorrect permissions, making some programs unusable. Not cool.
Imagine running into that as a brand new, freshly installed Linux
user with no idea about permissions...

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