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<!-- Original version: $Revision: 1.30 $ -->
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<chapt id="support">Getting support for &debian;
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<sect id="debiandocs">What other documentation exists on and for a
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Debian system?
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<p><list>
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<item>Installation instructions for the current release: see
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual">.
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<item>The Debian GNU/Linux reference covers many aspects of system
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administration through shell-command examples. Basic tutorials, tips, and
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other information are provided for many different topics ranging from
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system administration to programming.
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<p>Get it from the <package/debian-reference/ package, or at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#quick-reference">.
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<item>Policy manual documents the policy requirements for the
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distribution, i.e. the structure and contents of the Debian archive,
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several design issues of the operating system etc. It also includes
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the technical requirements that each package must satisfy to be
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included in the distribution, and documents the basic technical
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aspects of Debian binary and source packages.
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<p>Get it from the <package/debian-policy/ package, or at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#policy">.
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<item>Documentation developed by the Debian Documentation Project.
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It is available at <url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/"> and includes
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user guides, administration guides and security guides for the
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Debian GNU/Linux operating system.
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<item>Documentation on installed Debian packages:
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Most packages have files that are unpacked into <tt>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE</tt>.
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<item>Documentation on the Linux project:
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The Debian package <package/doc-linux/ installs all of the most recent
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versions of the HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs from the <url name="Linux
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Documentation Project" id="http://www.tldp.org/">.
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<item>Unix-style `man' pages: Most commands have manual pages written in
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the style of the original Unix 'man' files. For instance, to see
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the manual page for the command `ls', execute <tt>man ls</tt>.
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Execute <tt>man man</tt> for more information on finding and viewing
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manual pages.
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<p>New Debian users should note that the 'man' pages of many general
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system commands are not available until they install these packages:
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<list>
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<item><tt>man-db</tt>, which contains the <tt>man</tt> program
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itself, and other programs for manipulating the manual pages.
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<item><tt>manpages</tt>, which contains the system manual pages.
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(see <ref id="nonenglish">).
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</list>
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<item>GNU-style `info' pages: User documentation for many commands,
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particularly GNU tools, is available not in `man' pages, but in `info'
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files which can be read by the GNU tool <tt>info</tt>, by running
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<tt>M-x info</tt> within GNU Emacs, or with some other Info page viewer.
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<p>Its main advantage over the original `man' pages are that it is
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a hypertext system. It does <em>not</em> require the WWW, however;
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<tt>info</tt> can be run from a plain text console. It was designed
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by Richard Stallman and preceded the WWW.
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</list>
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<p>Note that you may access a lot of documentation on your system by using a
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WWW browser, through `dwww', `dhelp' or `doccentral' commands, found in
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respective packages, or by using `yelp'.
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<sect id="onlineresources">Are there any on-line resources for discussing
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Debian?
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<p>Yes. In fact, the main method of support Debian provides to our users is
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by the way of e-mail.
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<sect1>Mailing lists
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<p>There are a lot of <url name="Debian-related mailing lists"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/">.
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<p>On a system with the <package/doc-debian/ package installed there
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is a complete list of mailing lists in
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<file>/usr/share/doc/debian/mailing-lists.txt</file>.
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<p>Debian mailing lists are named following the pattern
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debian-<var>list-subject</var>. Examples are debian-announce,
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debian-user, debian-news. To subscribe to any list
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debian-<var>list-subject</var>, send mail to
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debian-<var>list-subject</var>-request@lists.debian.org with the word
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"subscribe" in the Subject: header. Be sure to remember to add
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<em>-request</em> to the e-mail address when using this method to
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subscribe or unsubscribe. Otherwise your e-mail will go to the
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list itself, which could be embarrassing or annoying, depending on
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your point of view.
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<p>If you have a forms-capable World Wide Web browser, you can
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subscribe to mailing lists using the <url name="WWW form"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/subscribe">.
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You can also un-subscribe using a <url name="WWW form"
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/unsubscribe">.
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<p>The list manager's e-mail address is <email/listmaster@lists.debian.org/, in
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case you have any trouble.
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<p>The mailing lists are public forums. All e-mails sent to the lists are also
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copied to the public archive, for anybody (even non-subscribers) to browse or
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search. Please make sure you never send any confidential or unlicensed
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material to the lists. This includes things like e-mail addresses. Of
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particular note is the fact that spammers have been known to abuse e-mail
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addresses posted to our mailing lists. See the <url
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id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/index.en.html#disclaimer" name="Mailing
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Lists Privacy policy"> for more information.
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<p>Archives of the Debian mailing lists are available via WWW at
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<url id="http://lists.debian.org/">.
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<sect2 id="mailinglistconduct">What is the code of conduct for the mailing
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lists?
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<p>When using the Debian mailing lists, please follow these rules:
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<list>
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<item>Do not send spam. See the <url name="Debian mailing list
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advertising policy" id="http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#ads">.
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<item>Do not flame; it is not polite. The people developing Debian are
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all volunteers, donating their time, energy and money in an attempt to
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bring the Debian project together.
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<item>Do not use foul language; besides, some people receive the lists
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via packet radio, where swearing is illegal.
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<item>Make sure that you are using the proper list. <em/Never/ post your
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(un)subscription requests to the mailing list itself<footnote>Use the
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debian-<var>list-subject</var>-REQUEST@lists.debian.org address for that.</footnote>
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<item>See section <ref id="bugreport"> for notes on reporting bugs.
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</list>
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<sect1>Maintainers
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<p>Users can address questions to individual package maintainers using
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e-mail. To reach a maintainer of a package called xyz, send e-mail to
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<em>xyz@packages.debian.org</em>.
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<sect1>Usenet newsgroups
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<p>Users should post non-Debian-specific questions to one of the Linux
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USENET groups, which are named comp.os.linux.* or linux.*.
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There are several lists of Linux Usenet newsgroups and other related
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resources on the WWW, e.g. on the <url name="Linux Online"
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id="http://www.linux.org/docs/usenet.html"> and <url name="LinuxJournal"
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id="http://www.linuxjournal.com/helpdesk.php"> sites.
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<sect id="searchtools">Is there a quick way to search for information on
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&debian;?
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<p>There is a variety of search engines that serve documentation related
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to Debian:
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<list>
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<item><url id="http://search.debian.org/" name="Debian WWW search site">.
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<item><url id="http://groups.google.com/" name="Google Groups">: a search
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engine for newsgroups.
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<p>For example, to find out what experiences people have had with
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finding drivers for Promise controllers under Debian, try searching on
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the phrase <tt>Promise Linux driver</tt>. This will show you all the
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postings that contain these strings, i.e. those where people discussed
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these topics. If you add <tt>Debian</tt> to those search strings, you'll
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also get the postings specifically related to Debian.
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<item>Any of the common web spidering engines, such as
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<url id="http://www.altavista.com/" name="AltaVista"> or
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<url id="http://www.google.com/" name="Google">, as long as you use
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the right search terms.
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<p>For example, searching on the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed
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explanation of this package than the brief description field in its
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control file.
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</list>
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<sect id="buglogs">Are there logs of known bugs?
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<p>Reports on unsolved (and closed) issues are publicly available: Debian
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promissed to do so by stating "We will not hide problems" in the <url
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id="http://www.debian.org/social_contract" name="Debian Social Contract">.
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<p>The &debian; distribution has a bug tracking system (BTS) which files
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details of bugs reported by users and developers. Each bug is given a
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number, and is kept on file until it is marked as having been dealt with.
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<p>Copies of this information are available at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/Bugs/">.
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<p>A mail server provides access to the bug tracking system database via
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e-mail. In order to get the instructions, send an e-mail to
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request@bugs.debian.org with "help" in the body.
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<sect id="bugreport">How do I report a bug in Debian?
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<p>If you have found a bug in Debian, please read the instructions for
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reporting a bug in Debian. These instructions can be obtained in one of
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several ways:
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<list>
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<item>By anonymous FTP. Debian mirror sites contain the instructions in
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the file <tt>doc/bug-reporting.txt</tt>.
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<item>From the WWW. A copy of the instructions is shown at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting">.
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<item>On any Debian system with the <package/doc-debian/ package installed.
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The instructions are in the file
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<file>/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt</file>.
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</list>
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<p>You can use the package <package/reportbug/ that will guide you
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through the reporting process and mail the message to the proper
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address, with some extra details about your system added
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automatically. It will also show you a list of bugs already reported
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to the package you are reporting against in case your bug has been
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reported previously, so that you can additional information to the
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existing bug report.
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<p>If you want to mail the report with an e-mail program, send a message to
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<email/submit@bugs.debian.org/. The message's first line must be similar to
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<example>Package: package-name</example>
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(replace <var>package-name</var> with the name of the package). The next line
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should relate the package version number in a similar way:
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<example>Version: version-number</example>
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The version number for any package installed on your system can be obtained
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using the command line
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<example>dpkg -s <var>package-name</var></example>
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This section is referred to as the pseudo-header. The rest of the
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message should contain the description of the bug (please make it moderately
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detailed), the Debian release you are using, and versions of other relevant
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packages. The Debian release number will be displayed by the command
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<example>cat /etc/debian_version</example>
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<p>Expect to get an automatic acknowledgement of your bug report. It will
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also be automatically given a bug tracking number, entered into the bug
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log and forwarded to the debian-bugs-dist mailing list.
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