The question is still pending on RH support. Thank you for the info. As to
no central info point, looks like an opportunity to me. For sure things must
break down into general catagories. I realize it would probably not be
possible to pinpoint every message verbatim, but I am willing to bet that as
a collaborative effort, there must be a zillion people out there with error
experience and the knowledge of how to recover, just like you guys do, but it
goes unrecorded for newbies like me to access in some logical way........am I
off base here?
On Tuesday 12 June 2001 11:15 pm, you wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 12, 2001 at 07:04:44PM -0400, leo wrote:
> > I'm really new to Linux, but I think that as people become more computer
> > literate they are bound to resent situations where they cannot help
> > themselves to solve a problem. That is the main ax I have to grind with
> > MSWindows. Without an engineering degree you are out in the cold most of
> > the time. I just learned (please don't laugh) that all the control for
> > installs is in a text file that I can edit, not in some archane
> > "registry" where trying to remove something can create chaos. Linux
> > needs to point up the ease of resolving problems, the lack of need for
> > outside technical support once you become familiar. I wish we had a
> > central point for error messages and recovery steps to take, or is there
> > and I am unaware? By the way, what is the name of the text file which
> > keeps the install information? I have a stack of books 5 feet tall and
> > can't find this answer. Thanx.............leo.
>
> <snip>
>
> Find out from whoever told you there's _one_ file what it is. I'd like
> to know myself.
>
> Linux distributions have a plethora of configuration files in a variety
> of directories (most in /etc), and most are straight text files,
> editable by root. Often, you can issue
>
> man 5 <name-of-file>
>
> and see what it does, what's supposed to be in it, etc.
>
> In the /var/log directory (usually) there will be various files that
> indicate what's going on with a system. In particular, the file
> /var/log/messages gives information about important events on a running
> system. However, like most things in Linux, it's configurable to tell
> you more or less. And not everything on a system logs every odd thing
> that happens. /var/log/messages is the first place to start looking.
>
> As for what to do when XYZ happens, welcome to the learning curve
> (you've heard of Mt. Everest? ;-). There isn't a central place to find
> this out, because problems can come from any number of places and take
> any number of forms. Learn to use the man pages. Likewise, get familiar
> with what's in the /usr/doc directory. If you've installed them, FAQs
> and HOWTOs will (usually) be in there. And then of course, you've always
> got the SLUG list. ;-} Unfortunately, Linux does not have "Help
> Wizards".
>
> Some installs (depends on the distro) will tell you at the end that
> they've logged install information to a file, but it depends on the
> distro. When you install, write it down. If you forgot to write it down,
> check the /tmp or /var directories (a guess) for something with the
> extension "log". Some distros won't say anything about it.
>
> Paul
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