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diff --git a/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-getting.en.html b/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-getting.en.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..5f608d5b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/includes/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-getting.en.html @@ -0,0 +1,374 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN"> + +<html> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<title>The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux</title> + +</head> + +<body> + +<p><a name="ch-getting"></a></p> +<hr> + +<p> +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">previous</a> ] +[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ] +[ 2 ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-software.en.html">4</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">next</a> ] +</p> + +<hr> + +<h1> +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +<br>Chapter 2 - Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux +</h1> + +<hr> + +<p> +The official document giving installation instructions is the <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual">Debian GNU/Linux +Installation Guide</a></code>. We'll give some additional notes about getting +and installing Debian GNU/Linux here. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-version"></a>2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?</h2> + +<p> +Currently there are three versions of Debian GNU/Linux: +</p> +<dl> +<dt><em>release 3.1, a.k.a. the `stable' distribution</em></dt> +<dd> +<p> +This is stable and well tested software, it changes if major security or +usability fixes are incorporated. +</p> +</dd> +</dl> +<dl> +<dt><em>the `testing' distribution</em></dt> +<dd> +<p> +This is where packages that will be released as the next `stable' are placed; +they've had some testing in unstable but they may not be completely fit for +release yet. This distribution is updated more often than `stable', but not +more often than `unstable'. +</p> +</dd> +</dl> +<dl> +<dt><em>the `unstable' distribution</em></dt> +<dd> +<p> +This is the version currently under development; it is updated continuously. +You can retrieve packages from the `unstable' archive on any Debian FTP site +and use them to upgrade your system at any time, but you may not expect the +system to be as usable or as stable as before - that's why it's called +`<strong>unstable</strong>'! +</p> +</dd> +</dl> + +<p> +Please see <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dists">How many Debian +distributions are there in the <samp>dists</samp> directory?, Section 5.2</a> +for more information. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-updatestable"></a>2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?</h2> + +<p> +No new functionality is added to the stable release. Once a Debian version is +released and tagged `stable' it will only get security updates. That is, only +packages for which a security vulnerability has been found after the release +will be upgraded. All the security updates are served through <code><a +href="ftp://security.debian.org">security.debian.org</a></code>. +</p> + +<p> +Security updates serve one purpose: to supply a fix for a security +vulnerability. They are not a method for sneaking additional changes into the +stable release without going through normal point release procedure. +Consequently, fixes for packages with security issues will not upgrade the +software. The Debian Security Team will backport the necessary fixes to the +version of the software distributed in `stable' instead. +</p> + +<p> +For more information related to security support please read the <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/security/faq">Security FAQ</a></code> or the +<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/">Debian +Security Manual</a></code>. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-boot-floppies"></a>2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?</h2> + +<p> +You can get the installation disks by downloading the appropriate files from +one of the <code><a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian +mirrors</a></code>. +</p> + +<p> +The installation system files are separated in subdirectories of +<code>dists/stable/main</code> directory, and the names of these subdirectories +correspond to your architecture like this: <samp>disks-<var>arch</var></samp> +(<var>arch</var> is "i386", "sparc", etc, check the site +for an exact list). In each of these architecture subdirectories there can be +several directories, each for a version of the installation system, and the +currently used one is in the `current' directory (that's a symbolic link). +</p> + +<p> +See the <code>README.txt</code> file in that directory for further +instructions. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-cdrom"></a>2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?</h2> + +<p> +Linux supports the ISO 9660 (CD-ROM) file system with Rock Ridge extensions +(formerly known as "High Sierra"). Several <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/">vendors</a></code> provide Debian +GNU/Linux in this format. +</p> + +<p> +Warning: When installing from CD-ROM, it is usually not a good idea to choose +dselect's <samp>cdrom</samp> access method. This method is usually very slow. +The <samp>mountable</samp> and <samp>apt</samp> methods, for example, are much +better for installing from CD-ROM (see <a +href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-dpkg-mountable">dpkg-mountable, Section 8.2.5</a> +and <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-apt">apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom, Section +8.2.2</a>). +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-cdimage-symlinks"></a>2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!</h2> + +<p> +Official Debian CD images indeed contain symlinks like: +</p> + +<pre> + /dists/frozen -> sarge/ + /dists/stable -> sarge/ + /dists/testing -> sarge/ + /dists/unstable -> sarge/ +</pre> + +<p> +so that they work when your sources.list has an entry like +</p> + +<pre> + deb cdrom:[<name as on cd label>]/ unstable main [...] +</pre> + +<p> +. +</p> + +<p> +The fact these symlinks are present does <em>not</em> mean the image is +`unstable' or `testing' or anything. Read the CD label in +<code>/.disk/info</code> to find out which Debian version it contains. This +information is also present in <code>/README.txt</code> on the CD. +</p> + +<p> +Read <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/releases/">http://www.debian.org/releases/</a></code> +to find out what the current `stable' and `testing' releases are. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-cdimages"></a>2.6 I have my own CD-writer, are there CD images available somewhere?</h2> + +<p> +Yes. To make it easier for CD vendors to provide high quality disks, we +provide the <code><a href="http://cdimage.debian.org/">Official CD +images</a></code>. +</p> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-floppy"></a>2.7 Can I install it from a pile of floppy disks?</h2> + +<p> +First of all, a warning: whole Debian GNU/Linux is way too large to be +installed from media as small as a standard 1.44MB floppy disk - you may not +find installing from floppies a very pleasant experience. +</p> + +<p> +Copy the Debian packages onto formatted floppy disks. Either a DOS, the native +Linux "ext2", or the "minix" format will do; one just has +to use a mount command appropriate to the floppy being used. +</p> + +<p> +Using floppy disks has these complications: +</p> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Short MS-DOS file names: If you are trying to place Debian package files onto +MS-DOS formatted disks, you will find that their names are generally too long, +and do not conform to the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limitation. To overcome this, +you would have to use VFAT formatted disks, since VFAT supports longer file +names. +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<p> +Large file sizes: Some packages are larger than 1.44 MBytes, and will not fit +onto a single floppy disk. To solve this problem, use the dpkg-split tool (see +<a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-split">dpkg-split, Section 7.1.5.2</a>), +available in the <samp>tools</samp> directory on <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian mirrors</a></code>. +</p> +</li> +</ul> + +<p> +You must have support in the kernel for floppy disks in order to read and write +to floppy disk; most kernels come with floppy drive support included in them. +</p> + +<p> +To mount a floppy disk under the mount point <samp>/floppy</samp> (a directory +which should have been created during installation), use: +</p> +<ul> +<li> +<pre> + mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy/ +</pre> + +<p> +if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an MS-DOS file system, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<pre> + mount -t msdos /dev/fd1 /floppy/ +</pre> + +<p> +if the floppy disk is in drive B: and has an MS-DOS file system, +</p> +</li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li> +<pre> + mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy/ +</pre> + +<p> +if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an ext2 (i.e., a normal Linux) file +system. +</p> +</li> +</ul> + +<hr> + +<h2><a name="s-remoteinstall"></a>2.8 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?</h2> + +<p> +Yes. You can boot the Debian installation system from a set of files you can +download from our FTP site and its mirrors. +</p> + +<p> +You can download a small CD image file, create a bootable CD from it, install +the basic system from it and the rest over the network. For more information +please see <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/">http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/</a></code>. +</p> + +<p> +You can also download even smaller floppy disk image files, create bootable +diskettes from them, start the installation procedure and get the rest of +Debian over the network. For more information, please see <code><a +href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst">http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst</a></code>. +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">previous</a> ] +[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ] +[ 2 ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-software.en.html">4</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ] +[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">next</a> ] +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +</p> + +<address> +version 3.1.3, 25 April 2006<br> +<br> +Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br> +<br> +</address> +<hr> + +</body> + +</html> + |