Debian Resources
Lately I’ve been thinking about putting together a little blog post on where to find information/help/guides/etc. on Debian.
So, long story short, this is a collection of useful Debian related links/sites that might come in handy when looking for some information.
Link galore
Debian itself provides quite a large amount of documentation. The only problem is finding all of that.
The Debian website itself makes questionable usability choices IMHO - but that is pertaining to myself (And maybe others).
To be honest: The website itself is rather a maze… finding something can be a chore in itself.
But we are not here to discuss the shortcomings of said website, no, we are here for some links with all the juicy information we crave!
The first thing to check might be the Debian Wiki itself.
NOTE: You can find quite some information on there… but it is not as comprehensive as the Arch Linux Wiki by any means. Still, a good candidate.
Another good place to stop by are the release notes for the current Debian release:
The Debian docs sub page packs quite some interesting information such as the FAQ and the famous Securing Debian Manual:
Have a look also at the FAQ:
..And the Securing Debian Manual:
A lot of FAQ’s can be found on the dedicated Debian Wiki page:
If you are more into having something more comprehensive that you can read like a book have a look at the excellent Debian Administrator’s Handbook.
It goes over everything Debian related and is a great source no matter if you are new or a seasoned user.
Also, I highly recommend to have a look at the Debian Reference:
If you want to have more information on a given package you can check the Debian Tracker:
In need of a Man page on the go?
Debian has got you covered:
Bugs are a fact of life - and no software is perfect. I sometimes want to lookup something or a problem on a given package/program. The Debian Bug Tracking System is a good starting point before wildly searching for something on the web:
There is also the Security Tracker that can come in quite handy:
One site I often visit is the Debian Packages site. Here you can search/query for packages at your hearts desire:
So, cool thing. What if you need some help or you want to ask a question pertaining to Debian?
No worries, there is the Debian User Forum which has you covered:
Another need thing is having the Debian Reference Card:
German only resoures
There are some additional sites one can visit given he or she is speaking German.
There is for example the excellent German Debianforum:
Also, the Ubuntuusers Wiki is quite nice to browse:
NOTE: The information pertains to Ubuntu but can be used on Debian as well. Make sure to watch out for Ubuntu specific articles/entries and adjust accordingly.
Non-Debian specific resources
There are many more websites out there holding information about Debian and other Linux Distro’s as well.
Here are some picks from me that I use although they don’t directly pertain to Debian.
Since Linux is Linux, most of the information is useful no matter if you run Debian or something else entirely.
We have to mention the excellent Arch Linux Wiki - there is no way around it:
NOTE: Hands down, the Arch Linux Wiki is by far one of the most comprehensive Wiki’s out there - and that is a fact!
I also sometimes browse the Gentoo Wiki which offers some insight only a source based distro can deliver:
Another great wiki is the Slackware Wiki. There are some really interesting articles to be found there:
Final words
There sure are more sites specific to Debian that could have been named here. The selection I’ve made here mostly caters to my own needs. Nonetheless I’ve found it good to centralize some of these links for the next person to have some kind of overview of what is available.
As with everything in life, new information is created, new documents are written, new websites are created… you get the idea - Information changes as life changes!
I hope this gives you the reader some pointers on where to find information on the web.
As always, Stay Open everyone!
…And Enjoy!