From: mdw@db.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh) Subject: A warning Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1993 20:51:33 GMT
Perhaps we should add this to the top of EVERY PAGE of the Linux FAQ.
"Warning. Linux is a beta-test UNIX system. YOU WILL HAVE TO DO SOME HACKING.
You will need to learn about UNIX to use it and fix problems. This is the
case when running ANY UNIX system, especially on your own."
I see a lot of postings asking questions which the poster could have
answered themself by simply poking around the system, figuring out how things
work, or looking on FTP sites themselves.
If you're a total UNIX newbie and want to use Linux, great. Installing it
isn't that hard. But you're going to have to hack on it, quite a bit, when
you want to fix problems or when things don't seem to work correctly.
This is not meant to be discouraging. I'm just trying to point out what
you might be getting into when you start out with Linux. It *is* under
development. You *do* need to know something about UNIX to really exploit
it. You *will* need to figure a lot of things out for yourself: Linus,
Peter, and other helpful folks on this group cannot answer everything for
you.
Nothing on Linux is so "broken" that you can't fix it yourself with a
little know-how. Peter shouldn't be expected to fix every little problem
with SLS when you can do it yourself. Please keep this in mind, folks.
It'll save a lot of headaches later on. :)
Cheers,
mdw
-- Matt Welsh, mdw@tc.cornell.edu "What are you doing, Dave?"