01-C.24: Sources of Online Linux Documentation

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Online Help Sources

With the advent of the web, we now have a plethora of additional places we can find help with almost any topic, including using and administering Linux. There are several sites that provide better information than others; it pretty much comes down to what sort of information you are looking for. For Linux documentation there are several sources that are the 'go to' sites.

Organization	Description	Link
The Linux Documentation Project	TLDP is a loosely knit team of volunteers who provide documentation for many aspects of Linux. There are several forms of documentation: Guides, HOWTOs, man pages, and FAQs. A guide is typically a longer book with broader coverage of a subject; for instance, the Network Administration or User Guide. The intent is to understand the whole subject, as opposed to performing only one task. If you want to have a broader look at some aspect of Linux, then the guides should be very handy. A HOWTO is usually a step-by-step guide that describes, in detail, how to perform a specific task. For example, you can use the Linux Installation HOWTO to help you install Linux on a system, but it does not cover how to set up a Web server so that you can focus on a particular task.	The TLPD web site
The Linux man-pages project	The Linux man-pages project documents the Linux kernel and C library interfaces that are employed by user-space programs. With respect to the C library, the primary focus is the GNU, C library (glibc), although, where known, documentation of variations on other C libraries available for Linux is also included.	man-pages project web site
Distro documentation	Most of the distros maintain a documentation page on their web site that is specific to the distro. This documentation is usually linked on a distros home page. Another option would be: 1) go to the Distro Watch website 2) select the desired distro 3) scroll down - on the left side is a listing for the distros documentation page.	Online docs for Ubuntu Distro Watch page for Ubuntu, scroll down and click on the Documentation link found on the left side
GNU Core Utilities (GNU coreutils)	The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system. These are the core utilities which are expected to exist on every operating system.	Core Utilities page includes the link to the documentation