General

• If you want to know what program xyzzy does:
  • "xyzzy --help"
  • "xyzzy -h"
  • "man xyzzy"
  • "info xyzzy" or KDE/Gnome helptool
  • Look for /usr/doc/xyzzy-version.nn/
  • "strace xyzzy"
  • "strings `which xyzzy`|less"
  • "rpm -qf `which xyzzy`" ; "rpm -qi xyzzy.nn.vv"
  • Find /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/xyzzy.nn.vv.rpm - the source code
• If you want to know how to do abcd:
  • "apropos abcd"
  • Look for /usr/doc/HOWTO/*abcd*
• Other places to look
  • /usr/src/linux/Documentation/ (Kernel Documentation)
  • The /proc filesystem - things like pci, cpuinfo, devices
  • /usr/src/linux/ - the Kernel source code. Often has useful comments in the code.
  • On the Web - linux.org, kernel.org, etc.
  • Usenet - comp.os.linux.networking etc. in the c.o.l hierarchy
  • IRC - #linux - watch for hackers!
  • Local experts - Doug Maas, Steve McDonald, Byron Jennings, Andrew Daviel, Pierre Amaudruz ...