source: BOOK/introduction/common/askforhelp.xml@ cb7226f

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<sect1 id="ch-intro-askforhelp">
  <?dbhtml filename="askforhelp.html"?>

  <title>Help</title>

  <para>If an issue or a question is encountered while working through
  this book, check the FAQ page at <ulink url="&faq-root;#generalfaq"/>.
  Questions are often already answered there. If your question is not
  answered on this page, try to find the source of the problem. The
  following hint will give you some guidance for troubleshooting:
  <ulink url="&hints-root;Errors"/>.</para>

  <para>We also have a wonderful CLFS community that is willing to offer
  assistance through the mailing lists and IRC (see the <xref
  linkend="ch-intro-resources"/> section of this book). However, we
  get several support questions everyday and many of them can be easily
  answered by going to the FAQ and by searching the mailing lists first.
  So for us to offer the best assistance possible, you need to do some
  research on your own first. This allows us to focus on the more unusual
  support needs. If your searches do not produce a solution, please include
  all relevant information (mentioned below) in your request for help.</para>

  <sect2>
    <title>Things to Mention</title>

    <para>Apart from a brief explanation of the problem being experienced,
    the essential things to include in any request for help are:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>The version of the book being used (in this case
        &version;)</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The host distribution and version being used to
        create CLFS.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The architecture of the host and target.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The value of the $CLFS_HOST, $CLFS_TARGET, $BUILD32, and $BUILD64
        environment variables.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The package or section in which the problem was encountered.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>The exact error message or symptom received. See <xref
        linkend="ch-intro-askforhelp-compilation-problems"/> below for an
        example.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Note whether you have deviated from the book at all. A package
        version change or even a minor change to any command is considered
        deviation.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <note>
      <para>Deviating from this book does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
      mean that we will not help you. After all, the CLFS project is
      about personal preference. Be upfront about any changes to
      the established procedure&mdash;this helps us evaluate and determine
      possible causes of your problem.</para>
    </note>

  </sect2>

  <sect2>
    <title>Configure Script Problems</title>

    <para>If something goes wrong while running the <command>configure</command>
    script, review the <filename>config.log</filename> file. This file may
    contain the errors you encountered during <command>configure</command>.
    It often logs errors that may have not been printed to the screen. Include
    only the <emphasis>relevant</emphasis> lines if you need to ask for
    help.</para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ch-intro-askforhelp-compilation-problems">
    <title>Compilation Problems</title>

    <para>Both the screen output and the contents of various files are
    useful in determining the cause of compilation problems. The screen output
    from the <command>configure</command> script and the
    <command>make</command> run can be helpful. It is not necessary to
    include the entire output, but do include enough of the relevant
    information. Below is an example of the type of information to include
    from the screen output from <command>make</command>:</para>

<screen><computeroutput>gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
-DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/share/locale\"
-DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/lib\"
-DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
-g -O2 -c getopt1.c
gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o
expand.o file.o function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o
misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o signame.o variable.o vpath.o
default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
-lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference
to `getloadavg'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2</computeroutput></screen>

    <para>In this case, many people would just include the bottom
    section:</para>

<screen><computeroutput>make [2]: *** [make] Error 1</computeroutput></screen>

    <para>This is not enough information to properly diagnose the problem
    because it only notes that something went wrong, not
    <emphasis>what</emphasis> went wrong.  The entire section, as in the
    example above, is what should be saved because it includes the command
    that was executed and the associated error message(s).</para>

    <para>An excellent article about asking for help on the Internet is
    available online at <ulink
    url="http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"/>.  Read and
    follow the hints in this document to increase the likelihood of getting
    the help you need.</para>

  </sect2>

</sect1>