source: BOOK/introduction/common/askforhelp.xml @ 216a9cd

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Last change on this file since 216a9cd was 4019f8b, checked in by Chris Staub <chris@…>, 10 years ago

Updated list of variables to mention when asking for help

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1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
2<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
4  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
5  %general-entities;
6]>
7
8<sect1 id="ch-intro-askforhelp">
9  <?dbhtml filename="askforhelp.html"?>
10
11  <title>Help</title>
12
13  <para>If an issue or a question is encountered while working through
14  this book, check the FAQ page at <ulink url="&faq-root;#generalfaq"/>.
15  Questions are often already answered there. If your question is not
16  answered on this page, try to find the source of the problem. The
17  following hint will give you some guidance for troubleshooting:
18  <ulink url="&hints-root;Errors"/>.</para>
19
20  <para>We also have a wonderful CLFS community that is willing to offer
21  assistance through the mailing lists and IRC (see the <xref
22  linkend="ch-intro-resources"/> section of this book). However, we
23  get several support questions everyday and many of them can be easily
24  answered by going to the FAQ and by searching the mailing lists first.
25  So for us to offer the best assistance possible, you need to do some
26  research on your own first. This allows us to focus on the more unusual
27  support needs. If your searches do not produce a solution, please include
28  all relevant information (mentioned below) in your request for help.</para>
29
30  <sect2>
31    <title>Things to Mention</title>
32
33    <para>Apart from a brief explanation of the problem being experienced,
34    the essential things to include in any request for help are:</para>
35
36    <itemizedlist>
37      <listitem>
38        <para>The version of the book being used (in this case
39        &version;)</para>
40      </listitem>
41      <listitem>
42        <para>The host distribution and version being used to
43        create CLFS.</para>
44      </listitem>
45      <listitem>
46        <para>The architecture of the host and target.</para>
47      </listitem>
48      <listitem>
49        <para>The value of the ${CLFS_HOST} and ${CLFS_TARGET} environment
50        variables, and if applicable, ${BUILD32}, ${BUILD64}, ${BUILDN32},
51        and ${GCCTARGET}.</para>
52      </listitem>
53      <listitem>
54        <para>The package or section in which the problem was encountered.</para>
55      </listitem>
56      <listitem>
57        <para>The exact error message or symptom received. See <xref
58        linkend="ch-intro-askforhelp-compilation-problems"/> below for an
59        example.</para>
60      </listitem>
61      <listitem>
62        <para>Note whether you have deviated from the book at all. A package
63        version change or even a minor change to any command is considered
64        deviation.</para>
65      </listitem>
66    </itemizedlist>
67
68    <note>
69      <para>Deviating from this book does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
70      mean that we will not help you. After all, the CLFS project is
71      about personal preference. Be upfront about any changes to
72      the established procedure&mdash;this helps us evaluate and determine
73      possible causes of your problem.</para>
74    </note>
75
76  </sect2>
77
78  <sect2>
79    <title>Configure Script Problems</title>
80
81    <para>If something goes wrong while running the <command>configure</command>
82    script, review the <filename>config.log</filename> file. This file may
83    contain the errors you encountered during <command>configure</command>.
84    It often logs errors that may have not been printed to the screen. Include
85    only the <emphasis>relevant</emphasis> lines if you need to ask for
86    help.</para>
87
88  </sect2>
89
90  <sect2 id="ch-intro-askforhelp-compilation-problems">
91    <title>Compilation Problems</title>
92
93    <para>Both the screen output and the contents of various files are
94    useful in determining the cause of compilation problems. The screen output
95    from the <command>configure</command> script and the
96    <command>make</command> run can be helpful. It is not necessary to
97    include the entire output, but do include enough of the relevant
98    information. Below is an example of the type of information to include
99    from the screen output from <command>make</command>:</para>
100
101<screen><computeroutput>gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
102-DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/share/locale\"
103-DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/lib\"
104-DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/clfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
105-g -O2 -c getopt1.c
106gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o
107expand.o file.o function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o
108misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o signame.o variable.o vpath.o
109default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
110-lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
111/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference
112to `getloadavg'
113collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
114make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
115make[2]: Leaving directory `/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
116make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
117make[1]: Leaving directory `/clfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
118make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2</computeroutput></screen>
119
120    <para>In this case, many people would just include the bottom
121    section:</para>
122
123<screen><computeroutput>make [2]: *** [make] Error 1</computeroutput></screen>
124
125    <para>This is not enough information to properly diagnose the problem
126    because it only notes that something went wrong, not
127    <emphasis>what</emphasis> went wrong.  The entire section, as in the
128    example above, is what should be saved because it includes the command
129    that was executed and the associated error message(s).</para>
130
131    <para>An excellent article about asking for help on the Internet is
132    available online at <ulink
133    url="http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html"/>.  Read and
134    follow the hints in this document to increase the likelihood of getting
135    the help you need.</para>
136
137  </sect2>
138
139</sect1>
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