Obsolete Documentation

Historical documents

The documents listed below were either written a long time ago and are not up to date or have been written for previous versions of Debian and have not been updated to current versions. Their information is outdated, but may still be of interest to some.

The documents that have lost their relevance and serve no purpose any more, have had their references removed, but the source code for many of these obsolete manuals can be found on the DDP's attic.

User oriented documentation

dselect Documentation for Beginners

This file documents dselect for first-time users, and is intended to help in getting Debian installed successfully. It makes no attempt to explain everything, so when you first meet dselect, work through the help screens.

Authors: Stéphane Bortzmeyer
Maintainer: (?)
Status: stalled: aptitude has replaced dselect as the standard Debian package management interface
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


User's Guide

This User's Guide is nothing but a reformatted Progeny User's Guide. Contents are adjusted for the standard Debian system.

Over 300 pages with a good tutorial to start using the Debian system from GUI desktop and shell command line.

Authors: Progeny Linux Systems, Inc.
Maintainer: Osamu Aoki (青木 修)
Status: Useful itself as a tutorial. Written for the woody release, getting obsolete.
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian Tutorial

This manual is for a new Linux user, to help such a user get acquainted with Linux once they have installed it, or for a new Linux user on a system which someone else is administering.

Authors: Havoc Pennington, Oliver Elphick, Ole Tetlie, James Treacy, Craig Sawyer, Ivan E. Moore II
Editors: Havoc Pennington
Maintainer: (?)
Status: stalled; incomplete; probably obsoleted by Debian Reference
Availability: not yet complete
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian GNU/Linux: Guide to Installation and Usage

A manual, oriented towards the end-user.

Authors: John Goerzen, Ossama Othman
Editors: John Goerzen
Status: ready (but it is for potato)
Availability: Debian package (archived) debian-guide

Debian User Reference Manual

This manual provides at least an overview of everything a user should know about their Debian GNU/Linux system (i.e. setting up X, how to configure network, accessing floppy disks, etc.). It is intended to bridge the gap between the Debian Tutorial and the detailed manual and info pages supplied with each package.

It is also intended to give some idea of how to combine commands, on the general Unix principle, that there is always more than one way to do it.

Authors: Ardo van Rangelrooij, Jason D. Waterman, Havoc Pennington, Oliver Elphick, Bruce Evry, Karl-Heinz Zimmer
Editors: Thalia L. Hooker, Oliver Elphick
Maintainer: (?)
Status: stalled and quite incomplete; probably obsoleted by Debian Reference
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian System Administrator's Manual

This document is mentioned in the introduction of the Policy manual. It covers all system administration aspects of a Debian system.

Authors: Tapio Lehtonen
Maintainer: (?)
Status: stalled; incomplete; probably obsoleted by Debian Reference
Availability: not yet available
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian Network Administrator's Manual

This manual covers all network administration aspects of a Debian system.

Authors: Ardo van Rangelrooij, Oliver Elphick, Duncan C. Thomson, Ivan E. Moore II
Maintainer: (?)
Status: stalled; incomplete; probably obsoleted by Debian Reference
Availability: not yet available
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


The Linux Cookbook

A hands-on reference guide to the Debian GNU/Linux system that shows, in over 1,500 recipes, how to use it for everyday activities — from working with text, images, and sound to productivity and networking issues. Like the software the book describes, the book is copylefted and its source data is available.

Authors: Michael Stutz
Status: published; written for woody, getting obsolete
Availability: Debian package (archived) linuxcookbook

from the author


APT HOWTO

This manual tries to be a quick but complete source of information about the APT system and its features. It contains much information about the main uses of APT and many examples.

Authors: Gustavo Noronha Silva
Maintainer: Gustavo Noronha Silva
Status: obsolete since 2009
Availability: Debian package (archived) apt-howto
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.

Developer documentation

Introduction: Making a Debian Package

Introduction on how to create a .deb, using debmake.

Authors: Jaldhar H. Vyas
Status: stalled, obsoleted by New Maintainers' Guide
Availability: HTML online

Debian Programmers' Manual

Helps new developers to create a package for the Debian GNU/Linux system.

Authors: Igor Grobman
Status: obsoleted by New Maintainers' Guide
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian Packaging Manual

This manual describes the technical aspects of creating Debian binary and source packages. It also documents the interface between dselect and its access method scripts. It does not deal with the Debian Project policy requirements, and it assumes familiarity with dpkg's functions from the system administrator's perspective.

Authors: Ian Jackson, Klee Dienes, David A. Morris, Christian Schwarz
Status: Parts that were de facto policy were merged into debian-policy.
Availability: Debian package (archived) packaging-manual

How Software Producers can distribute their products directly in .deb format

This document is intended as a starting point to explain how software producers can integrate their products with Debian, what different situations can arise depending on the license of the products and the choices of the producers, and what possibilities there are. It does not explain how to create packages, but it links to documents which do exactly that.

You should read this if you are not familiar with the big picture of creating and distributing Debian packages, and optionally with adding them to the Debian distribution.

Authors: Aaron Isotton
Maintainer: Aaron Isotton
Status: obsolete
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


Introduction to i18n

This document describes basic idea and howto of l10n (localization), i18n (internationalization), and m17n (multilingualization) for programmers and package maintainers.

The aim of this document is to make more packages support i18n and to make Debian a more internationalized distribution. Contributions from all over the world will be welcome, because the original author is Japanese-speaker and this document would be on Japanization if there were no contributions.

Authors: Tomohiro KUBOTA (久保田智広)
Maintainer: Tomohiro KUBOTA (久保田智広)
Status: stalled, obsolete
Availability: not yet complete
Latest version:

The latest SGML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian SGML/XML HOWTO

This HOWTO contains practical information about the use of SGML and XML on a Debian operating system.

Authors: Stephane Bortzmeyer
Maintainer: Stephane Bortzmeyer
Status: stalled, obsolete
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest SGML source is available through the Git repository.


Debian XML/SGML Policy

Subpolicy for Debian packages that provide and/or make use of XML or SGML resources.

Authors: Mark Johnson, Ardo van Rangelrooij, Adam Di Carlo
Status: dead
Availability:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.


DebianDoc-SGML Markup Manual

Documentation for the debiandoc-sgml system, including best practices and hints for maintainers. Future versions should includes tips for easier maintenance and building of documentation in Debian packages, guidelines for organizing translation of documentation, and other helpful information. See also bug #43718.

Authors: Ian Jackson, Ardo van Rangelrooij
Maintainer: Ardo van Rangelrooij
Status: ready
Availability: Debian package debiandoc-sgml-doc

The latest SGML source is available through the Git repository.

Miscellaneous documentation

Debian Repository HOWTO

This document explains how Debian repositories work, how to create them, and how to add them to the sources.list correctly.

Authors: Aaron Isotton
Maintainer: Aaron Isotton
Status: ready (?)
Availability:
Latest version:

The latest XML source is available through the Git repository.