◼ Use the man pages and the -help or -h option to get a quick summary of a command’s syntax and options. Also use man if a program doesn’t yet have an info page.
◼ Use info if a program has info documentation.
◼ If neither of those works, look in /usr/doc/packagename.
◼ /usr/doc/packagename often has Debian-specific information, even if there’s a man page or info page.
◼ Use the HOWTOs for instructions on how to set up a particular thing or for information on your particular hardware. For example, the Ethernet HOWTO has a wealth of information on Ethernet cards, and the PPP HOWTO explains in detail how to set up PPP.
◼ Use the Debian Documentation Project manuals for conceptual explanations and Debian-specific information.
◼ If all else fails, ask someone. See section A.1.3 on page [*]. Using man pages is discussed above in section 5.1 on page [*]. It’s very simple: press the space bar to go to the next page, and press q to quit reading. Using info, viewing files in /usr/doc, and asking for help from a person are all discussed in the remainder of this chapter.
A.1.1 Using info
info is the GNU documentation viewer. Some programs provide documentationin info format, and you can use info to view that documentation. You can start up the viewer by simply typing info, or by supplying a topic as well:
info emacs
You can also bring up the information on info itself, which includes a tutorial, like so:
info info
Now, you may navigate with these keys:
arrows
Move the cursor around the document
m RET