XPost: comp.unix.shell, comp.answers 
 From: tmatimar@isgtec.com 
  
 Archive-name: unix-faq/shell/intro 
 Version: $Id: intro,v 2.4 1995/03/28 14:14:12 tmatimar Exp $ 
  
 This article is a monthly attempt to remind potential posters about 
 what is appropriate for comp.unix.shell.  If you would like to make 
 any suggestions about the content of this article, please contact 
 its maintainer at tmatimar@isgtec.com. 
  
 Many FAQs, including this one, are available on the archive site 
 rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. 
 The name under which a FAQ is archived appears in the "Archive-Name:" 
 line at the top of the article.  This FAQ is archived as 
 "unix-faq/shell/intro". 
  
 Companion articles include the answers to some Frequently 
 Asked Questions.  You may save yourself a lot of time by reading 
 those articles before posting a question to the net. 
  
 If you have not already read the overall Usenet introductory material 
 posted to "news.announce.newusers", please do.  Much of this article 
 overlaps with the common sense guidelines posted there. 
  
       Should I Post My Shell Question to the Net? 
  
 Often the answer is "No, you can get an answer a lot faster without 
 posting a question." Before you post, you should try - 
  
     o Reading the manual for your system.  Some day you may encounter 
       the phrase "RTFM", which stands for "Read the Fine Manual" 
       (except 'F' doesn't really stand for "Fine").  If you ask 
       someone a question and they tell you to RTFM, it's an 
       indication that you haven't done your homework.  For instance, 
       if you are trying to make a script run under csh instead of sh, 
       check the man page for "csh".  It might tell you what you need 
       to know. 
  
       When people use terminology like "read(2)", they are referring 
       to the "read" man page in section 2 of the manual (which you 
       would see by using "man 2 read"). 
  
     o Finding a knowledgeable user at your site.  Many sites have 
       at least a few shell experts who will be happy to help you 
       figure out how to specify that a script should be run by csh. 
       Many larger sites, particularly universities, may even have 
       paid consultants whose job is to help you with these problems. 
       Check with them first. 
  
     o Find a good introductory book on Unix shells and shell programming. 
       There are plenty of such books available, and you will save yourself 
       a lot of trouble by having one handy and consulting it frequently. 
       (Question 1.5 in the companion articles will let you know 
        where you can find a list of good books.) 
  
 Please remember that the comp.unix.* newsgroups are read by over 80,000 
 people around the world, and that posting a question to this group will 
 cost a lot of time and money by the time your article is distributed to 
 Asia, Australia, Europe (west and east), Africa, the middle east, 
 all corners of North, South and Central America and even Antarctica. 
  
 Also, some people receive these newsgroups as part of a mailing list 
 rather than a newsgroup.  If you're one of these people, please don't 
 send a "Remove me from this list" or "UNSUBSCRIBE"  message to the 
 wrong place.  Take the time to figure out where you're getting this 
 stuff from, and send your request to the mailing list maintainer, *not* 
 to the list or newsgroup itself!  Ask your local postmaster for help. 
 (One of the answers in the companion articles deals with the details of 
 the mailing list.) 
  
                To Which Newsgroup Should I Post My Question? 
  
 The choice of newsgroup is harder than it used to be.  In the old days, 
 you just had to choose between "comp.unix.questions" and 
 "comp.unix.wizards".  Now there are a variety of more specific groups. 
 This group, "comp.unix.shell" is only for questions relating to any of 
 the Unix shells and shell programing.  Other groups each have their own 
 mandates. 
  
 Choose one of the following groups carefully.  If you aren't sure where 
 your question belongs or if your question is not specific to some 
 particular version of Unix, try "comp.unix.questions".  Many 
 knowledgeable Unix wizards read that group and will be able to help you. 
  
 Here are the capsule descriptions of various groups you might consider 
 (extracted from a monthly posting to "news.announce.newusers") 
  
 comp.unix.shell         Using and programming any UNIX shell. 
  
 comp.unix.questions     General questions from UNIX users and sysadmins. 
    If your question isn't a really good match for one of 
    the groups below, post it here. 
  
 news.answers  Repository for periodic USENET articles. (Moderated) 
    This article is crossposted there. 
    Do not try to post here unless you're 
    posting a list of FAQ's and their answers. 
  
 comp.lang.c             Discussion about C. 
  
 comp.sources.unix       Postings of complete, UNIX-oriented sources. 
 (Moderated) 
 comp.std.unix           Discussion for the P1003 committee on UNIX. 
 (Moderated) 
 comp.unix.admin         Administering a Unix-based system. 
 comp.unix.aix           IBM's version of UNIX. 
 comp.unix.amiga  Unix on the Commodore Amiga 
 comp.unix.aux           The version of UNIX for Apple Macintosh II 
 computers. 
 comp.unix.bsd           Discussions relating to BSD UNIX. 
 comp.unix.internals     Discussions on hacking UNIX internals. 
 comp.unix.large         UNIX on mainframes and in large networks. 
 comp.unix.misc          Various topics that don't fit other groups. 
 comp.unix.programmer    Q&A for people programming under Unix. 
 comp.unix.ultrix        Discussions about DEC's Ultrix. 
 comp.unix.xenix.misc    General discussions regarding XENIX (except SCO). 
 comp.unix.xenix.sco     XENIX versions from the Santa Cruz Operation. 
 comp.os.linux.*         Discussion about Linux ... 
 comp.lang.perl          Discussion about Perl 
  
 comp.unix.wizards       In-depth discussions of advanced unix topics. 
    People should not post to this group unless they 
    have used unix as a user, sysadmin and know details 
    of the kernel, and how different unix kernels differ. 
    In other words, don't post to comp.unix.wizards. 
  
        What Information Should I Include? 
  
 It's hard to include too much information.  There are hundreds of 
 different systems out there, and they all have less in common 
 than you might think.  If you have a problem and are posting an 
 article, please be sure to mention: 
  
     o A descriptive subject line.  Many people will decide whether 
       to read your article solely on the basis of the subject line, 
       so it should be a good statement of your problem. 
  
       NOT GOOD                          GOOD 
  
       "Help"                            "How do I port csh scripts to ksh?" 
       "Csh question"   "csh dumps core when I use '$<'" 
  
     o What computer you are using, what specific version of the 
       operating system it uses, and to what shell the question 
       pertains.  For instance, 
  
  
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 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
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