HOWTO-template for Big HOWTOs

Stein Gjoen

           sgjoen@nyx.net
        

Gregory Leblanc

           gleblanc@cu-portland.edu
        

Greg Ferguson

           gferg@sgi.com
        

Revision History
Revision 0.072001-08-01Revised by: aeg
Changed license to GFDL
Revision 0.062001-01-08Revised by: gjf
Changed date format (YYYY-MM-DD)

This is a fully working template for big HOWTOs. The source contains fully described slots to make a convenient framework for you to fill in for making your own HOWTO; suggesting some names, conventions and contents for the chapters.

SGML source for this document is available and should be consulted while reading.


Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Copyright Information
1.2. Disclaimer
1.3. New Versions
1.4. Credits
1.5. Feedback
1.6. Translations
2. Samples
2.1. Lists
2.2. Links
2.3. Images
3. Structure
3.1. Logical structure
3.2. Document structure
3.3. Reading plan
4. Technologies
5. Implementation
6. Maintenance
7. Advanced Issues
8. Further Information
8.1. News groups
8.2. Mailing Lists
8.3. HOWTO
8.4. Local Resources
8.5. Web Sites
9. Getting Help
10. Concluding Remarks
11. Questions and Answers
12. Bits and Pieces
13. Examples
Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation License
Appendix A.1. 0. PREAMBLE
Appendix A.2. 1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
Appendix A.3. 2. VERBATIM COPYING
Appendix A.4. 3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
Appendix A.5. 4. MODIFICATIONS
Appendix A.6. 5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
Appendix A.7. 6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
Appendix A.8. 7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
Appendix A.9. 8. TRANSLATION
Appendix A.10. 9. TERMINATION
Appendix A.11. 10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
Appendix A.12. Addendum

1. Introduction

For various reasons this brand new release is codenamed the release release.

New code names will appear as per industry standard guidelines to emphasize the state-of-the-art-ness of this document.

This document was written when I read a feedback asking for a template to fill in to make new HOWTOs. This template was initially made by extracting the skeletal structure of the Multi Disk HOWTO which is a rather large HOWTO. It then went through extensive editing.

Stating the background is a simple way to getting started writing the intro.

First of all we need a bit of legalese. Recent development shows it is quite important.

1.1. Copyright Information

This document is Copyright © 2000 Stein Gjoen. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found in Appendix Appendix A. Replace with your name, or supply a new license, when you use this template for a new HOWTO.

If you have any questions, please contact

1.2. Disclaimer

No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is a new edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies, that may of course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although this is highly unlikely, the author(s) do not take any responsibility for that.

All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.

You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals.

1.3. New Versions

This is where you make a summary of what is new. When a HOWTO exceeds 20 pages it takes more than a casual read to find the updates. This is where you help your readers with that, alerting them to specific and important updates to the document.

Tell people where the document home page is so the very newest release could be found in case of problems with the main Linux Documentation Project homepage.

The following is a sample from the Multi Disk HOWTO:

The latest version number of this document can be gleaned from my plan entry if you finger my Nyx account.

If you have the capability, it would be nice to make the HOWTO available in a number of formats.

The newest version of this HOWTO will always be made available on my website, in a variety of formats:

Note that paper sizes vary in the world, A4 and US letter differ significantly. You might also wish to consider using the universal format (8.27x11in; 210x279mm).

1.4. Credits

It is always nice to acknowledge people who help you with input; it is also regarded by many as important in the Linux world new economy.

In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging:

Please scramble the addresses so email harvesters cannot get addresses from your HOWTO and then spam people. That has happened in the past.

Somecompany is acknowledged for sending me documentation on their gizmos as well as permission to quote from the material. These quotes have been approved before appearing here and will be clearly labeled.

1.5. Feedback

Feedback is most certainly welcome for this document. Without your submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. Please send your additions, comments and criticisms to the following email address : .

1.6. Translations

Not everyone speaks English, pointers to translations are nice. Also your translators tend to give very important inputs.