Advice for new users

Roadmap

The traditional route to ROCK Linux goes like this:

1. You are born.
2. You start using MS Windows.
3. You become disenchanted with Windows.
4. You start using a popular Linux distribution (Red Hat, Mandrake, etc.)
5. You become disenchanted with the popular Linux distribution.
6. You start experimenting with various less-mainstream alternatives.
7. You become disenchanted with the less-mainstream alternatives.
8. You start using a "metadistribution" or "distribution build kit" (ROCK, Gentoo, etc.).
9. You live happily ever after. Or not.

Anyway...
Windows users, go here.
GNU/Linux/BSD/*nix users, go here.

Windows users

A. I'm happy with Windows, I don't really want or need to switch. I'm just surfing the Web checking out this Linux thing that people keep talking about.

Try these sites:

• https://www.linux.org/info/
• https://www.tldp.org/FAQ/Linux-FAQ/intro.html
• https://linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/03/09/1727250

There are hundreds of other sites that provide general information about Linux; use your favorite search engine.

B. I've always used Windows, and I don't have any particular objection to it, but the licence fees are getting so expensive. I'm looking for a cheap, easy alternative. I don't want to learn anything new or put any effort into it, and I want it to look just like Windows.

Hire a consultant.

C. I'm not happy with Windows because [insert reason here] and I am seriously considering switching to Linux. But I've never used anything besides Windows and I don't know how to get started.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Contact your local Linux User Group (LUG). A quick web search should locate the group nearest to you. Be aware that, as with everything involving human interaction, the quality (e.g. helpfulness, knowledgeability, etc.) of your LUGs experience may vary.
• You may want to start out with a user-friendly distribution of Linux. Red Hat, Mandrake and SuSE are a few of the more popular commercial ones.
• Read some books about Linux. Go to a bookstore with a large selection and browse through the general Linux section. Pick something that fits your knowledge level and which is written in a style that appeals to you. The most popular publisher among computer geeks is probably O'Reilly. Their introductory Linux book is called Running Linux (4th edition). There are many lists and reviews of other beginners' Linux books on the web.
• Immerse yourself in the Open Source/Free Software culture. Get to understand the philosophy and ideals that drive "the community", as well as its flaws and idiosyncrasies. To start with, try:
  • The Cathedral and the Bazaar, and various other writings by Eric S. Raymond. Not all that many people agree completely with ESR, but nearly everyone will agree that this book remains Very Important. Other interesting things that Eric has on his website are The Jargon File, a slightly dated but Important dictionary of hacker terms, and How To Ask Questions The Smart Way, a guide to getting people to help you.
  • Another Important (and controversial) source of philosophy is The Free Software Foundation's site. The FSF is the organization behind the GNU project, which is inextricably linked with Linux (or GNU/Linux).
  • For a less direct approach, try reading the things Linux people read, like slashdot, The Register, and other geeky sites.
  All of the above sites (and many more) are listed and linked on the ROCK Linux Portal.

If you're still interested, read on...

GNU/Linux/BSD/other *nix variant users

What ROCK is

The first thing to understand about ROCK is that it is source-based, and is not so much a "distribution" as a tool for making your own distribution. We call it a "Distribution Build Kit". The vast majority of Linux distributions are binary-based. With ROCK (and its rivals), you compile the source code yourself. In a typical Linux distribution, the programs are already compiled on someone else's machine (which is hopefully similar to yours). Of course you can always download the source code for a program and compile it yourself even if you use a binary distribution (at least in theory). That's not the point. Building everything from source means that:

• the compiled code is optimized for your specific hardware
• you can select the compiler and linker options
• you can select precisely what you want installed
• you can create your own special-purpose distributions, or "targets"

This thing about ROCK and its "targets" is pretty significant. ROCK Linux itself is a tool to help you make a target (a target is, remember, a Linux distribution.) So you could, for example, make a distribution suitable for a desktop machine. Or for a file server. Or for a firewall/router. Or for your laptop, PDA, or microwave oven. You might want to make a distribution for that 30-year-old Sparc5 you picked up on Ebay, or that weird big box in the basement of the University library with all the cool blinking lights on it. Or perhaps you want a distribution that uses a certain set of standard libraries, or a certain set of specialized programs, or... well. Basically, you make whatever you want.

Building from source does mean that can take a long time for an install to complete, especially if you're using that rusty 486 you found in the garbage dump last week. However, it is possible to cluster-build ROCK (speed up the build time by using several workstations) on the same build. So go back to that garbage dump and get a few more of those things. Or, if you're lucky enough to have access to a company or school computer network, abuse your privileges. The cluster-build script takes build dependencies into account, by the way.

ROCK has traditionally been targeted towards advanced users and sys admins--in other words, control freaks--simply because these are the sort of people who want to make their own distributions. But that doesn't mean that less skilled (or more relaxed) users won't get anything out of ROCK. If you're not interested in designing your own, you can still enjoy using one of the targets that have already been configured. Probably the most popular preconfigured target is the Desktop target (for obvious reasons), which is the closest thing to a traditional binary distribution that we can bring ourselves to make. Other popular targets include the router target (for routers, of course), the minimum target (to install a bare minimum Linux), and the rescue target (a rescue disk).

What's the difference between ROCK and ...?/Which is better, ROCK or ...?

There are other projects which have "similar" goals and do "similar" things, the most prominent of which is Gentoo. Religious wars are painful and pointless, so the official answer to this question is "No comment". Decide for yourself. But if you have written an objective, comprehensive and up-to-date comparison of ROCK and [some other project], we'd be happy to post it or link to it on our site.

How to build with ROCK

You need to boot into a working Linux installation, either of some commercial distribution, or, if you can manage it, a prebuilt ROCK target. For the definition of what "working" means, read section 2.5 of the FAQ. (The important thing is that you need devfs, which is as yet not present in all popular distributions.) If you don't have a working Linux install, get a precompiled (binary) ISO image or CD, and install it. A ROCK minimum target or rescue disk works very well for this purpose. (With other distributions, you may run into a couple of small problems.)

Next, download a tarball of the ROCK Linux source code here. This contains, basically, the scripts and configuration files necessary to build your distribution from source. (Or you may want to do a CVS checkout instead.)

Unpack the file you downloaded (if you downloaded a tarball), read the files in the Documentation directory and follow the directions therein. Simple, really. Copies of this documentation files are available online as well. Another good source of help is the ROCK Linux Guide.

Other questions?

If you can't find the answer on the website, in the documentation, or in the mailing list or IRC archives, send your question to the mailing list.

Have fun!