About This Manual

This manual was initially written at the first edition of the GNU/Linux conference LibrePlanet which was hosted at the Harvard Science Center, Cambridge, MA, on March 21-22, 2009. LibrePlanet conferences are part of the LibrePlanet project, started in 2006, whose mission is to help further the ideals surrounding the free software via a social movement for user freedom organized as a global network of local teams and project-based ones.

The LibrePlanet conference 2009 was sponsored by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and organized into three tracks, free software activism, freedom for network services, and high priority free software projects. The creation of this manual was part of the free software activism track, and a collaboration between FLOSS Manuals and the FSF. The book sprint was organized by Andy Oram and Adam Hyde, with assistance from Peter Brown, Deb Nicholson and Danny Clark.

There was a good turnout for the event. For the first time, a FLOSS Manuals book sprint had more authors participating remotely than physically. On the second day of LibrePlanet, and as part of the un-conference schedule, there were 4-5 people working regularly on site.

sprint

Big shout out to Tom Boyle for going tip to toe copy editing :)

The FSF plans to print and sell two hundred bound copies of this manual at to provide funds for the second Gnubie book sprint. You can purchase this book at:

http://shop.fsf.org/product/Introduction_to_Command_Line/

This manual has been written within FLOSS Manuals. This manual can be improved by you. To improve this manual follow these steps:

1. Register

2. Contribute!

Select the manual (http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/CommandLineIntro) and a chapter to work on.

If you need to ask us questions about how to contribute then join the chat room listed below and ask us! We look forward to your contribution!

For more information on using FLOSS Manuals you may also wish to read our manual:
http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals

You may wish to also look at the Outline at the end of the book. This is a guide as to how the manual might be extended. Feel free to change the outline and improvise!

http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/CommandLineIntro/Outline

3. Chat

It's a good idea to talk with us so we can help co-ordinate all contributions. We have a chat room embedded in the FLOSS Manuals website so you can use it in the browser.

If you know how to use IRC you can connect to the following:
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channel: #flossmanuals

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5. Translation

If you would like to translate this manual, let us know, because we have a very good system to enable translations. To start a translation join the mailing list (listed above) and send an email telling us which language you would like to translate the manual into.