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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
<title>Linux User Group HOWTO
<author><url name="Rick Moen" url="mailto:%20rick@linuxmafia.com%20"></author>
<date>v1.8.7, 2016-03-14
<date>v1.8.8, 2022-07-18
<abstract>
The Linux User Group HOWTO is a guide to founding, maintaining, and
@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ at all maintained since creation. On some of the rarer architectures,
(The
<url name="Debian GNU/kFreeBSD" url="http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/"> port should also be solid enough to
serve as a compromise option, furnishing GNU/Linux userspace code on the
high performance / high stability FreeBSD kernel, and <url name="Dyson" url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_(operating_system)"> or another <url name="Illumos distribution" url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumos#Relatives">
high performance / high stability FreeBSD kernel, and <url name="OpenIndiana" url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenIndiana"> or another <url name="Illumos distribution" url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumos#Relatives">
can provide something similar on the OpenSolaris kernel.)
<sect1>Other sources of information
@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ A few time-tested tips for averting LUG flameout:
should be scripted.</item>
<item>Check all your LUG's systems, both technical and social,
for single points of failure (SPoFs). Keep trying to make sure there are
fallbacks if anything or anyone fails. Do backups. Ensure that nothing
fallbacks if anything or anyone fails. Do (and test) backups. Ensure that nothing
important can be done by only one person.</item>
<item>Beware of your LUG, or any individual in it, committing
to carrying out too much work, or with too great frequency. It's
@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ LUG, your first task should be to find any nearby existing LUGs.
<it>Your best bet may be to join a LUG already established in your area,
rather than founding one.</it>
As of 2016, there are LUGs in 43 US states, seven of Canada's ten provinces,
As of 2016, there were LUGs in 43 US states, seven of Canada's ten provinces,
all six of Australia's states plus the Australian Capital Territory, in 76
locations in India, and over 100 other countries, including Russia, China, most
of Western and Eastern Europe, and many parts of Africa, Asia, South America,
@ -323,14 +323,15 @@ Central America, Oceania, and the Caribbean. (This does not include Linux
groups internal to <url name="Meetup.com" url="http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/meetup.html">.)
<itemize>
<item><url name="Lugslist" url="http://lugslist.com/"></item>
<item><url name="DMOZ Linux User Groups" url="http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/User_Groups/"></item>
<item><url name="Curlie: Linux User Groups" url="https://curlie.org/en/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/User_Groups"></item>
<item><url name="L&eacute;a-Linux List" url="http://www.lea-linux.org/documentations/index.php/Annuaire:LUG_%26_assos_nationales"> (text is in French)</item>
<item><url name="UK Linux User Groups" url="http://www.lug.org.uk/"></item>
<item><url name="Linux Australia" url="http://linux.org.au/usergroups"></item>
<item><url name="LUGs List for India and Asia" url="http://www.wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList"></item>
<item><url name="I Linux User Group italiani" url="http://lugmap.linux.it/"></item>
<item><url name="Linux Links UserGroups" url="https://www.linuxlinks.com/?s=User+Group">
<item><url name="LibrePlanet Group List" url="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group_list"> (lists FSF affiliates only)</item>
<item><url name="LinuxUserGroups.org" url="https://www.linuxusersgroups.org/"> (however, a/o 2022, seems neglected since June 2001)</item>
</itemize>
<sect1>Solidarity versus convenience
@ -382,9 +383,7 @@ membership's needs.
<p>
The urge to advocate the use of GNU/Linux is widely felt. When you find
something that works well, you want to tell as many people as you can.
LUGs' role in advocacy cannot be overestimated, especially since
wide-scale commercial acceptance is only newly underway. While
it is certainly beneficial to the movement, each and every time a
While it is certainly beneficial to the movement, each and every time a
computer journalist writes a positive review of GNU/Linux, it is also
beneficial every time satisfied GNU/Linux users brief their friends,
colleagues, employees, or employers.
@ -397,25 +396,10 @@ url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Advocacy.html">, available at the
<url name="Linux Documentation Project" url="http://www.tldp.org/">,
gives some helpful suggestions, as does Don Marti's excellent
<url name="Linuxmanship" url="http://zgp.org/~dmarti/linuxmanship/"> essay.
Suffice it to say that advocacy is important to a LUG's mission.
A time may come when advocacy is irrelevant, because GNU/Linux has
more or less won the day, when the phrase "no one ever got fired for
using Linux" becomes reality. Until then, LUGs play a vital role in
promoting GNU/Linux use. They do so because their advocacy is free,
well-intentioned, and backed up by organisational commitment. If a
person encounters GNU/Linux through a LUG's efforts, then that new
user's already ahead of the game: <it>She knows of an organisation that
will help her install, configure, and even maintain GNU/Linux on whatever
computers she's willing to dedicate to it.</it>
New users already in contact with a LUG are ahead
of others whose interest in GNU/Linux has been piqued by a computer
journalist, but who have no one to whom to turn for aid in their
quest to install, run, and learn GNU/Linux.
It is, therefore, important for LUGs to advocate GNU/Linux, because
their advocacy is effective, well-supported, and free.
Over the long life of this HOWTO, GNU/Linux more or less won the
day, so the HOWTO maintainer has deleted much of this section, and
advocacy in his view has become, in his view, overwhelmingly irrelevant.
<sect1>The limits of advocacy
<p>
@ -427,7 +411,7 @@ worse.
Many attempts at advocacy fail ignominiously because the advocate fails
to listen to what the other party feels she wants or needs. (As Eric
S. Raymond <url name="says"
url="http://www.itworld.com/LWD000913expo00">,
url="http://web.archive.org/web/20120131000749/http://www.itworld.com/print/36449">,
"Appeal to the prospect's interests and values, not to
yours.") If that person wants exactly the proprietary-OS setup she
already has, then advocacy wastes your time and hers. If her
@ -519,7 +503,7 @@ warehouses, call centres, or similar high-availability facilities, it's
light years better preparation than MS-Windows experience. As Linux has
advanced into journaling filesystems, high availability, real-time
extensions, and other high-end Unix features, the already blurry line
between GNU/Linux and "real" Unixes has been increasingly vanishing.
between GNU/Linux and "real" Unixes vanished entirely.
Not only is such education a form of worker training, but it will also
serve, as information technology becomes increasingly vital to the
@ -541,7 +525,7 @@ GNU/Linux is a natural fit for these organisations, because deployments
don't commit them to expensive licence, upgrade, or maintenance fees.
Being technically elegant and economical, it also runs very well on
cast-off corporate hardware that non-profit organisations are only too
happy to use: The unused Pentium III in the closet can do <bf>real
happy to use: The unused Pentium Core 2 in the closet can do <bf>real
work</bf>, if someone installs GNU/Linux on it.
In addition, education assists other LUG goals over time, in
@ -568,7 +552,7 @@ pertinent sources of information -- any relevant documentation the LUG
develops: technical presentations, tutorials, local FAQs, etc. LUGs'
documentation often fails to benefit the worldwide community for no
better reason than not notifying the outside world. Don't let that
happen: It is highly probable that if someone at one LUG had a question
happen: It is highly probable that if someone at one LUG had a question
or problem with something, then others elsewhere will have it, too.
<sect1>GNU/Linux support
@ -592,9 +576,9 @@ LUGs have the opportunity to support:
New users' most frequent complaint, once they have GNU/Linux
installed, is the steep learning curve characteristic of all modern
Unixes. (That sentence was true in 1997 when this HOWTO's first
maintainer wrote it, but happily not much any more.) With that learning
maintainer wrote it, but happily very little, any more.) With that learning
curve, however, comes the power and flexibility of a real operating
system. A LUG is often the a new user's main resource to flatten the
system. A LUG is often the new user's main resource, to flatten the
learning curve.
During GNU/Linux's first decade, it gained some first-class journalistic
@ -604,18 +588,17 @@ url="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"></it> (USA).
More recently,
they've been joined by
<it><url name="Linux Format" url="http://www.linuxformat.com"></it> (UK),
<it><url name="LinuxUser and Developer" url="http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/"></it> (UK),
<it><url name="Linux Magazine" url="http://www.linux-magazine.com/"></it> (German publishing firm; publishes in English, German, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish; North American edition is named <it>Linux Pro Magazine</it>),
<it><url name="Open Source For You"
url="http://opensourceforu.efytimes.com/"></it> (India; formerly <it>LINUX
For You)</it>,
<it><url name="Open Source For You" url="https://www.opensourceforu.com"></it> (India; formerly <it>LINUX For You)</it>,
<it><url name="Full Circle" url="http://fullcirclemagazine.org/"></it>
(international; covers Ubuntu family distributions),
<it><url name="Linux Voice" url="http://linuxvoice.com/"></it> (UK),
<it><url name="easyLinux" url="http://www.easylinux.de/"></it> (German),
<it><url name="LinuxUser" url="https://www.linux-user.de/"</it> (German), and
<it><url name="LinuxUser" url="https://www.linux-user.de/"</it> (German),
<it><url name="Ubuntu User" url="http://www.ubuntu-user.com/"></it> (German
publishing firm; in English).
publishing firm; in English),
<it><url name="Free Software Magazine" url="http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/"></it> (formerly <it>The Open Voice</it>), and
<it><url name="Ubuntu User" url="http://www.ubuntu-user.com/"></it> (German publishing firm; in English).
Standout on-line magazines and news sites with weekly or better publication
cycles include <it><url name="Linux Weekly News" url="http://lwn.net/"></it>,
@ -702,10 +685,10 @@ Telltale signs that a questioner may need to be transitioned to consulting-based
<item>Asking the same questions (or ones closely related) repeatedly.
<item>Insisting on <it>private</it> assistance from helpers active in
<it>public</it> (GNU/Linux community) forums.
<item>Vague problem descriptions, or ones that change with time.
<item>Providing only vague problem descriptions, or ones that change with time.
<item>Interrupting answers in order to ask additional questions
(suggesting lack of attention to the answers).
<item>Demands that answers be recast or delivered more quickly
<item>Demanding that answers be recast or delivered more quickly
(suggesting that the questioner's time and trouble are
valuable, but that helpers' are not).
<item>Asking unusually complex, time-consuming, and/or multipart
@ -727,10 +710,6 @@ A fellow computerist who suddenly becomes a customer is a very different
person; one's responsibilities are quite different, and greater. You're
advised to be aware, if not wary, of this distinction.
Please see Joshua Drake's <url name="Linux Consultants Guide"
url="http://www.commandprompt.com/community/consultants/guide/"> for an
international list of GNU/Linux consultants. (Note: As of 2016,
Drake's list was last updated in 2006.)
<sect2>Businesses, non-profit organisations, and schools
<p>
@ -759,7 +738,6 @@ available in few other places. For example:
<item>Which local ISP is Linux-friendly?</item>
<item>Are there any local hardware vendors building Linux PCs?</item>
<item>Does anyone sell Linux DVDs/CDs locally?</item>
</itemize>
@ -779,11 +757,10 @@ anyone I know, and he contributes the following:
<sect3>Chris Browne on free software / open source philanthropy
<p>
A further involvement can be to encourage sponsorship of various
GNU/Linux-related organisations in a financial way. With the <url
url="http://linuxcounter.net/" name="multiple millions"> of users,
it would be entirely plausible for grateful users to individually
contribute a little. Given millions of users, and the not-unreasonable
sum of a hundred dollars of "gratitude" per user (&dollar;100 being
GNU/Linux-related organisations in a financial way. With the
multiple millions of users, it would be entirely plausible for grateful
users to individually contribute a little. Given millions of users, and
the not-unreasonable sum of a hundred dollars of "gratitude" per user (&dollar;100 being
roughly the sum <it>not</it> spent this year upgrading a Microsoft OS),
that could add up to <it>hundreds of millions</it> of dollars towards
development of improved GNU/Linux tools and applications.
@ -816,8 +793,8 @@ development of software working with GNU/Linux:
<item><url url="https://my.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom" name="Free Software Foundation">
<item><url url="http://www.kde.org/community/donations/" name="KDE Project (KDE e.V.)">
<item><url url="http://www.gnome.org/friends/" name="GNOME Foundation">
<item><url url="http://http://sfconservancy.org/" name="Software Freedom Conservancy">
<item><url url="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/" name="The Mozilla Foundation">
<item><url url="https:/sfconservancy.org/" name="Software Freedom Conservancy">
<item><url url="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/" name="The Mozilla Foundation">
</itemize>
<p>
@ -977,6 +954,7 @@ most user groups). LUGs have these kinds of meetings:
<item>social</item>
<item>technical presentations</item>
<item>informal discussion groups</item>
<item>online videoconferencing (Jitsi Meet, Zoom, etc.)</item>
<item>user group business</item>
<item>GNU/Linux installation</item>
<item>configuration and bug-squashing</item>
@ -1005,8 +983,8 @@ pages, if not whole Web sites. In fact, I'm not sure how else to find a
LUG, but to check the Web.
It makes sense, then, for a LUG to make use of whatever Internet
technologies they can: Web sites, mailing lists, wikis, e-mail, Web
discussion forums, netnews, etc. As the world of commerce is
technologies they can: Web sites, Jitsi Meet/Zoom/etc., mailing lists,
wikis, e-mail, Web discussion forums, netnews, etc. As the world of commerce is
discovering, the Net is an effective way to advertise, inform, educate,
and even sell. The other reason LUGs make extensive use of Internet
technology is that the very essence of GNU/Linux is to <it>provide</it>
@ -1058,11 +1036,9 @@ Some LUGs using the Internet effectively:
<item><url name="Boston Linux and Unix" url="http://www.blu.org/"></item>
<item><url name="Colorado Linux Users and Enthusiasts" url="http://www.cluedenver.org/"></item>
<item><url name="Dusseldorfer Linux Users Group" url="http://www.dlug.de/"></item>
<item><url name="India Linux Users Group - Delhi" url="http://linux-delhi.org/"></item>
<item><url name="India Linux Users Group Delhi" url="https://linuxdelhi.org/"></item>
<item><url name="Israeli Group of Linux Users" url="http://www.iglu.org.il/"></item>
@ -1080,7 +1056,7 @@ Some LUGs using the Internet effectively:
<item><url name="North Texas Linux Users Group" url="http://www.ntlug.org/"></item>
<item><url name="Ottawa Canada Linux Users Group" url="http://www.oclug.on.ca/"></item>
<item><url name="Ottawa Canada Linux Users Group" url="https://wiki.linux-ottawa.org/doku.php"></item>
<item><url name="Provence Linux Users Group" url="http://plugfr.org/"></item>
@ -1099,23 +1075,6 @@ interesting way; I'd like this list to include your group.
Finally, I want to make some very practical, even mundane, suggestions
for anyone wanting to found, maintain, or grow a LUG.
<sect1>LUG support organisations
<p>
There once were numerous organisations offering assistance to LUGs.
One of the long-time ones remains active:
<descrip>
<tag>Tux.Org:</tag> Tux.Org is an umbrella organisation for
LUGs and open-source software development projects, providing
a corporate entity, Web hosting, mailing lists, mirrors of
popular software, and expertise and funding in planning special
LUG events. More information can be found at the
<url name="http://www.tux.org/" url="http://www.tux.org/">
Web site.
</descrip>
<sect1>Founding a LUG
<p>
@ -1129,7 +1088,7 @@ One of the long-time ones remains active:
<item>Form a mailing list or some means of communication among the people who express an interest in forming a LUG.</item>
<item>Ask key people specifically for help in spreading the word about your intention to form a LUG.</item>
<item>Solicit space on a Web server to put a few HTML pages together about the group.</item>
<item>Begin looking for a meeting place.</item>
<item>Begin looking for a meeting place (in-person and/or videoconferencing).</item>
<item>Schedule an initial meeting.</item>
<item>Discuss at the initial meeting the goals for the LUG.</item>
@ -1156,7 +1115,7 @@ One of the long-time ones remains active:
<item>Meet in conjunction with swap meets, computer shows, or other community events where computer users -- i.e., potential GNU/Linux users -- are likely to gather.</item>
<item>Elect formal leadership for the LUG as soon as practical: Some helpful officers might include President, Treasurer, Secretary, Meeting Host (general announcements, speaker introductions, opening and closing remarks, etc.), Publicity Coordinator (handles Usenet and e-mail postings, local publicity), and Program Coordinator (organises and schedules speakers at LUG meetings).</item>
<item>Provide ways for members and others to give feedback about the direction, goals, and strategies of the LUG.</item>
<item>Support GNU/Linux and free software / open source development efforts by donating Web/ftp space, or a mailing list.</item>
<item>Support GNU/Linux and free software / open source development efforts by donating Web space, or a mailing list.</item>
<item>Establish a Web/ftp site for relevant software.</item>
<item>Archive everything the LUG does for the Web site.</item>
<item>Solicit "door prizes" from GNU/Linux vendors, VARs, etc. to give away at meetings.</item>
@ -1198,7 +1157,7 @@ deeds that person carries out). Fundraising isn't needed for a group whose
activities needn't involve significant expenses. (Dead-tree newsletters
are so 1980.) Not needing a treasury, you avoid needing to argue over
it, file reports about it, or fear it being taxed away. Meeting space
can usually be gotten for free at ISPs, colleges, pizza parlours,
can sometimes be gotten for free at ISPs, colleges, pizza parlours,
brewpubs, coffeehouses, computer-training firms, GNU/Linux-oriented
companies, hackerspaces, or other friendly institutions, and can
therefore be free of charge to the public. No revenues and no expenses
@ -1231,8 +1190,9 @@ certified charity status.
<sect2>Germany
<p>
Correspondent <htmlurl name="Thomas Kappler" url="mailto:%20Thomas.Kappler@stud.uni-karlsruhe.de%20"> warns that the process of founding a non-profit entity in Germany
is a bit complicated, but comprehensively covered at <url
name="http://www.buergergesellschaft.de/?id=106947" url="http://www.buergergesellschaft.de/?id=106947">.
is a bit complicated, but comprehensively covered at
http://www.buergergesellschaft.de/?id=106947 (unfortunately not archived; please
advise this HOWTO's maintainer of any current version or successor text).
<sect2>Sweden
<p>
@ -1277,13 +1237,16 @@ limitation or even exemption from state corporate franchise taxes
While you should consult competent legal counsel before incorporating
your LUG as a non-profit, you can probably reduce your legal
fees by being acquainted with relevant issues before consulting
with an attorney. I recommend the <it><url name="Non-Lawyers' Non-Profit
Corporation Kit" url="http://alphapublications.com/"></it>.
with an attorney. I recommend Kermit Burton's <it><url name="Non-Lawyers' Non-Profit
Corporation Kit" url="https://www.alibris.com/The-Non-Lawyers-Non-Profit-Corporation-Kit-Kermit-Burton/book/4711443"></it>. (Be warned that this work has not been
updated since 1996, but its general guidelines are good. The prior
1992 edition can be read for free at <it><url name="Internet Archive"
url="https://archive.org/details/alphacorporation00kerm"></it>.)
As for the second status, tax-exemption, this is not a legal status, so
much as an Internal Revenue Service judgement. It's important to realise
much as an Internal Revenue Service judgement. It's important to realise
non-profit incorporation <bf>does not</bf> ensure that IRS will rule
your LUG tax-exempt. It is quite possible for a non-profit corporation
your LUG tax-exempt. It is quite possible for a non-profit corporation
to <bf>not</bf> be tax-exempt.
IRS has a relatively simple document explaining the criteria
@ -1552,7 +1515,7 @@ Have fun!
<sect1>Terms of use
<p>
Copyright (C) 2003-2016, Rick Moen. Copyright (C) 1997-1998 by Kendall Grant
Copyright (C) 2003-2022, Rick Moen. Copyright (C) 1997-1998 by Kendall Grant
Clark. This document may be distributed under the terms set forth
in the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence at <url
name="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
@ -1651,7 +1614,7 @@ incorporate improvements. Re-sorted country coverage into alphabetical
order (a small gesture to further reduce US-centrism).</item>
<item>1.8.0: Corrected typos. Improved some markup. Expanded "Common Misconceptions Debunked" section to address recently popular errors about USA Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, civil liability, and IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Linked directly to the Act and an analysis page. Furnished links for <it>Non-Lawyers' Non-Profit Corporation Kit</it>, for <it>DistroWatch Weekly</it>, and for the Raymond quotation.</item>
<item>1.8.1: Banished more typos. (I blame society.)</item>
<item>1.8.2: Added more CPU ports. APCUG changed Web sites. Linux India's LUG list, lugww.counter.li.org (formerly Woven Goods's Linux Worldwide LUG list), Red Hat Army of Friends, LUG Webring, O'Reilly LinuxGroups, and LINUX For You Magazine (of India) LUG List vanished. IDG moved the Raymond article (again). LinuxFocus was revived via a CMS. NewsForge was shut down by The Company Formerly Known as VA Linux. Linux International Development Grant Fund program vanished. Project Gutenberg moved to its own domain. Colorado Linux Users and Enthusiasts moved. Added mention of IRS e-Postcard for 501(c) non-profits. Added Linux Users Group - Delhi. Added New Zealand Linux Resource. Added Project Runeberg.</item>
<item>1.8.2: Added more CPU ports. APCUG changed Web sites. Linux India's LUG list, lugww.counter.li.org (formerly Woven Goods's Linux Worldwide LUG list), Red Hat Army of Friends, LUG Webring, O'Reilly LinuxGroups, and <it>LINUX For You Magazine</it> (of India) LUG List vanished. IDG moved the Raymond article (again). LinuxFocus was revived via a CMS. NewsForge was shut down by The Company Formerly Known as VA Linux. Linux International Development Grant Fund program vanished. Project Gutenberg moved to its own domain. Colorado Linux Users and Enthusiasts moved. Added mention of IRS e-Postcard for 501(c) non-profits. Added Linux Users Group - Delhi. Added New Zealand Linux Resource. Added Project Runeberg.</item>
<item>1.8.3: Replacement ARM Linux Web site. New URLs for many embedded and other systems. SoftBlaze renamed to PetaLinux. LUGs WorldWide Project, Linux Online -- User Groups, LinuxHQ User Groups, and New Zealand Linux Resource vanished. Free Software Foundation GNU Users Groups got moved/renamed to LibrePlanet Group List. New URLs for LinuxFormat and LinuxCounter. PingoS e.V. vanished (though its SelfLinux project for hypertext tutorials in the German language persists). Linux User Group of Singapore, St. Petersburg Linux User Group, and Svenska Linuxforeningen folded.</item>
<Item>1.8.4: Linux.org (without its former Linux Online branding) has been rebuilt and offers a new LUG directory.</item>
<Item>1.8.5: Replaced defunct NexentaOS with Dyson and other
@ -1683,10 +1646,35 @@ list as being FSF affiliates only. Updated claim about how many LUGs
exist worldwide. Updated version of CC BY-SA licence applicable to this
HOWTO from 3.0 to 4.0. Included nod to realism that, no, the world at large
is never going to adopt the usage "GNU/Linux", but please indulge me anyway.
Linked in two appropriate places to separate Meetup.com rant.
<Item>1.8.6: Fixed new typos and punctuation errors, revised antiquated emphasis on ftp, and averted one quibble about tax-exempt status not requiring incorporation (the 501(c)(3) exception). Politely disagreed with Kendall's implication that everyone deserves an equal say in "big decisions".
<Item>1.8.7: Add Software Freedom Conservancy and The Mozilla
Foundation.
Linked in two appropriate places to separate Meetup.com rant.</item>
<Item>1.8.6: Fixed new typos and punctuation errors, revised antiquated emphasis on ftp, and averted one quibble about tax-exempt status not requiring incorporation (the 501(c)(3) exception). Politely disagreed with Kendall's implication that everyone deserves an equal say in "big decisions".</item>
<Item>1.8.7: Added Software Freedom Conservancy and The Mozilla
Foundation. Added Linux Links UserGroups list.</item>
<Item>1.8.8: Dropped Dyson, a Debian-compatible Illumos
distribution that died in the 2010s. Substituted OpenIndiana, the
flagship and most general-purpose Illumos distribution. Among lists of
LUGs, deleted lugslist.com (vanished 2018), dmoz.org (replaced by
curlie.org on Mar. 17, 2018). Added curlie.org, added back Kara Pritchard"s
LinuxUserGroups.org (as it's back). Altered URL for "Linux Links
UserGroups" to a search link. Deleted antique line that "wide-scale commercial acceptance
(of Linux) is only newly underway", because it's 2022, and, how quaint. Truncated most
of the advocacy section as irrelevant. Changed Eric Raymond "Effective Advocacy" article
link to point to Internet Archive.
Deleted <it>Linux User and Developer</it> magagzine (UK; closed 2018). Amended URL for
<it>Open Source for You</it> magazine. Added <it>Free Software Magazine</it> and
<it>Ubuntu User</it> magazine. Removed
Joshua Drake's Linux Consultants Guide that had moved to Command Prompt, Inc. but
has now vanished. (Its predecessor incarnation, the Consultants HOWTO at tldp.org,
is too crufty.) Removed Linux Counter link (retired 2018 after a quarter-century,
with a final estimate of worldwide Linux users of 91.9 million, as of August 2017).
Amended URL for Mozilla Foundation. Sprinkled some mentions of Jitsi Meet/Zoom/etc.
Removed Colorado Linux Users and Enthusiasts, who seem to have been inactive since
about 2014. Replaced India Linux Users Group - Delhi, which seems to have been abandoned
to a domain squatter, with India Linux Users Group Delhi. Amended URL for Ottawa
Canada Linux Users Group. Eliminated section about site tux.org, which has been blank
or offline since Oct. 2021. Delete mention of "ftp", because 2022. Noted that
all known copies of the external German text on the process of founding a non-profit have
vanished.
</item>
</itemize>