227 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
227 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Linux Documentation Project (LDP) FAQ
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Rahul Sundaram
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<rahulsundaram AT yahoo DOT co DOT in>
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2004-05-31
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Revision History
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Revision 1.4 2004-05-31 Revised by: RS
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Added a few more FAQ's and minor modifications from Emma Jane Hogbin and
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updated to Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 License per TM.
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Revision 1.3 2003-11-15 Revised by: EM
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Minor editorial update
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Revision 1.2 2003-11-09 Revised by: TM
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Small corrections
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Revision 1.1 2003-11-07 Revised by: RS
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Minor update
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Revision 1.0 2003-02-24 Revised by: TM
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Initial Release, reviewed by LDP
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An introductory FAQ for users who come across the LDP and want a short
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introduction to it.
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2003, Rahul Sundaram
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Copyright (c) 2003 by Rahul Sundaram. This material is licensed under the
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Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 License. Terms and conditions
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for distribution can be found at [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
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by-sa/2.0/] Creative Commons).
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Q: What is LDP?
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Q: What is a Guide?
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Q: What is a HOWTO?
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Q: What is a man page?
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Q: What is an FAQ?
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Q: Where can I get all of these documents?
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Q: How are the documents licensed?
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Q: Are all of the topics that are in the LDP related to Linux?
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Q: Who contributes to LDP?
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Q: Why should I contribute?
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Q: How can I contribute?
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Q: In which format should I write the documentation?
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Q: DocBook is too hard to learn for a LyX user like me. Why do you use it?
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Q: How should I submit documentation?
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Q: Will my document be reviewed before it is accepted to the collection?
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Q: What if I have question that hasn't been answered here?
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Q: What is LDP?
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A: LDP is a loosely knit team of volunteers who provide documentation for
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many aspects of Linux. There are several forms of documentation: Guides,
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HOWTOs, man pages, and FAQs.
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Q: What is a Guide?
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A: A guide is typically a longer book with broader coverage of a subject; for
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instance, the Network Administration or User Guide. The intent is to
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understand the whole subject, as opposed to performing only one task. If you
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want to have a broader look at some aspect of Linux, then the guides should
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be very handy.
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Q: What is a HOWTO?
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A: A HOWTO is usually a step-by-step guide that describe, in detail, how to
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perform a specific task. For example, you can use the Linux Installation
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HOWTO to help you install Linux on a system, but it does not cover how to set
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up a Web server so that you can focus on a particular task.
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Q: What is a man page?
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A: A man (Manual) page is a standard form of help that is available for many
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Linux applications and utilities. You can view man pages by using the man
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command. Many of the GNU utilities have a more detailed form of help, called
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info pages. You can view info pages by using the info command.
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Q: What is an FAQ?
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A: An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a list of questions that are
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usually available in mailing lists. An FAQ is used to avoid answering
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repetitive questions that are asked by new users. For example, the Linux FAQ
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answers questions like, "What is Linux?" and "How is Linux pronounced?"
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Q: Where can I get all of these documents?
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A: Most Linux distributions include LDP documents, so there is a high chance
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that they are already available for you if you've installed Linux. The latest
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versions that are available at the LDP Web site, [http://www.tldp.org] http:/
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/www.tldp.org.
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Q: How are the documents licensed?
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A: LDP has documents that are available only under a free license, like the
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GNU Free Documentation License. This means that you are allowed to
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distribute, modify, and do what ever you want to do to the documents, as long
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as you do not change the copyright and licensing terms.
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Q: Are all of the topics that are in the LDP related to Linux?
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A: Yes. There are several other applications, languages, and operating
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systems that are covered at the LDP. LDP accepts the document if it is of any
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interest to general Linux users. For example, the Linux+Windows HOWTO
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explains, in detail, how your Linux system can coexist with Windows.
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Documents that do not relate directly to Linux won't be accepted.
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Q: Who contributes to LDP?
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A: Application developers, who usually provide help files with their
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programs, often submit their documentation to LDP. Increasingly, new users
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solve their Linux issues and document their work to help others in the
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community.
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Q: Why should I contribute?
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A: Authors who want to help others by providing some documentation can do so
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through LDP. The documents should be under a free license, such as the GNU
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free documentation license, which ensures that everyone is benefited through
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your documents. Here are some of the major benefits when you contribute
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through LDP:
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* LDP hosts the document and ensures that it is available in many formats,
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including text, html, and pdf, so that Linux users can view it in a
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platform-independent manner.
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* LDP documents are available as part of many distributions and, hence,
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your documents reach a large community of Linux users.
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* Many of the Linux users who read your document may give you comments,
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suggestions, or even provide additional content that ensures the document
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is reliable and updated whenever necessary.
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* You may be providing some crucial help to users who come across the same
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issues that you have solved on your own.
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* It is a form of contribution to the Linux and open source community which
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depends on volunteers for its growth.
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* You may also publish any of LDP documents, including your own, and get
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monetary benefits from the whole process.
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Q: How can I contribute?
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A: If you know a particular topic well, first search the LDP Web site, [http:
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//www.tldp.org] http://www.tldp.org, for related documentation. If something
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is already available, you can contact the author through e-mail, which will
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probably be available within the document, and coordinate your work together.
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You can take care of the documents that are not maintained. If the topic is
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an entirely new one, subscribe to the Discussion mailing list at <
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discuss@en.tldp.org>, propose the topic to your peers first, and then gather
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feedback. After you receive feedback and complete the draft, you can submit
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the document by using the instructions that are in the LDP Author Guide,
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[http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide] http://www.tldp.org/LDP/
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LDP-Author-Guide. Be sure to advise LDP that you followed the steps that are
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listed in the LDP Author Guide. This avoids having someone come back later
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and tell you that this subject was not acceptable (which is rarely the case).
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Contact the HOWTO coordinator who is listed at the LDP Web site if you
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require any expert help. When you follow the above steps, you are ensured the
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following benefits:
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* If any other person is interested in contributing, you can team up.
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* The topic that you wish to cover may already be available as part of some
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other documentation that you are not aware of; you may want to e-mail the
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list so that you can avoid repetitive work.
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* You can receive guidance in the form of help, tools, and other resources
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that can speed up your writing.
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Because LDP is an informal organisation of volunteers, you do not need any
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kind of membership to contribute. Everyone is encouraged to help in whatever
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way they can.
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Q: In which format should I write the documentation?
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A: In any format you would like! Documents will be maintained in DocBook XML
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or LinuxDoc and will be converted for you by a volunteer. You may choose to
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use an editing suite (like OpenOffice.org) to write the DocBook for you.
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There are also scripts available to convert LyX and ASCII documents to
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DocBook.
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Q: DocBook is too hard to learn for a LyX user like me. Why do you use it?
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A: It's not just LyX users that say this, but here's the answer... There are
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hundreds of documents in our collection. We have one set of scripts to
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convert each of these documents into human-readable formats (HTML, PostScript
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and PDF). We use these scripts not only to save time, but also to keep our
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collection visually similar, as requested by many of our readers (read [http:
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//ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/30/0041253] http://ask.slashdot.org/
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article.pl?sid=04/03/30/0041253 for more information. DocBook is a very
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descriptive markup language specifically desgined to describe technical
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documentation. Always under active development, DocBook is be used to output
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a variety of formats, including HTML pages, slide shows, PDF and PostScript
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for printed materials. We are always interested in hearing about scripts or
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tools for converting text to DocBook. Please read the [http://tldp.org/LDP/
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LDP-Author-Guide/html/x2docbook.html] Author Guide and contribute your ideas
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to the "Discuss" mailing list. LyX users should also read [http://
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www.teledyn.com/help/XML/lyx2db/t1.html] http://www.teledyn.com/help/XML/
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lyx2db/t1.html for more information.
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Q: How should I submit documentation?
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A: For your convenience, this process is summarized in our [http://
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www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/html/process.html] Author Guide.
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Q: Will my document be reviewed before it is accepted to the collection?
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A: All new documents are reviewed according to the [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/
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LDP-Reviewer-HOWTO/] LDP Reviewer HOWTO. Each document will go through three
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reviews: technical, language and meta-data. You can read about these reviews
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in the LDP Reviewer HOWTO.
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Q: What if I have question that hasn't been answered here?
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A: If your question hasn't been answered in this FAQ, please send e-mail to
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the Discussion list (<discuss@en.tldp.org>) after subscribing to it. More
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information is also available at [http://www.tldp.org/mailinfo.html] http://
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www.tldp.org/mailinfo.html. If someone on the Discussion list answers the
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question and you feel that it should be included here, send a copy of both
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the question that you asked and the answer that you received to the author of
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this document. The author's e-mail address is listed at the top of this page.
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