6. Conventions Used in This Book

6.1. Typing Conventions

In order to clearly differentiate special words from the text flow, the documentation team uses different renderings. The following table shows an example of each special word or group of words with its actual rendering and what this means.

Formatted ExampleMeaning
inode This formatting is used to stress a technical term, explained in the glossary.
ls -lta Indicates commands or arguments to a command. This formatting is applied to commands, options and file names. Also see the section about " Commands Synopsis ".
ls(1) Reference to a man page. To get the page in a shell (or command line), simply type man 1 ls.
$ ls *.pid
imwheel.pid
The documentation team uses this formatting for text snapshots of what you may see on your screen. It includes computer interactions, program listings, etc.
localhost This is literal data that does not generally fit in with any of the previously defined categories. For example, a key word taken from a configuration file.
Apache This is used for application names. The example used is not a command name but, in particular contexts, the application and command name may be the same but formatted in different ways.
Files This is used for menu entries or graphical interface labels in general. The underlined letter indicates the keyboard shortcut, if applicable.
SCSI-Bus It denotes a computer part or a computer itself.
Le petit chaperon rouge This formatting identifies foreign language words.
Warning! Of course, this is reserved for special warnings in order to stress the importance of words; read out loud :-)

Note

This icon highlights a note. Generally, it is a remark in the current context, giving additional information.

Tip

This icon represents a tip. It can be a general advice on how to perform a specific action, or a nice feature that can make your life easier.

Warning

Be very careful when you see this icon. It always means that very important information about a specific subject will be dealt with.

6.2. General Conventions

6.2.1. Commands Synopsis

The example below shows you the symbols you will find when the writer describes the arguments of a command:
command <non literal argument>
[--option={arg1,arg2,arg3}] [optional arg. ...] 
These conventions are standard and you may find them at other places such as the man pages.

The "<" (lesser than) and ">" (greater than) symbols denote a mandatory argument not to be copied verbatim, but to be replaced according to your needs. For example, <filename> refers to the actual name of a file. If this name is foo.txt, you should type foo.txt, and not <foo.txt> or <filename>.

The square brackets "[ ]" denote optional arguments, which you may or may not include in the command.

The ellipsis "..." mean an arbitrary number of items can be included.

The curly brackets "{ }" contain the arguments authorized at this specific place. One of them is to be placed here.

6.2.2. Special Notations

From time to time, you will be directed to press, for example, the keys Ctrl+R, which means you need to press and hold the Ctrl and tap the R key as well. The same applies for the Alt and Shift keys.

Also about menus, going to menu item File->Reload user config (Ctrl+R) means: click on the File text displayed on the menu (generally horizontal on the top of the window). Then in the pull-down menu, click on the Reload user config item. Additionally, you are informed that you can use the key combination Ctrl+R, as described above, to achieve the same result.

6.2.3. System Generic Users

Whenever possible, we used two generic users in our examples:

Queen Pingusa

This user is created at installation time.
Peter Pingus

This user is created afterwards by the system administrator.


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