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English Translation of Debian Administrator's Handbook Available

Posted by Unknown on from the free-software-free-documentation dept.

After a successful campaign to liberate the English translation of the French Debian Administrator's Handbook, Roland Mas and Raphaël Hertzog announced its availability under the Creative Commons BY-SA license. You can read it online, download it for free, apt-get install debian-handbook if you're using Debian, or buy a physical copy (or donate for an electronic version). I skimmed through it, and discovered a few debconf and libvirt tricks I hadn't known about within a few minutes.

40 comments

  1. Ordered my hardcopy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I could have beaten the ascii dick troll if I hadn't.

    1. Re:Ordered my hardcopy by Forty+Two+Tenfold · · Score: 2

      It'd be beating the dead horse.

      --
      Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
    2. Re:Ordered my hardcopy by Qubit · · Score: 4, Funny

      Very few comments on an article... fp is a troll... second post is simultaneously relevant and pokes fun at the trolls... It's like a time warp back to slashdot of 1999!

      (we're grievously low on mentions of hot grits and cowboy neal, but I'm sure someone can provide the necessary fodder)

      Good news about the handbook. I'm hoping to get a chance to read through it sometime, and it will be much easier in English than in the French.

      --

      coding is life /* the rest is */
    3. Re:Ordered my hardcopy by anakha · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm waiting for a the video, narrated by Natalie Portman - naked and petrified, covered in the aforementioned hot grits.

    4. Re:Ordered my hardcopy by Genda · · Score: 1

      pourquoi

    5. Re:Ordered my hardcopy by EdIII · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sounds like a Kickstarter project ready to get funded.

      Plus she did Your Highness so I think she is flexible on the types of projects she will do.......

  2. Great to see by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Props to the authors and translators for this effort. I'm off to order my hard copy now...

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:Great to see by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      Don't be so quick to spend your money, there are most likely better books on this topic. The book was never a "bestseller" even in French (except for a very brief window of time on Amazon.com when the author had his entire family and all his friends buy the same book at the same time). And the stellar reviews found on the author's web site certainly didn't come from the one less than luke-warm review that can be found on amazon.fr

    2. Re:Great to see by pnot · · Score: 2

      Don't be so quick to spend your money, there are most likely better books on this topic. The book was never a "bestseller" even in French (except for a very brief window of time on Amazon.com when the author had his entire family and all his friends buy the same book at the same time).

      I don't really have a vested interest in this (don't do much system administration these days, little time or inclination to read the book). But it seems that this book has been through five editions in the past eight years. I don't see why the publishers would agree to print a new edition unless they'd made money on the previous one -- or are Hertzog and Mas getting their friends and family to buy up the entire print run of each edition?

      Still, now that the whole thing's online, I suppose everyone can try before they buy.

    3. Re:Great to see by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      Five editions? Of course, it's an ebook, they can claim it's a new edition every time they make an edit and press the save button. Considering that they call their book a bestseller (during a tiny little period of time on amazon.fr), I wouldn't surprised if they would stoop to that level of exaggeration when it came to numbering their editions as well.

      And who is their publisher anyway? Lulu is a print-on-demand outfit for self-publishers. My understanding is that you just need to sell one book, in order for yourself to make your royalty.

      And also, Lulu doesn't edit your work, nor does it promote it in any way. In that sense, they're just like your local Kinkos or your local copy store, except that Lulu provisions your book a ISBN number for you to be able to get it listed on Amazon (or make it look more like a real book at least), and they take care of doing the printing-on-demand procurement for your customers (although, it's not immediately obvious to your customers that "ships in in 3 - 5 business days" really means "will print and ship in 3 - 5 business days").

    4. Re:Great to see by pnot · · Score: 1

      Five editions? Of course, it's an ebook, they can claim it's a new edition every time they make an edit and press the save button.

      Huh? Are we talking about the same book? As is clear from the very Amazon page you linked to, the French editions were old-fashioned dead-tree books.

      Considering that they call their book a bestseller (during a tiny little period of time on amazon.fr)...

      As I understand it, their characterization of the book as a "best-seller right from the start" wass mainly based on the fact that the first edition sold out in four months. As for being the top seller on Amazon.fr, the Ulule page says "It was even the most sold book on Amazon.fr for an entire morning." So they're entirely upfront that the top ranking was only for a short time. (Still, though. For one morning it was selling better than Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, or whatever. Not bad for a book about Debian.)

      And who is their publisher anyway?

      The French publisher was Eyrolles, again easily ascertained from the very Amazon page you linked to. According to Wikipedia, Eyrolles was founded in 1925 and has over 200 employees and annual revenues exceeding 50 million euro, so I'm fairly sure they're not just a front for two dodgy authors and a double-sided laser printer. You can find the latest edition on the publisher's website here.

      [Blah blah lots of stuff about Lulu]

      I don't really see what relevance this has to the French editions which you were criticising in your initial post. I thought we were debating whether the French editions had sold well, rather than discussing the publishing model for the new English edition.

  3. One language to another... by Auroch · · Score: 0

    So, the book was written in one language, translated into another, just so that people can use a third language effectively?

    Sounds like the year of the linux desktop has arrived.

    On a more serious note, it's kinda sad that you could probably have learned a second language (adequately for reading) faster than the translation took...

    --
    Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
    1. Re:One language to another... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's a difference between "adequately for reading" and "adequately for reading technical jargon". The technical world is absolutely full of idiom, and a careless translation won't do anyone any good.

    2. Re:One language to another... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do note: Debian is mostly a server OS. With Debian, a graphical desktop is an optional part of the install process. It's a tough race, but Debian is probably in the top 3 for active server installs. Their ranking is likely higher if we limit the category to web servers. Also, many other distributions are based on Debian. It is at least as influential as Windows XP and far more successful than any server Microsoft has ever made.

      Watch what you say about linux desktops or we'll take your HTML5'd Win8 desktop and run it off a linux server in the cloud.

      The nerve of some users, I tell you...
      >$ lawn --exit

    3. Re:One language to another... by Alioth · · Score: 2

      "Adequately reading for technical jargon" actually comes before "adequate reading in general" if you're a native English speaker and the foreign text is on an IT subject. Certainly in Spanish, I could adequately read Spanish computer manuals before, say, a novel. Much of the idiom is neologisms imported from English, so if your native language is English you have a good head start already.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
  4. Heavily pixelated icons by tyrione · · Score: 2

    Don't go all out there Debian. Nice Handbook sans the icons that look scaled up and thus pixelated.

    1. Re:Heavily pixelated icons by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Look fine for me. You sure you don't have your browser zoomed?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  5. I don't get it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't Debian open source? So who needs a manual? Just read the code. Heck, if that's too much, why didn't a team of people write just as good (or better!) a book already, from the source, and publish it for free?

    1. Re:I don't get it... by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      that's been done, it's called the man pages.

    2. Re:I don't get it... by Raenex · · Score: 1

      I can't tell if this post is intended as sarcasm or not.

    3. Re:I don't get it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi, AC author of the original post here. I would like to assure you it was indeed intended as sarcasm. In fact, it was devised as a brilliantly observed commentary on one of the main facets of the open source movement, proudly proclaimed as an advantage, a strength above all others, the ability we have to review and modify code in a way that is impossible with traditional COTS software.

      With biting insight and witty yet pointed sarcasm, my intent was to wax lyrical in a succinct yet comprehensive look at the reality of this dream, this fantasy, where open source software may languish unimproved or stagnate with outdated code and increasingly risky vulnerabilities, while the heroic coders seek cooler, trendier, more interesting, flashy tasks on which to expend their undoubted skills.

      Unfortunately I suck and didn't do a very good job of it. Bugger.

  6. Debian Administrator's handbook (ePUB) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I downloaded the free ePUB version to verify book is viewable on my BlackBerry PlayBook. I can confirm it can be read on this tablet. I will purchase the paperback version for my regular bookshelf. The fact there is no DRM encumbrance is another reason to support this project.

    1. Re:Debian Administrator's handbook (ePUB) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the trees, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?
      You gotta save the trees, maaaaaaaaaaan!

    2. Re:Debian Administrator's handbook (ePUB) by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Maybe I'm being thick....

      Where is this download hiding?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  7. apt-get install debian-handbook by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 2, Interesting

    # apt-get install debian-handbook
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    E: Unable to locate package debian-handbook

    Hmmm. The pdf from the web page is already downloaded.

    1. Re:apt-get install debian-handbook by felixdzerzhinsky · · Score: 2

      # apt-get install debian-handbook Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done E: Unable to locate package debian-handbook

      Hmmm. The pdf from the web page is already downloaded.

      I believe it is only in Sid at the moment.

      --
      "Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains..."
    2. Re:apt-get install debian-handbook by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      Correct. It showed up two days ago in aptitude.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
  8. Re: achetez une copie durable by Qubit · · Score: 4, Funny

    pourquoi

    Parce que je parle anglais comme un ange, et francais comme un singe.... ou peut-etre un enfant, mais je ne me souviens plus quelque chose qu'on pronounce avec la meme sond de << enfant >> en francais, sauf << mechant >>, et ca ne me plait pas bien!

    et la prochaine fois, citerez ce dont vous repondez, ou je me trouverai avec un p'tit casse-tete que je devrai resoudre apres que je peux comprendre ce que vous disez!

    (en verite, la raison pourque je ne veux pas lire ce livre en francais est completement au cause du poisson dans l'oreille -- je l'ai coupe avec le rasoir il y a une semaine, et il ne fonctionne pas beaucoup. Je n'ai pas d'autre, et...voila... que dois-je faire quant aux langues des pays etranges?)

    --

    coding is life /* the rest is */
  9. Excellent installation manual for new Debian users by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 1

    I skimmed it through and found what I needed to know right now.

    There is an excellent installation manual for new Debian users!

    I was just about to write a short text (1 page) but this pdf will give a friend a much better overview.

    He got a CD with netinst three days ago. This pdf will probably make him actually do the installation too.

    _
    G3ckoG33k, The Evangelist

  10. Which English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    European or African?

  11. I'd have settled for a "human language" version by chris.alex.thomas · · Score: 0

    lets get the basics right, then we can figure out how to translate into french, german, etc. but lets have at least one version readable by a human and not a robot...

  12. it's a start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I downloaded it instead of buying it, because it's too new to have honest reviews, and my interests are specific in running large scale deployments of Linux systems; my Linux boxes are cattle, not pets.

    So I flip straight to the chapter on automated deployments. There were mentions of tools to use, some caveats, but nothing solid in the way of "here is how you do it".

    I didn't yet read the rest of the book, but my early impression is that this is draft quality and still needs more work before it's ready to sell.

  13. Archaeologists Find Oldest Known Mayan Debian by sfjohnso · · Score: 1

    ... Administrators Handbook I'd order a translation, but I'd have to go to Guatamala and prize it off the wall of a buried Sysadmin's residence to take delivery!

  14. Re:Excellent installation manual for new Debian us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just want to say I have been reading this doc since it came out and have found it to be an EXCELLENT piece of documentation. Kind of sad that this post only has 40 comments at the moment and a stupid FF bug got 200....