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User-Group-HOWTO.sgml
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<!doctype linuxdoc system>
<article>
<title>Linux User Group HOWTO
<author><url name="Rick Moen" url="mailto:%[email protected]%20"></author>
<date>v1.8.8, 2022-07-18
<abstract>
The Linux User Group HOWTO is a guide to founding, maintaining, and
growing a GNU/Linux user group, co-authored by Kendall Clark and Rick Moen
(now maintained by Rick Moen).
</abstract>
<toc>
<sect>Introduction
<sect1>Purpose
<p>
The Linux User Group HOWTO is intended to serve as a guide to founding,
maintaining, and growing a GNU/Linux user group.
GNU/Linux is a freely-distributable implementation of Unix for personal
computers, servers, workstations, PDAs, and embedded systems. It was
developed on the i386 and now supports a huge range of processors from
tiny to colossal:
Note: The following supported-platforms list is not serious documentation.
The point is merely to illustrate the breadth of Linux's reach.
If seriously interested in the subject of Linux ports, please see also
<url name="Xose Vazquez Perez's Linux ports page" url="http://web.archive.org/web/20070813000855/http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/ports/linux_ports.html"> and
<url name="Jerome Pinot's Linux architectures list" url="http://web.archive.org/web/20050308130348/http://ngc891.blogdns.net/kernel/docs/arch.txt"> (static mirrors, as both pages vanished in 2005), if only because
hardware support is more complex than just generic CPU functionality,
encompassing support for myriad bus variations and other subtle hardware
issues (especially for
<url name="Linux PDA / embedded / microcontroller / router ports" url="http://www.linuxfordevices.com/">).
<itemize>
<item><bf>Diverse <url name="PDA / embedded / microcontroller / router"
url="http://www.uclinux.org/ports/"> devices:</bf>
<itemize>
<item>Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd. <url name="ARM" url="http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/"> family (StrongARM SA-1110, XScale, ARM6, ARM7, ARM2, ARM250, ARM3i, ARM610, ARM710, ARM7TDMI, ARM720T, and ARM920T, including Sigma Designs DVD systems using ARM cores)</item>
<item>Analog Devices, Inc.'s <url name="Blackfin DSP" url="http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Another-nativeDSP-Linux-port-this-one-to-ADIs-Blackfin/"></item>
<item>Axis Communications <url name="ETRAX series" url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETRAX_CRIS"> ("CRIS" = Code Reduced Instruction Set RISC architecture)</item>
<item>Elan SC520 and SC300</item>
<item>FreeScale <url name="MC68EN302"
url="http://www.freescale.com/files/netcomm/doc/data_sheet/MC68EN302.pdf"></item>
<item>Fujitsu <url name="FR-V" url="http://ecos.sourceware.org/hardware.html#FR-V"></item>
<item>Hitachi <url name="H8" url="http://www.uclinux.org/pub/uClinux/ports/h8/"> series</item>
<item>Intel i960</item>
<item>Intel IA32-compatibles (Cyrix MediaGX, STMicroelectronics <url name="STPC" url="http://web.archive.org/web/20070626190436/http://www.stmcu.com/forums-cat-132-6.html">, ZF Micro ZFx86)</item>
<item>Matsushita <url name="AM3x" url="http://ecos.sourceware.org/hardware.html#Matsushita%20AM3x"></item>
<item>MIPS-compatibles (Toshiba TMPRxxxx / TXnnnn, NEC <url name="VR" url="http://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/NEC_VR4100"> series, Realtek 8181")</item>
<item>Motorola 680x0-based machines (Motorola VMEbus boards, <url name="ISICAD Prisma" url="http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/way/fr30/"> machines, and Motorola Dragonball & <url name="ColdFire" url="http://www.uclinux.org/ports/coldfire/"> CPUs, and Cisco 2500/3000/4000 series routers)</item>
<item>Motorola embedded <url name="PowerPC" url="http://penguinppc.org/embedded/"> (including MPC / PowerQUICC I, II, III families)</item>
<item>NEC <url name="V850E" url="http://ecos.sourceware.org/tools/linux-v850-elf.html"></item>
<item>Renesas Technology (formerly Hitachi) SH3/SH4 (<url name="SuperH" url="http://wiki.debian.org/SH4">)</item>
<item>Samsung <url name="CalmRISC" url="http://ecos.sourceware.org/hardware.html#CalmRISC"></item>
<item>Texas Instruments's <url name="DM64x" url="http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Worlds-first-nativeDSP-Linux-port/"> and <url name="C54x DSP" url="http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Embedded-Linux-distro-supports-TI-DSPbased-digital-media-processors/"> families</item>
<item>Xilinx <url name="PetaLinux" url="http://www.xilinx.com/tools/petalinux-sdk.htm"> (formerly SoftBlaze, formerly Microblaze) soft processor implemented on Xilinx FPGAs</item>
</itemize>
</item>
<item><bf>Intel <url name="8086 / 80286"
url="http://elks.sourceforge.net/"></bf>.</item>
<item><bf>Intel IA32 family:</bf> i386, i486, Pentium, Pentium Pro,
Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Xeon, and Pentium IV processors,
as well as IA32 clones from AMD (386DX/DXL/SL/SLC/SX,
486DX/DX2/DX4/SL/SLC/SLC2/SLC3/SX/SX2, Elan, K5,
K6/K6-II/K6-III), Cyrix (386DX/DXL/SL/SLC/SX,
486DLC/DLC2/DX/DX2/DX4/SL/SLC/SLC2/SLC3/SX/SX2, Cyrix III),
IDT (Winchip, Winchip 2, Winchip 2A/3),
IBM (486DX/DX2/DX4/SL/SLC/SLC2/SLC3/SX/SX2),
NexGen (Nx586), Transmeta (Crusoe),
TI (486DLC/DLC2), UMC (486SX-S, U5D/U5S),
VIA (C3 Ezra "CentaurHauls", C3-2 "Nehemiah"),
and others.</item>
<item><bf>Intel/HP <url name="IA64"
url="http://www.ia64-linux.org/">:</bf> Trillian, Itanium, Itanium2/McKinley</item>
<item><bf>x86-64 family</bf>
including AMD Hammer/Opteron/K8/Athlon64/Turion/Phenom/Phenom II/FX/Fusion and
Intel Prescott/Nocona/Potomac, Core, Atom, Nehalem, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge</item>
<item><bf>Motorola <url name="68020-68040"
url="http://www.linux-m68k.org/"> series (with MMU)</bf>:
<url name="m68k Mac" url="http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/">,
Amiga, Atari ST/TT/Medusa/Falcon, HP/Apollo Domain,
<url name="HP9000/300"
url="http://www.tazenda.demon.co.uk/phil/linux-hp/">,
sun3, and
<url name="Sinclair Q40"
url="http://ftp4.de.freesbie.org/pub/misc/tsx-11/680x0/q40/install/">.
</item>
<item><bf>Motorola/IBM PowerPC family:</bf> Most
<url name="PowerMac"
url="http://penguinppc.org/mac/"> (including G3/G4/G5) /
CHRP / PReP / POP,
<url name="Amiga PowerUP System"
url="http://linux-apus.sourceforge.net/">,
and IBM PPC64 (AS/400, RS/6000, iSeries,
pSeries, PowerMac G5).</item>
<item><bf><url name="MIPS"url="http://www.linux-mips.org/">:</bf>
most SGI, Cobalt Qube,
<url name="DECStation" url="http://decstation.unix-ag.org/">,
Sony PlayStation2, and many others</item>
<item><bf>DEC <url name="Alpha" url="http://www.alphalinux.org/"></bf></item>
<item><bf>HP <url name="PA-RISC" url="http://www.parisc-linux.org/"></bf></item>
<item><bf>SPARC International SPARC32 / SPARC64</bf></item>
<item><bf>Digital <url name="VAX"
url="http://vax-linux.org/"> minicomputers and MicroVAXen</bf></item>
<item><bf>Mainframes:</bf> <url name="IBM S/390 models G5 and G6 / zSeries models z800, z890, z900, and z990"
url="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/linux390/"> and Fujitsu AP1000+ (SuperSPARC cluster)</item>
</itemize>
Note that some items listed were probably one-time forks, little or not
at all maintained since creation. On some of the rarer architectures,
<url name="NetBSD" url="http://www.netbsd.org/"> may be more practical.
(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="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
<p>
If you want to learn more, the <url name="Linux Documentation Project"
url="http://www.tldp.org/"> is a good place to start.
For general information about computer user groups, please see the
<url name="Association of PC Users Groups" url="http://apcug2.org/">.
<sect>What is a GNU/Linux user group?
<p>
<sect1>What is GNU/Linux?
<p>
To fully appreciate LUGs' (Linux User Groups') role in the GNU/Linux
movement, it helps to understand what makes GNU/Linux unique.
GNU/Linux as an operating system is powerful -- but GNU/Linux as an
<it><bf>idea</bf></it> about software development is even more so. GNU/Linux
is a <bf>free</bf> operating system: It's licensed under the GNU General
Public Licence (and other open source / free software licences -- though
proprietary application software is sometimes also included in
particular packagings). Thus, source code is freely available in
perpetuity to anyone. It's maintained by a unstructured group of
programmers world-wide, under technical direction from Linus Torvalds
and other key developers. GNU/Linux as a movement has no central
structure, bureaucracy, or other entity to direct its affairs. While
this situation has advantages, it poses challenges for allocation of
human resources, effective advocacy, public relations, user education,
and training.
<p>
(This HOWTO credits the Free Software Foundation's
<url name="GNU Project" url="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html">
as the crucial motive force behind creating and furthering a free
aka open source integrated system. Thus, it refers to "distributions"
comprising the GNU operating system atop the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux".
Yes, the term is awkward, and FSF's request for credit isn't widely
honoured; but the justice of FSF's claim is obvious.)
(This HOWTO's maintainer is also fully aware that the world at large
will never adopt this usage, justice notwithstanding. If it seems
mannered, please indulge him, and respect the gesture.)
<sect1>How is GNU/Linux unique?
<p>
GNU/Linux's loose structure is unlikely to change. That's a good thing:
It works precisely because people are free to come and go as they
please: <bf>Free programmers are happy programmers are effective
programmers</bf>.
However, this loose structure can disorient the new user: Whom
does she call for support, training, or education? How does she know
what GNU/Linux is suitable for?
In part, LUGs provide the answers, which is why LUGs have been vital to
the movement: Because your town, village, or metropolis sports no
Linux Corporation "regional office", the LUG takes on many of the same
roles a regional office does for a large multi-national corporation.
GNU/Linux is unusual in neither having nor being burdened by central
structures or bureaucracies to allocate its resources, train its users,
and support its products. These jobs get done through diverse means: the
Internet, consultants, VARs, support companies, colleges, and
universities. However, increasingly, in many places around the globe,
they are done by a LUG.
<sect1>What is a user group?
<p>
Computer user groups are not new. In
fact, they were central to the personal computer's history:
Microcomputers arose in large part to satisfy demand for affordable,
personal access to computing resources from electronics, ham radio, and
other hobbyist user groups. Giants like IBM eventually discovered the
PC to be a good and profitable thing, but initial impetus came from the
grassroots, leading to groundbreaking efforts like SHARE (1955-present)
and DECUS (1961-2008).
In the USA, user groups have changed -- many for the worse --
with the times. The financial woes and dissolution of the largest user
group ever, the Boston Computer Society, were well-reported; but, all
over the USA, most PC user groups have seen memberships decline.
American user groups in their heyday produced newsletters, maintained
shareware and diskette libraries, held meetings and social events, and,
sometimes, even ran electronic bulletin board systems (BBSes). With the
advent of the Internet, however, many services that user groups once
provided migrated to things like CompuServe and the Web.
GNU/Linux's rise, however, coincided with and was intensified by the
general public "discovering" the Internet. As the Internet grew more
popular, so did GNU/Linux: The Internet brought new users,
developers, and vendors. So, the same force that sent traditional user
groups into decline propelled GNU/Linux forward, and inspired new groups
concerned exclusively with it.
To give just one indication of how LUGs differ from traditional
user groups: Traditional groups must closely
monitor what software users redistribute at meetings.
While illegal copying of restricted proprietary software certainly
occurred, it was officially discouraged -- for good reason.
At LUG meetings, however, that entire mindset simply does not apply:
Far from being forbidden, unrestricted copying of GNU/Linux
should be among a LUG's primary goals. In fact, there is anecdotal
evidence of traditional user groups having difficulty adapting to
GNU/Linux's ability to be lawfully copied at will.
(Caveat: A few distributions bundle GNU/Linux with proprietary
software packages whose terms don't permit public redistribution.
Check licence terms, if in doubt. Offers or requests to copy
distribution-restricted proprietary software of any sort should be
heavily discouraged anywhere in LUGs, and declared off-topic for all
GNU/Linux user group on-line forums, for legal reasons.)
<sect1>Avoiding Burnout and Decline
<p>
Since around 2003, LUGs in developed countries have seen a decline
similar to that of traditional user groups. The causes can be debated,
and might include:
<itemize>
<item>GNU/Linux being so successful that it's often perceived as
infrastructure rather than as something new and interesting.</item>
<item>LUGs getting lost in the noise of social media.</item>
<item>Early adopters critical to making LUGs function moving
on to other interests.</item>
<item><url name="Meetup.com" url="http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/meetup.html">, with its strong inward-facing focus, sucking
away available talent and energy, and making LUGs less noticeable.</item>
<item>GNU/Linux becoming so much easier to install
and use that focus has shifted to more-specialised topics better served
by more-specialised technical communities (DevOps, bioinformatics,
cloud computing, embedded computing, and many others).</item>
<item>LUG leaders poorly managing a generational transition,
leaving nobody ready to take over as they bow out.</item>
<item>Greater ubiquity of the Internet generally, and
specifically reputation-based collaborative sites like
<url name="StackExchange" url="http://unix.stackexchange.com/">,
<url name="StackOverflow" url="http://stackoverflow.com/">,
<url name="Doctype" url="http://doctype.com/">,
<url name="Codeproject" url="http://www.codeproject.com/">, and
<url name="Serverfault" url="http://serverfault.com/">, not to mention
users becoming skilled at Web-searching, making LUGs far less
pragmatically necessary, and the main action involving SaaS sites having
site scale and network effects with which LUGs cannot compete.</item>
</itemize>
A few time-tested tips for averting LUG flameout:
<itemize>
<item>Automation is your friend. Any task that can be scripted,
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 (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
better for a LUG to do less, or have its functions occur less often,
than risk people wearing out and leaving.</item>
<item>Remember that if people aren't having fun, they won't
continue for long. E.g., if your group becomes less technical and
more social, don't fret. It's probably a healthy thing.</item>
<item>Carefully guard your significant assets, such as domain
ownership, difficult-to-acquire meeting venues, and the names of key
corporate contacts, and keep them away from problematic people sometimes
drawn to LUGs. Even if you, say, wrestle your domain away from someone
who's suddenly decided to destroy the LUG (which does happen), the
strife will drive away key people.</item>
</itemize>
<sect1>Summary
<p>
For the GNU/Linux movement to grow, among other requirements,
LUGs must proliferate and succeed. Because of GNU/Linux's
unusual nature, LUGs must provide some of the same functions a "regional
office" provides for large computer corporations like IBM, Microsoft,
and Sun. LUGs can and must train, support, and educate users,
coordinate consultants, advocate GNU/Linux as a computing solution,
and even serve as liaison to local news outlets.
<sect>What LUGs exist?
<p>
Since this document is meant as a guide not only to maintaining and
growing LUGs but also to founding them, we should, before going further,
discuss what LUGs already exist.
<sect1>LUG lists
<p>
There are several LUG lists on the Web. If you are considering founding a
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 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,
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="Curlie: Linux User Groups" url="https://curlie.org/en/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/User_Groups"></item>
<item><url name="Léa-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
<p>
While (most) LUG lists on the Web are well-maintained, likely they don't
list every LUG. If considering founding a LUG, I suggest, in addition to
consulting these lists, posting a message to <url
name="comp.os.linux.announce" url="news:comp.os.linux.announce">, <url
name="comp.os.linux.misc" url="news:comp.os.linux.misc">, or an
appropriate regional Usenet hierarchy, inquiring about nearby LUGs. You
should also lodge a query (mailing list post, comment during a meeting)
at any existing LUG you are aware of anywhere near your area,
about LUGs near you. If no such (nearby) LUG exists, your postings will
alert potential members to your initiative.
Carefully balance convenience against solidarity: If a LUG exists in
your metropolitan area but on the other side of the city, starting a new
group may be better for convenience's sake. On the other hand, joining
the other group may be better for reasons of unity and solidarity.
<bf><it>Greater numbers almost always means greater power, influence,
and efficiency</it></bf>. While two groups of 100 members each might be
nice, one with 200 has advantages. Of course, if you live in a small
town or village, any group is better than none.
The point is that starting a LUG is a significant undertaking, which
should be commenced with all relevant facts and some appreciation of the
effect on other groups.
<sect>What does a LUG do?
<p>
LUGs' goals are as varied as their locales. There is no LUG master
plan, nor will this document supply one. Remember: GNU/Linux is free from
bureaucracy and centralised control; so are LUGs.
It is possible, however, to identify a core set of goals for a
LUG:
<itemize>
<item>advocacy</item>
<item>education</item>
<item>support</item>
<item>socialising</item>
</itemize>
Each LUG combines these and other goals uniquely, according to its
membership's needs.
<sect1>GNU/Linux advocacy
<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.
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.
There is effective advocacy, and there is ineffective carping: As
users, we must be constantly vigilant to advocate GNU/Linux in such a way as
to reflect positively on the product, its creators and developers, and
our fellow users. The <url name="Linux Advocacy HOWTO"
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.
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>
Advocacy can be mis-aimed; advocacy can go wrong and be
counterproductive; advocacy can be simply inappropriate in the first
place. The matter merits careful thought, to avoid wasted time or
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://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
stated requirements equate exactly to MS-Project, MS-Visio, and
Outlook/Exchange groupware, then trying to "sell" her what she doesn't
want will only annoy everyone (regardless of whether her requirements
list is real or artificial). Save your effort for someone more
receptive.
Along those lines, bear in mind that, for many people, perhaps most, an
"advocate" is perceived as a salesman, and thus classified as someone to
resist rather than listen to fairly. They've never heard of someone
urging them to adopt a piece of software without
benefiting materially, so they assume there must be something in
it for you and will push back, and
act as if they're doing you a personal favour to even listen, let alone
try your recommendations.
I recommend bringing such discussions back to Earth
immediately, by pointing out that software policy should be based in
one's own long-term self interest, that you have zero personal stake in
their choices, and that you have better uses for your time than speaking
to an unreceptive audience. After that, if
they're still interested, at least you won't face the same artificial
obstacle.
At the same time, make sure you don't live up to the stereotype of the
OS advocate, either. Just proclaiming your views at someone without
invitation is downright rude and offensive. Moreover, when done
concerning GNU/Linux, it's also pointless: Unlike the case with proprietary
OSes, our OS will not live or die by the level of its acceptance and
release/maintenance of ported applications. It and all key applications
are open source: the programmer community that maintains it is
self-supporting, and would keep it advancing and and healthy regardless
of whether the business world and general public uses it with wild
abandon, only a little, or not at all. Because of its open-source
licence terms, source code is permanently available. GNU/Linux cannot be
"withdrawn from the market" on account of insufficient popularity, or at
the whim of some company. Accordingly, there is simply no point in
arm-twisting OS advocacy -- unlike that of some OS-user communities we
could mention. (Why not just make information available for those
receptive to it, and stop there? That meets any reasonable person's
needs.)
Last, understand that the notion of "use value" for software is quite
foreign to most people -- the notion of measuring software's value by
what you can do with it. The habit of valuing everything at
<it>acquisition cost</it> is deeply ingrained. In 1996, I heard a young
fellow from Caldera Systems speak at a Berkeley, California LUG about
the origins of Caldera Network Desktop (the initial name of their GNU/Linux
distribution) in Novell, Inc.'s "Corsair" desktop-OS project: In
surveying corporate CEOs and CTOs, they found corporate officers to be
inherently unhappy with anything they could get for free. So, Caldera
offered them a solution -- by charging money.
Seen from this perspective, being conservative about the costs and
difficulties of GNU/Linux deployments helps make them positively attractive
-- and protects your credibility as a speaker. Even better would be
to frame the discussion of costs in terms of the cost of functionality
(e.g., 1000-seat Internet-capable company e-mail with offline-user
capability and webmail) as opposed to listing software as a retail-style
line-item with pricing: After all, any software project has costs,
even if the acquisition price tag is zero, and the real point of open
source isn't initial cost but rather long-term control over IT -- a key
part of one's operations: With proprietary systems, the user (or
business) has lost control of IT, and is on the wrong side of a monopoly
relationship with one's vendor. With open source, the user is in
control, and nobody can take that away. Explained that way (as
opportunity to reduce and control IT risk), people readily understand
the difference -- especially CEOs -- and it's much more significant over
the long term than acquisition cost.
<sect1>GNU/Linux education
<p>
Not only is it the business of a LUG to advocate GNU/Linux usage, but
also to train members, as well as the nearby computing public,
to use our OS and associated components -- a goal that can make a huge
real-world difference in one's local area. While universities and
colleges are increasingly including GNU/Linux in their curricula, for
sundry reasons, this won't reach some users. For those, a LUG can
give basic or advanced help in system administration, programming,
Internet and intranet technologies, etc.
In an ironic twist, many LUGs have turned out to be a backbone of
corporate support: Every worker expanding her computer skills through
LUG participation is one fewer the company must train. Though home
GNU/Linux administration doesn't exactly scale to running corporate data
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 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
global economy, as community service: In the USA's metropolitan areas,
for example, LUGs have taken GNU/Linux into local schools, small businesses,
community and social organisations, and other non-corporate
environments. This accomplishes the goal of advocacy and also
educates the general public. As more such organisations seek Internet
presence, provide their personnel dial-in access, or other
GNU/Linux-relevant functions, LUGs gain opportunities for community
participation, through awareness and education efforts -- extending to
the community the same generous spirit characteristic of GNU/Linux and the
free software / open source community from its very beginning. Most
users can't program like Torvalds, but we can all give time and
effort to other users, the GNU/Linux community, and the broader
surrounding community.
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 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
particular that of support: Better education means better
support, which in turn facilitates education, and eases the
community's growth. Thus, education forms the entire effort's keystone:
If only two or three percent of a LUG assume the remainder's support
burden, that LUG's growth will be stifled. One thing you can count on:
<bf><it>If new and inexperienced users don't get needed help
from their LUG, they won't participate there for long</it></bf>.
If a larger percentage of members support the rest, the LUG will not
face that limitation. education -- and, equally, support for
allied projects such as the Apache Web server, X.org, Freedesktop.org,
TeX, LaTeX, etc. -- is key to this dynamic: Education turns new users into
experienced ones.
Finally, GNU/Linux is a self-documenting operating environment: In other
words, writing and publicising our community's documentation is up to
us. Therefore, make sure LUG members know of the <url name="Linux
Documentation Project" url="http://www.tldp.org/"> and its worldwide
mirrors. Consider operating an LDP mirror site. Also, make sure to
publicise -- through <tt>comp.os.linux.announce</tt>, the LDP, and other
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
or problem with something, then others elsewhere will have it, too.
<sect1>GNU/Linux support
<p>
Of course, for the <bf>newcomer</bf>, the primary role of a
LUG is GNU/Linux support -- but it is a mistake to suppose that
support means only <it>technical</it> support for new users. It
should mean much more.
LUGs have the opportunity to support:
<itemize>
<item>users</item>
<item>consultants</item>
<item>businesses, non-profit organisations, and schools</item>
<item>the GNU/Linux movement</item>
</itemize>
<sect2>Users
<p>
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 very little, any more.) With that learning
curve, however, comes the power and flexibility of a real operating
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
resources, which should not be neglected: The main (surviving) monthly
magazine of longest standing is <it><url name="Linux Journal"
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="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="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),
<it><url name="Ubuntu User" url="http://www.ubuntu-user.com/"></it> (German
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>,
<it><url name="DistroWatch Weekly" url="http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php"></it>,
<it><url name="Linux Today" url="http://linuxtoday.com"></it>, and
<url name="FreshNews" url="http://www.freshnews.org/">.
All of these resources have eased LUGs' job of spreading essential
news and information -- about bug fixes, security problems, patches,
new kernels, etc., but new users must still be made aware of
them, and taught that the newest kernels are always
available from <url name="kernel.org" url="https://www.kernel.org/">,
that the <url name="Linux Documentation Project" url="http://www.tldp.org/">
has newer versions of Linux HOWTOs than do DVD/CD-based GNU/Linux
distributions, and so on.
Intermediate and advanced users also benefit from proliferation of
timely and useful tips, facts, and secrets. Because of the GNU/Linux
world's manifold aspects, even advanced users often learn new tricks or
techniques simply by participating in a LUG. Sometimes, they learn of
software packages they didn't know existed; sometimes, they just
remember arcane <tt>vi</tt> command sequences they've not used since
college.
<sect2>Consultants
<p>
LUGs can help consultants find their customers and vice-versa,
by providing a forum where they can come together.
Consultants also aid LUGs by providing experienced leadership.
New and inexperienced users gain benefit from both LUGs and
consultants, since their routine or simple requests for support are
handled by LUGs <it>gratis</it>, while their complex needs and problems --
the kind requiring paid services -- can be fielded by consultants found
through the LUG.
The line between support requests needing a consultant and those
that don't is sometimes indistinct; but, in most cases, the difference
is clear. While a LUG doesn't want to gain the reputation for
pawning new users off unnecessarily on consultants -- as this is simply
rude and very anti-GNU/Linux behaviour -- there is no reason for LUGs not to
help broker contacts between users needing consulting services and
professionals offering them.
Caveat: While "the difference is clear" to intelligent people of goodwill,
the Inevitable Ones are <it>also</it> always with us, who act willfully
dense about the limits of free support when they have pushed those
limits too far. Remember, too, my earlier point about the vast majority
of the population valuing everything at acquisition cost (instead of use
value), <it>including what they receive for free</it>. This leads some,
especially some in the corporate world, to use (and abuse) LUG
technical support with wild abandon, while simultaneously complaining
bitterly of its inadequate detail, insufficient promptness, supposedly
unfair expectations that the user learn and not re-ask minor variations on
the same question endlessly, etc. In other words, they treat relations
with LUG volunteers the way they would a paid support vendor, but one
they treat with <it>zero respect</it> because of its zero acquisition
cost.
In the consulting world, there's a saying about applying "invoice therapy"
to such behaviour: Because of the value system alluded to above, if
your consulting advice is poorly heeded and poorly used, it just might
be the case that you need to charge more. By contrast, the technical
community has often been characterised as a "gift culture", with a
radically different value system: Members gain status through enhanced
reputation among peers, which in turn they improve through visible
participation: code, documentation, technical assistance to the public,
etc.
Clash between the two very different value-based cultures is inevitable
and can become a bit ugly. LUG activists should be prepared to intercede
before the ingrate newcomer is handed her head on a platter, and
politely suggest that her needs would be better served by paid
(consultant-based) services. There will always be judgement calls;
the borderline is inherently debatable and a likely source of
controversy.
Telltale signs that a questioner may need to be transitioned to consulting-based assistance include:
<itemize>
<item>An insistence on getting solutions in "recipe" (rote) form,
with the apparent aim of not needing to learn technological
fundamentals.
<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>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>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
questions.
</itemize>
In general, LUG members are especially delighted to help, on a volunteer
basis, members who seem likely to participate in the "gift
culture" by picking up its body of lore and, in turn, perpetuating it
by teaching others in their turn. Certainly, there's nothing wrong with
having other priorities and values, but such folk may in some cases be
best referred to paid assistance, as a better fit for their needs.
An additional observation that may or may not be useful, at this point:
There are things one may be willing to do for free, to assist others in the
community, that one will refuse to do for money: Shifting from
assisting someone as a volunteer fundamentally changes the relationship.
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.
<sect2>Businesses, non-profit organisations, and schools
<p>
LUGs also have the opportunity to support local businesses and
organisations. This support has two aspects: First, LUGs can support
businesses and organisations wanting to use our OS (and its
applications) as a part of their
computing and IT efforts. Second, LUGs can support local businesses
and organisations developing software for GNU/Linux, cater to users,
support or install distributions, etc.
The support LUGs can provide to local businesses wanting to use GNU/Linux as
a part of their computing operations differs little from the help LUGs
give individuals trying GNU/Linux at home. For example, compiling the Linux
kernel doesn't really differ. Supporting businesses, however, may
require supporting proprietary software -- e.g., the Oracle, Sybase,
and DB2 databases (or VMware, CrossOver Linux, and such things).
Some LUG expertise in these areas may help businesses make the leap
into GNU/Linux deployments.
This leads us directly to the second kind of support a LUG can give to
local businesses: LUGs can serve as a clearinghouse for information
available in few other places. For example:
<itemize>
<item>Which local ISP is Linux-friendly?</item>
<item>Are there any local hardware vendors building Linux PCs?</item>
</itemize>
Maintaining and making this kind of information public not only helps
the LUG members, but also helps friendly businesses and encourages
them to continue to be GNU/Linux-friendly. It may even, in some cases, help
further a competitive environment in which other businesses are
encouraged to follow suit.
<sect2>Free / open-source software development
<p>
Finally, LUGs may also support the movement by soliciting and
organising charitable giving. <url name="Chris Browne"
url="mailto:%[email protected]%20"> has thought about this issue as much as
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
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 ($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.
<p>
A user group can encourage members to contribute to various
"development projects". Having some form of "charitable tax exemption"
status can encourage members to contribute directly to the group,
getting tax deductions as appropriate, with contributions flowing on to
other organisations.
<p>
It is appropriate, in any case, to encourage LUG members to direct
contributions to organisations with projects and goals they
individually wish to support.
<p>
This section lists possible candidates. None is being explicitly
recommended here, but the list represents useful food for
thought. Many are registered as charities in the USA, thus
making US contributions tax-deductible.
<p>
Here are organisations with activities particularly directed towards
development of software working with GNU/Linux:
<itemize>
<item><url url="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about" name="The Linux Foundation">
<item><url url="http://www.debian.org/donations.html" name="Debian / Software In the Public Interest">
<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="https:/sfconservancy.org/" name="Software Freedom Conservancy">
<item><url url="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/" name="The Mozilla Foundation">
</itemize>
<p>
Contributions to these organisations have the direct effect of
supporting creation of freely redistributable software usable with
GNU/Linux. Dollar for dollar, such contributions almost certainly yield
greater benefit to the community than any other kind of spending.
<p>
There are also organisations less directly associated with GNU/Linux, that
may nonetheless be worthy of assistance, such as:
<itemize>
<item>The <url url="http://www.eff.org/" name="Electronic Frontier Foundation">
<p>
Based in San Francisco, EFF is a donor-supported membership organization
working to protect our fundamental rights regardless of technology; to
educate the press, policy-makers, and the general public about civil
liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of
those liberties. Among our various activities, EFF opposes misguided
legislation, initiates and defends court cases preserving individuals'
rights, launches global public campaigns, introduces leading edge
proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events, engages the
press regularly, and publishes a comprehensive archive of digital civil
liberties information at one of the most linked-to Web sites in the
world.
<item>The LaTeX3 Project Fund
<p>
The <url url="http://www.tug.org/" name="TeX Users Group (TUG)"> is
working on the "next generation" version of the LaTeX publishing
system, known as LaTeX3. GNU/Linux is one of the platforms on which TeX
and LaTeX are best supported.
<p> Donations for the project can be sent to:
<tscreen>
<verb>
TeX Users Group
c/o Robin Laakso, executive director
TeX Users Group
PO Box 2311
Portland, OR 97208-2311
</verb>
</tscreen>
Alternatively, donations can be made
<url url="https://www.tug.org/donate.html" name="online">.
<item> <URL URL="http://www.gutenberg.org/" name="Project Gutenberg">
<p>
Project Gutenberg's purpose is to make freely available in electronic
form the texts of public-domain books. This isn't directly a "Linux
thing", but seems fairly worthy, and they actively encourage platform
independence, which means their "products" are quite usable with GNU/Linux.
<item> <url url="http://runeberg.org/" name="Project Runeberg">
<p>
Project Runeberg is similar to Project Gutenberg, except concentrating
on making editions of classic Nordic (Scandinavian) literature openly
available over the Internet.
<item> <url url="http://www.osef.org/donations.html" name="Open Source
Education Foundation">
<p>
The Open Source Education Foundation's purpose to enhance K-12 education
through the use of technologies and concepts derived from The Open
Source and Free Software movement. In conjunction with Tux4Kids, OSEF
created a bootable distribution of GNU/Linux (Knoppix for Kids) based
on Klaus Knopper's Knoppix, aimed at kids, parents, teachers, and
other school officials. OSEF installs and supports school computer labs,
and has developed a "K12 Box" as a compact Plug and Play workstation
computer for student computer labs.
</itemize>
(Please note that suggested additions to the above list of GNU/Linux-relevant
charities are most welcome.)
<sect2>Linux movement
<p>
I have referred throughout this HOWTO to what I call the <bf>GNU/Linux
movement</bf>. There really is no better way to describe the
international GNU/Linux phenomenon: It isn't a bureaucracy, but is
organised. It isn't a corporation, but is important to businesses
everywhere. The best way for a LUG to support the international GNU/Linux
movement is to keep the local community robust, vibrant, and
growing. GNU/Linux is <it>developed</it> internationally, which is easy
enough to see by reading the kernel source code's
<file>MAINTAINERS</file> file -- but
GNU/Linux is also <it>used</it> internationally. This ever-expanding
user base is key to GNU/Linux's continued success, and is where the LUGs
are vital.
The movement's strength internationally lies in offering
unprecedented computing power and sophistication for its cost and
freedom. The keys are value and independence from proprietary control.
Every time a new person, group, business, or organisation experiences
GNU/Linux's inherent value, the movement grows. LUGs help that
happen.
<sect1>Linux socialising
<p>
The last goal of a LUG we'll cover is socialising -- in some ways,
the most difficult goal to discuss, because it isn't clear how
many or to what degree LUGs do it. While it would be strange to
have a LUG that didn't engage in the other goals, there may be
LUGs for which socialising isn't a factor.
It seems, however, that whenever two or three GNU/Linux users get together,
fun, hijinks, and, often, beer follow. Linus Torvalds has
always had one enduring goal for Linux: to have more fun. For hackers,
kernel developers, and GNU/Linux users, there's nothing quite like
downloading a new kernel, recompiling an old one, fooling with a
window manager or desktop environment, hacking some code, or experimenting
with an innovative embedded Linux computer. GNU/Linux's sheer fun keeps many
LUGs together, and leads LUGs naturally to socialising.
By "socialising", here I mean primarily sharing experiences, forming
friendships, and mutually-shared admiration and respect. There is
another meaning, however -- one social scientists call
<it>acculturation</it>. In any movement, institution, or human
community, there is the need for some process or pattern of events in
and by which, to put it in GNU/Linux terms, newcomers are turned into
hackers. In other words, acculturation turns you from "one of them" to
"one of us".
It is important that new users come to learn GNU/Linux culture,
concepts, traditions, and vocabulary. GNU/Linux acculturation, unlike "real
world" acculturation, can occur on mailing lists, Web forums, and
Usenet, although the latter's efficacy is challenged by poorly
acculturated users and by spam. LUGs are often much more efficient at
this task than are mailing lists, Web forums, or newsgroups, precisely
because of LUGs' greater interactivity and personal focus.
<sect>LUG activities
<p>
In the previous section I focused exclusively on what LUGs do and
should do. This section's focus shifts to practical strategies.
There are, despite permutations of form, two basic things LUGs do:
First, members meet in physical space; second, they communicate
in cyberspace. Nearly everything LUGs do can be seen in terms of
meetings and online resources.
<sect1>Meetings
<p>
As I said above, physical meetings are synonymous with LUGs (and
most user groups). LUGs have these kinds of meetings:
<itemize>
<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>
</itemize>
What do LUGs do at these meetings?
<itemize>
<item>Install distributions for newcomers and strangers.</item>
<item>Teach members about GNU/Linux.</item>
<item>Compare GNU/Linux to other operating systems.</item>
<item>Teach members about application software.</item>
<item>Discuss advocacy.</item>
<item>Discuss the free software / open-source movement.</item>
<item>Discuss user group business.</item>
<item>Eat, drink, and be merry.</item>
</itemize>
<sect1>Online resources
<p>
The commercial rise of the Internet coincided roughly with that of
GNU/Linux; the latter owes something to the former. The Net has always been
important to development. LUGs are no different: Most have Web
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, 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>
a stable and rich platform to deploy these technologies. So,
not only do LUGs benefit from, say, establishment of a Web site,
because it advertises their existence and helps organise members,
but, in deploying these technologies, LUG members
learn about them and see GNU/Linux at work.
Arguably, a well-maintained Web site is the one must-have, among those
Internet resources. My essay
<url name="Recipe for a Successful Linux User Group"
url="http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Linux_PR/newlug.html">, for that reason,