Linux Documentation Project

The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection onlineLibrary Trends – March 22, 2005 - Strategies and technologies of sharing in contributor-run archives.- Jones, Paul [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-4454575_ITM] , part 1, retrieved 2008-09-29. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation with each other and with their users, and for users to share documentation with each other. Its documents tend to be oriented towards experienced users such as professional system administrators, but also contains tutorials for beginners.

History

The LDP originally began as an FTP site in 1992, but it went on the World Wide Web at MetaLab in 1993. It is believed to have been the first Linux related website ever.

Searching the web for "site:tldp.org Copyright © 1992" show on the LDP web site a number of documents (HOWTOs) with copyright beginning in 1992

Today, the LDP serves over 475 documents contributed by even more authors. About a dozen of them are book length, and most of those are available in print from major technical publishers including O'Reilly.

On 2008-09-01 LDP started a [http://wiki.tldp.org wiki] to allow a better interaction with the authors and the users.

Content

The LDP publishes many HowTo documents, which instruct a user on the specific steps to take to achieve a desired goal. These goals are sometimes very specific, such as configuring a particular modem, and sometimes very broad, such as how to administer a network for an ISP.

Very broad topics are covered in the guides, which are book-length documents, usually on broad subjects such as security or networking.

The LDP also publishes Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) lists, man pages and other documents, as well as two webzines, the Linux Gazette and Linux Focus.

Much of the LDP collection is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Many other licenses are also used, as long as they are freely distributable. Current policy recommends the GFDL.

Linux Network Administrators' Guide is one book in the series.

References

External links

* http://www.tldp.org -- The Linux Documentation Project
* http://wiki.tldp.org The Linux Documentation Project wiki
* [http://www.nyx.net/~sgjoen/The_LDP_HOWTO_Generator_ng.html TLDP HowTo Generator] .
* [http://www.linfo.org/ The Linux Information Project] (LINFO)