Operation Manual

1. Which programand versionare you using?Duringwhichprocessdoesthe problem
occur?
2. What exactly is the problem? Try to describe the error as precisely as possible,
using phraseswith words such as when (for example, “When X is pressed,this
error appears”).
3. What hardware do you use (graphicscard, monitor,printer,ISDNcard, etc.)?You
can get this information from the YaST HardwareInformation module.
Detailed documentationcan be found in manuals, online help, and the Support
Database.This comprehensive documentationof openSUSE gives guidance to solve
a variety of problems.The SUSE Help Centeron your desktopprovides additional
information about installed packages, the vital HOWTOs,and info pages.
You can accessthe latest Support Databasearticlesonline at
http://www.open-slx
.com/support
or accessthe community Support Databaseat
http://en.opensuse
.org/Portal:Support_database
. The Support Database,one of the most frequently
used databasesin the Linux world, offers our customersa wealth of analysis and
solution approaches. You can retrievetestedsolutions using the keyword search,
history function, or version-dependent search.
A.2 CommonProblemsand TheirSolutions
This chapterdescribesa range of potential problems and their solutions.Even if your
situationis not preciselylisted here, there may be one similar enough to offer hints
to the solutionof your problem.
A.2.1 Finding and GatheringInformation
Linux reportsthings in a very detailedway. There are several places to look when
you encounterproblems with your system,most of which are standard to Linux sys-
tems in general,and some of which are relevant to openSUSEsystems.The two most
important systemlogs are
/var/log/boot.msg
and
/var/log/messages
.
A list of the most frequentlychecked log files follows with the descriptionof their
typical purpose. Paths containing
~
referto the current user'shome directory.
Table A.2 Log Files
DescriptionLog File
Messagesfrom the desktopapplicationscurrently
running.
~/.xsession-errors
Log filesfrom AppArmor,seePart “ConfiningPrivi-
leges with Novell AppArmor ” (↑Security Guide) for
detailed information.
/var/log/apparmor/
84 Start-Up