Indian Linux User Group HOWTO
Syed Khader Vali
v.0.3, 27 August 1998
The Indian Linux User Group HOWTO is a guide to starting, maintaining,
spreading and growing an Indian Linux User Group.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Other sources of information
2. What is an Indian Linux User Group?
2.1 What is Linux?
2.2 How is Linux unique?
2.3 What is a Linux user group?
2.4 Summary
3. What ILUGs are there?
3.1 Lists of ILUGs
3.2 Solidarity versus convenience
4. What does an ILUG do?
4.1 Linux advocacy
4.2 Linux education
4.3 Linux support
4.3.1 Users
4.3.2 Consultants
4.3.3 Businesses, non-profit organizations, and schools
4.3.4 Free software development
4.3.4.1 Chris Browne on free software philanthropy
4.3.5 Linux Movement
4.4 Linux socializing
5. Local ILUG activities
5.1 Meetings
5.2 Online resources
6. Practical suggestions
6.1 ILUG support organizations
6.2 Founding an ILUG
6.3 Maintaining and growing an ILUG
7. Political issues
7.1 Political issues
7.1.1 People have different feelings about free software.
7.1.2 Nonprofit organizations and money don't mix terribly well.
8. About this document
8.1 Terms of use
8.2 New versions
8.3 Please contribute to this HOWTO
8.4 Document history
8.5 Acknowledgements
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose
The Indian Linux User Group HOWTO is intended to serve as a guide to
starting, maintaining, spreading and growing an Indian Linux User
Group.
Linux is a freely-distributable implementation of Unix for personal
computers, servers and workstations. It was developed on the i386 and
now supports i486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II processors, and
Pentium III Processors as well as x86-clones from AMD, Cyrix, and
others. It also supports many SPARC, DEC Alpha, PowerPC/PowerMac,
Motorola 68x0 Mac/Amiga machines.
1.2. Other sources of information
If you want to learn more about Linux, the Linux Documentation Project
is a good place to start.
For general information about Linux user groups, please see the
Linux Users Groups World Wide.
2. What is an Indian Linux User Group?
2.1. What is Linux?
In order to appreciate and understand fully the significant role of
ILUGs in the Indian Linux Movement, it is important to understand what
makes Linux unique among computer operating systems.
Linux as an operating system is very efficient and very powerful. But,
Linux as an idea about how software ought to be developed is even more
powerful. Linux is a free operating system: it is licensed under the
GNU Public License. The source code is freely available to anyone who
wants it and always will be. It is developed by a unstructured group
of programmers from around the world, under the technical direction of
Linus Torvalds and other key developers. Linux is a world-wide
movement without any central structure, bureaucracy, or entity to
control, coordinate, or otherwise direct its affairs. While this
situation is a powerful part of the appeal and technical quality of
Linux as an computer operating system, it can make for inefficient
allocation of human resources, ineffective and even detrimental
advocacy, public relations, user education and training.
2.2. How is Linux unique?
This loose structure is not likely to change with regard to Linux as a
software project. And it's a good thing, too. Linux works precisely
because people are free to come and go as they please: free
programmers are happy programmers are effective programmers.
But this loose structure can make the average Linux user's life a
little complicated--especially if that user isn't a programmer by
profession or by vocation. Who does she call for support, training, or
education? How does she know the kinds of uses for which Linux is
well-suited?
In large part local ILUGs provide the answers to these kinds of
question. This is why ILUGs are a crucial part of the Linux Movement.
Because there is no ``regional office'' of the Linux Corporation in
your town or village or metropolis, the local ILUG takes on many of the
same roles that a regional office does for a large multi-national
corporation..
Linux is unique because it does not have, nor is it burdened by, a
central structure or bureaucracy to allocate its resources, train its
users, or provide support for its products. These jobs get done in a
variety of ways: the Internet, consultants, VARs, support companies,
colleges and universities. But, increasingly, in many places around
the globe, they get done by a local ILUG.
2.3. What is an Indian Linux user group?
Linux user groups, at least in India, are not a new
phenomenon; in fact, they play an important role in the history of
the Linux in India.
So just when traditional PC user groups were declining because of the
Internet's popularity, this popularity propelled Linux forward,
creating new demand for new user groups dedicated exclusively to
Linux. To give just one indication of the ways in which an ILUG is
different than a traditional user group, I call the reader's attention
to a curious fact: traditional user groups have had to maintain a
fairly tight control over the kinds of software that its users copy
and trade at its meetings. While illegal copying of commercial
software certainly occurred at these meetings, it was officially
discouraged and for good reason.
At an ILUG meeting, however, this entire mindset simply does not apply.
Far from being the kind of thing that an ILUG ought to discourage, the
free copying of Linux itself ought to be one of the primary activities
of an ILUG. In fact there is anecdotal evidence that traditional user
groups sometimes have a difficult time adapting to the fact that Linux
can be freely copied as many times as one needs or wants.
2.4. Summary
In order for the Linux Movement to continue to flourish, the
proliferation and success of local ILUGs, along with other factors, is
an absolute requirement. Because of the unique status of Linux, the
local ILUG must provide some of the same functions that a ``regional
office'' provides for large computer corporations like IBM, Microsoft,
or Sun. ILUGs can and must train, support, and educate Linux users,
coordinate Linux consultants, advocate Linux as a computing solution,
and even serve as a liason to local media outlets like newspapers and
television.
3. What ILUGs are there?
Since this document is meant as a guide not only to maintaining and
growing ILUGs but also to founding them, it would be well before we go
much further to determine what ILUGs there are.
3.1. Lists of ILUGs
There are several lists of ILUGs available on the Web. If you want to
found a local ILUG, one of the first things to do is to determine where
the nearest ILUG is. Your best bet may be to join an ILUG that is
already established in your area rather than founding a new one.
As of the mid-1999, there are 12 ILUGs all over India.
India, the second most populous country on the planet, has only a few.
Effort should be made so that the number of ILUGs increase
o Finding Groups of Indian Linux Users
o ILUG List
o LUG Registry
3.2. Solidarity versus convenience
While the lists of ILUGs on the Web are well-maintained, it is likely
that they do not list every ILUG. In addition to consulting these
lists, I suggest, if you are considering founding an ILUG, that you
post a short message asking about the existence of a local ILUG to
comp.os.linux.announce ,
comp.os.linux.misc , or an appropriate
regional Usenet hierarchy. If there isn't an ILUG already in your area,
then posting mesages to these groups will alert potential members of
your plans.
If you plan to found a local ILUG, you should carefully balance
convenience against solidarity. In other words, if there is an ILUG in
your metropolitan area, but on the other side of the city, it may be
better to start a new group for the sake of convenience. But it may be
better to join the pre-existing group for the sake of unity and
solidarity. Greater numbers almost always means greater power,
influence, and efficiency. While it might be nice to have two groups
of 100 members each, there are certain advantages to one group of 200
members. Of course if you live in a small town or village, any group
is better than no group at all.
The point is that starting a ILUG is an arduous undertaking, and one
that ought to be entered into with all the relevant facts, and with
some appreciation of the effect on other groups.
4. What does an ILUG do?
The goals of local ILUGs are as varied as the locales in which they
operate. There is no master plan for ILUGs, nor is this document meant
to supply one. Remember: Linux is free from bureaucracy and
centralized control and so are local ILUGs.
It is possible, however, to identify a core set of goals for a local
ILUG:
o advocacy
o education
o support
o socializing
Each local ILUG will combine these and other goals in a unique way in
order to satisfy the unique needs of its membership.
4.1. Linux advocacy
The urge to advocate the use of Linux is as natural to computer users
as is eating or sleeping. When you find something that works and works
well, the natural urge is to tell as many people about it as you can.
The role of ILUGs in Linux advocacy cannot be overestimated, especially
since the wide-scale commercial acceptance of Linux which it so richly
deserves has not yet been achieved. While it is certainly beneficial
to the Linux Movement each and every time a computer journalist writes
a positive review of Linux, it is also beneficial every time satisfied
Linux users tell their friends, colleagues, employees or employers
about Linux.
There is effective advocacy and there is ineffective carping: as Linux
users, we must be constantly vigilant to advocate Linux in such a way
as to reflect positively on both the product, its creators and
developers, and our fellow users. The Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO,
available at the Linux Documentation Project, gives some helpful
suggestions in this regard. Suffice it to say that advocacy is an
important aspect of the mission of a local ILUG.
There may come a time when Linux advocacy is pretty much beside the
point because Linux has more or less won the day, when the phrase ``No
one ever got fired for using Linux'' becomes a reality. Until that
time, however, the local ILUG plays an indispensable role in promoting
the use of Linux. It does so because its advocacy is free, well-
intentioned, and backed up by organizational commitment. If a person
comes to know about Linux through the efforts of a local ILUG, then
that person, as a new Linux user, is already ahead of the game: she is
already aware of the existence of an organization that will help her
install, configure, and even maintain Linux on whatever computers she
is willing to dedicate to it.
New Linux users who are already in contact with a local ILUG are ahead
of those whose interest in Linux has been piqued by a computer
journalist, but who have no one to whom to turn to aid them in their
quest to install, run, and learn Linux.
It is, therefore, important for local ILUGs to advocate Linux because
their advocacy is effective, well-supported, and free.
4.2. Linux education
Not only is it the business of a local ILUG to advocate the use of
Linux, it may also turn its efforts to training its members, as well
as the computing public in its area, to use Linux and associated
components. In my own estimation, the goal of user education is the
single most important goal a ILUG may undertake. Of course, as I have
already pointed out, ILUGs are perfectly free to organize themselves
and their activities around any of these, or other, goals. I believe,
however, that ILUGs can have the greatest impact on the Linux Movement
by educating and training Linux users.
Local ILUGs may choose to undertake the goal of education simply
because there is no other local entity from which a Linux user may
receive technically-oriented education. While it is certainly the case
that universities, colleges, and junior colleges are increassingly
turning to Linux as a way to educate their students, both efficiently
and cheaply, about Unix-like operating systems, some Linux users are
either unable or unwilling to register for courses in order to learn
Linux. For these users the local ILUG is a valuable resource for
enhancement or creation of advanced computer skills: Unix-like system
administration, system programming, support and creation of Internet
and Intranet technologies, etc.
In an ironic twist, many local ILUGs are even sharing the burden of
worker training with large corporations. Every worker at Acme Corp
that expands her computer skills by participating in a local ILUG is
one less worker Acme Corp has to train or pay to train. Even though
using and administering a Linux PC at home isn't the same as
administering a corporate data warehouse, call center, or similar
high-availability facility, it is light years more complex, more
rewarding, and more educational than using and administering a Windows
95 PC at home. As Linux itself advances toward things like journalling
filesystems, high-availability, real-time capacity, and other high-end
Unix features, the already blurry line between Linux and the ``real''
Unixes will get even more indistinct.
Not only is such education a form of worker training, but it will also
serve, as information technology becomes an increasingly vital part of
the global economy, as a kind of community service. In most
metropolitan areas in the United States, for example, it is possible
for a local ILUG to take Linux into local schools, small businesses,
community and social organizations, and other non-corporate
environments. This accomplishes the task of Linux advocacy and also
helps train the general public about Linux as a Unix-like operating
system. As more and more of these kinds of organizations seek to
establish an Internet presence or provide dial-in access to their
workers, students, and constituents, the opportunities arise for local
ILUGs to participate in the life of their community by educating it
about a free and freely-available operating system. This kind of
community service allows the average Linux user to emulate the kind of
generosity that has characterized Linux, and the free software
community, from the very beginning. Most Linux users can't program
like Linus Torvalds, but we can all all give our time and abilities to
other Linux users, the Linux community, and the broader community in
which work and live.
Linux is a natural fit for these kinds of organization because
deploying it doesn't commit them to expensive license, upgrade, or
maintenance fees. Because Linux is also technically elegant and
economical, it runs very well on the the kinds of disposable hardware
that corporations typically cast off and that non-profit organizations
are only too happy to use. As more and more people discover every day,
that old 486 collecting dust in the closet can do real work if someone
will install Linux on it.
In addition, Linux education has a cumulative effect on the other
goals of a local ILUG, in particular the goal of Linux support
discussed below. Better Linux education means better Linux support.
The more people that an ILUG can count on to reach its support goals,
the easier support becomes and, therefore, the more of it can be done.
The more new and inexperienced users a local ILUG can support and
eventually educate about Linux, the larger and more effective the ILUG
can become. In other words, if a ILUG focuses solely on Linux support
to the neglect of Linux education, the natural barriers to
organizational growth will be more restrictive. If only two or three
percent of the members of a ILUG take upon themselves the task of
supporting the others, the growth of the ILUG will be stifled. One
thing you can count on: if new and inexperienced users don't get the
help with Linux they need from a local ILUG, they won't participate in
that ILUG for very long. If a larger percentage of members support the
others, the ILUG will be able to grow much larger. Linux education is
the key to this dynamic: education turns new Linux users into
experienced ones.
Free education about free Linux also highlights the degree to which
Linux is part and parcel of the free software Community. So it seems
appropriate that local ILUGs focus not solely on Linux education but
also education about all of the various software systems and
technologies that run under Linux. These include, for instance, the
GNU suite of programs and utilities, the Apache Web server, the
XFree86 implementation of X Windows, TeX, LaTeX, etc. Fortunately the
list of free software that runs under Linux is a long and diverse one.
Finally, Linux is a self-documenting operating environment; in other
words, if we don't write the documentation, nobody is going to do it
for us. Toward that end, make sure that ILUG members are well aware of
the Linux Documentation Project , which
can be found at mirrors worldwide. Consider providing an LDP mirror
for the local Linux community and for ILUG members. Also make sure to
publicize---through comp.os.linux.announce, the LDP, and other
pertinent sources of Linux information---any relevant documentation
that is developed by the ILUG: technical presentations, tutorials,
local FAQs, etc. There is a lot of Linux documentation produced in
ILUGs that doesn't benefit the worldwide Linux community because no one
outside the ILUG knows about it. Don't let the ILUGs efforts in this
regard go to waste: it is highly probable that if someone at one ILUG
had a question or problem with something, then people at other ILUGs
around the world will have the same questions and problems.
4.3. Linux support
Of course for the desperate newbie the primary role of a local ILUG is
Linux support. But it is a mistake to suppose that Linux support only
means technical support for new Linux users. It can and should mean
much more.
Local ILUGs have the opportunity to support:
o users
o consultants
o businesses, non-profit organizations, and schools
o the Linux Movement
4.3.1. Users
The most frequent complaint from new Linux users, once they have
gotten Linux installed, is the steep learning curve which is not at
all unique to Linux but is, rather, a characteristic of all modern
Unixes. With the steepness of the learning curve, however, comes the
power and flexibility of a complex operating system. A local ILUG is
often the only resource that a new Linux user has available to help
flatten out the learning curve.
But even if a new Linux user doesn't know it yet, he/she needs more than
just technical support: Linux and the free software worlds are both
rapidly moving targets. The local ILUGs form an invaluable conduit of
information about Linux and other free software products. Not only
does Linux lack a central bureaucracy, but it also for the most part
lacks the kind of journalistic infrastructure from which users of
other computer systems benefit. The Linux Movement does have resources
like Linux Journal and Linux Gazette
, but many new Linux users are unaware of
these resources. In addition, as monthly publications they are often
already out of date about bugfixes, security problems, patches, new
kernels, etc. This is where the local ILUG as a source and conduit of
timely information is so vital to new and experienced Linux users
alike.
For example, until a new Linux user knows that the newest kernels are
available from ftp.kernel.org or that the Linux
Documentation Project usually has newer versions of Linux HOWTOs than
a CD-based Linux distribution, it is up to the local ILUG, as the
primary support entity, to be a conduit of timely and useful
information.
In fact it may be just a bit misleading to focus on the support role
that local ILUGs provide to new users: intermediate and advanced users
also benefit from the proliferation of timely and useful tips, facts,
and secrets about Linux. Because of the complexity of Linux, even
advanced users often learn new tricks or techniques simply by becoming
involved in a local ILUG. Sometimes they learn about software packages
they didn't know existed, sometimes they just remember that arcane vi
command sequence they've not used since college.
4.3.2. Consultants
It is, I think, rather obvious to claim that local ILUGs ought to be in
the business of supporting new Linux users. After all, if they're not
supposed to be doing that, what are they to do? It may not be as
obvious that local ILUGs can play an important role in supporting local
Linux consultants. Whether they do Linux consulting full-time or only
part-time, consultants can be an important part of a local ILUG. How
can the ILUG support them?
The answer to that question is just the answer to another question:
what is it that Linux consultants want and need? They need someone for
whom to consult. A local ILUG provides the best way for those who offer
Linux consulting to find those who need Linux consulting. The local
ILUG can informally broker connections between consulting suppliers and
consulting consumers simply by getting all, or as many as possible, of
the people interested in Linux in a local area together and talking
with one another. How ILUGs do that will occupy us below. What is
important here is to point out that ILUGs can and should play this role
as well. The Linux Consultants HOWTO is an important document in this
regard, but it is surely the case that only a fraction of the full-
time and part-time Linux consultants worldwide are registered in the
Consultants HOWTO.
The relationship is mutually beneficial. Consultants aid ILUGs by
providing experienced leadership, both technically and
organizationally, while ILUGs aid consultants by putting them in
contact with the kinds of people who need their services. New and
inexperienced users gain benefit from both ILUGs and consultants since
their routine or simple requests for support are handled by ILUGs
gratis, and their complex needs and problems---the kind that obviously
require the services of a paid consultant---can be handled by the
consultants whom the local ILUG helps them contact.
The line between support requests that need a consultant and those
that do not is sometimes indistinct; but in most cases the difference
is clear. While a local ILUG doesn't want to gain the reputation for
pawning new users off unnecessarily on consultants--as this is simply
rude and very anti-Linux behavior--there is no reason for ILUGs not to
help broker contacts between the users who need consulting services
and the professionals who offer them.
Please see Martin Michlmayr's Linux Consultants HOWTO