The #centos IRC Channel and Related Channels

The CentOS team maintains an official IRC channel on the Freenode IRC network in the #centos channel and several related channels. We encourage users to ask for, and provide, help with CentOS, but we also favor learning and utilizing existing resources instead of simply answering well known questions. So don't be surprised if you're pointed at a web page or manual!

tl;dr

Preface: tl;dr -- that is too long; didn't read is a common reaction to a long piece of writing. Here is the Executive Summary: tens of millions of boxes run the various CentOS releases, and so at least hundreds of thousands of people occasionally seek help on using it. If you ended up in the IRC venue for support, and are not getting the results you expected, you need to bear down, read this entire page, and think about what it is saying.

#centos

This is the primary IRC support channel for the distribution; it is NOT a primary support venue for learning Linux, chatting (see: #centos-social, below), or asking off topic (OT) matter. It is not free technical support on demand, but rather a volunteer effort populated by knowledgeable people who use the distribution professionally or personally. Polite and on topic people get answers; rude or off topic (OT) people get ignored, and if disruptive enough to the channel, otherwise removed from the channel.

Please read the topic (type: /topic [CR]); if you have skimmed the topic and are asked to read it again, please re-read it and each of the links it points to -- one way to really provoke the channel is to perform a multi-line paste or some off topic matter, and then express regret for violating channel rules. Such pastes are not allowed; don't do it. If you feel a need to provide any information that is more than a single line, please use a pastebin.

The official channel policy is that we "support what we ship", we also help real CentOS users with some of their needs. This does not mean we can teach Linux 101 (hint: ask in: the freenode ##linux channel), nor that we will retype documentation in an IRC channel for people who will not read what readily exists. Please treat other users in a civil fashion; lurk for a while to get the flavor of the channel, rather than dropping in, asking a question, and disappearing without learning. The channel is logged by the channel owners (and one assumes others), and the logs regularly reviewed. Persistent abusers are easy enough to identify and to some degree, IRC 'ban' masks are used to fence out well known sources of 'noise'. If you find your IRC client banned, connect from another 'nick', IRC client (several web IRC interfaces are banned based on observed noise 'load'), or IP, and ask anyone in channel with '/centos/' in their nick's mask (see the results from: /who [CR]) for an assist to understand why.

Do not be surprised if you are asked to provide some information about your system (in particular, the output from uname -a and rpm -V somepackage is often useful -- remember: a single line in channel is fine; if multi-line, use a pastebin please and then past just the single line result URL in channel). Once additional information of this type is sought, often members of the channel will make no further response until the requested detail is provided. Such questions are not asked to harass, but rather so that all in the channel may understand what is present on a box. Sometimes a box that is nominally CentOS is not in fact running a 'true' CentOS installation. If you are told that a system is 'not CentOS', read the link about broken V-servers and consider the outline of tests which that page presents.

We heavily encourage the Socratic Method over spoonfeeding answers; reading how to ask questions; and understanding the upstream's statement about backporting. Some questions are sufficiently complex that reading the documentation is the only reasonable way to start, and then perhaps doing further research, or testing on a local box; IRC is suited for a few lines of back and forth diagnostic work, perhaps supplemented by extended pastebin use to display configuration files or the last few lines of an error log.

What Is Not Supported

#centos-social

This is a secondary channel. We encourage that general chatting move here rather than the main channel. You may also be asked to go here if a particular question is too "offtopic" for #centos.

The only thing offtopic in #centos-social are flamewars and insults.

#centos-devel

This channel is used by the people who develop CentOS or add to the development by helping, writing documentation or contribute software. Please do not use #centos-devel channel if you have general questions about CentOS, there are other channels for that.

#centos-mirror

This channel is used by CentOS mirror operators. If you have questions about setting up a public centos-mirror, this is the place to ask.

irc (last edited 2012-04-02 16:20:57 by RussHerrold)