Debian Reference Card

The 101 most important things when using Debian

Debian

W. Martin Borgert

Debian

This document may be used under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 or higher. The license text can be found at https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html and /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3.

Abstract

The idea of this reference card is to provide new users of Debian GNU/Linux with the most important commands. Basic (or better) knowledge of computers, files, directories and the command line is required. Some acronyms related to Debian GNU/Linux can be found here.


Table of Contents

Availability
Print, Fold, and Enjoy
Help!
Acronyms related to Debian
Thanks

Availability

The source code of this card is available via the Debian Salsa service in DocBook/XML format. You may access the repository via the web interface. Or check out the latest version using the commands:

git clone https://salsa.debian.org/ddp-team/refcard.git

The actual reference card in English, for printing in international paper format is here. For other languages and US letter size, see below.

LanguagePrintTitleLast TranslatorStatus
Bulgarian (bg)A4Debian Справочник - Най-полезните 101 съвета за работа с DebianKamen Naydenov <pau4o@kamennn.eu>188 ok.
Catalan (ca)A4Targeta de referència per al Debian - Les 101 coses més importants per l'ús del DebianInnocent De Marchi <tangram.peces@gmail.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Czech (cs)A4Debian referenční karta - The 101 most important things when using DebianMiroslav Kure <kurem@upcase.inf.upol.cz>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Danish (da)A4Debian-referencekort - De 101 vigtigste ting når man bruger DebianJoe Hansen <joedalton2@yahoo.dk>188 ok.
German (de)A4Debian Referenzkarte - Die 101 wichtigsten Dinge bei der Nutzung von DebianHolger Wansing <linux@wansing-online.de>188 ok.
Greek (el)A4Κάρτα Αναφοράς για το Debian - Tα 101 πιο σημαντικά πράγματα όταν χρησιμοποιείτε το DebianIliana Panagopoulou <hpanago@gmail.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
English (en)A4 LtDebian Reference Card - The 101 most important things when using Debiann/an/a
Spanish (es)A4 LtTarjeta de referencia para Debian - Las 101 cosas más importantes para el uso de DebianOctavio Alvarez <alvarezp@gmail.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Basque (eu)A4Debian erreferentzi txartela - Debian erabiltzeko 101 gomendio garrantzitsuenakdooteo <dooteo@zundan.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Finnish (fi)A4Debian pikaohje - The 101 most important things when using DebianJuhani Numminen <juhaninumminen0@gmail.com>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
French (fr)A4 LtCarte de Référence Debian - Les 101 informations les plus importantes pour utiliser DebianBaptiste Jammet <baptiste@mailoo.org>188 ok.
Galician (gl)A4Tarxeta de referencia para Debian - As 101 cousas máis útiles ao traballar con DebianR. Ávila Coya <ravila@edu.xunta.es>171 ok, 11 fuzzy, 6 todo.
Hindi (hi)A4Debian Reference Card - The 101 most important things when using DebianRajiv Ranjan <rajivhey@gmail.com>177 ok, 10 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Hungarian (hu)A4Debian Referencia Kártya - The 101 most important things when using DebianMiklos Quartus <lista@miklos.info>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Bahasa Indonesia (id)A4Kartu Referensi Debian - 101 hal terpenting saat menggunakan DebianKemas Antonius <kyantonius@gmail.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Italian (it)A4Scheda di riferimento per Debian - Le 101 cose più importanti da sapere per usare DebianBeatrice Torracca <beatricet@libero.it>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Japanese (ja)A4Debian リファレンスカード - Debian を使うための 101 の重要事項victory <victory.deb@gmail.com>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Lithuanian (lt)A4Debian Reference Card - The 101 most important things when using DebianKęstutis Biliūnas <kebil@kaunas.init.lt>110 ok, 40 fuzzy, 38 todo.
Malay (ms)A4Kad Rujukan Debian - 101 perkara paling penting waktu menggunakan DebianUmarzuki bin Mochlis Moktar <umar@umarzuki.org>112 ok, 9 fuzzy, 67 todo.
Norwegian Bokmål (nb)A4Debian referansekort - De 101 viktigste tingene når man bruker DebianHans F. Nordhaug <hans@nordhaug.priv.no>188 ok.
Dutch (nl)A4Debian Naslagkaart - De 101 belangrijkste dingen wanneer u Debian gebruiktFrans Spiesschaert <Frans.Spiesschaert@yucom.be>188 ok.
Polish (pl)A4Debian Karta Referencyjna - 101 najważniejszych rzeczy potrzebnych przy używaniu systemu DebianMiroslaw Gabrus <mirekgab@wp.pl>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Portugese, as spoken in Brazil (pt_BR)A4Cartão de Referência Debian - As 101 coisas mais importantes ao usar o DebianAdriano Rafael Gomes <adrianorg@debian.org>188 ok.
Portugese, as spoken in Portugal (pt)A4Cartão de Referência Debian - As 101 coisas mais importantes ao utilizar DebianMiguel Figueiredo <elmig@debianpt.org>188 ok.
Romanian (ro)A4Debian Reference Card - The 101 most important things when using DebianIonel Mugurel Ciobîcă <I.M.Ciobica@gmail.com>168 ok, 13 fuzzy, 7 todo.
Russian (ru)A4Памятка по Debian - 101 полезный совет при работе с DebianYuri Kozlov <yuray@komyakino.ru>188 ok.
Serbian (sr)A4Debian референтна карта - 101 најважнија ствар када користите DebianDragan Filipovic <filipovic@tutanota.com>188 ok.
Slovak (sk)A4Referenčná karta Debian - The 101 most important things when using Debianctenar <x>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Swedish (sv)A4Referenskort för Debian - De 101 viktigaste sakerna för att använda DebianAndreas Rönnquist <gusnan@openmailbox.org>188 ok.
Turkish (tr)A4Debian Başvuru Kartı - The 101 most important things when using DebianSelçuk Mıynat <selcukmiynat@gmail.com>171 ok, 12 fuzzy, 5 todo.
Ukrainian (uk)A4Пам'ятка Debian - 101 найбільш важлива річ при використанні DebianAsal Mirzaieva <asalle.kim@gmail.com>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Vietnamese (vi)A4Bảng tham khảo Debian - 101 thứ quan trọng nhất khi sử dụng DebianTrần Ngọc Quân <vnwildman@gmail.com>180 ok, 7 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Chinese, as spoken in China (zh_CN)A4Debian 参考卡片 - The 101 most important things when using Debianyanliang tang <fedoracdu@gmail.com>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.
Traditional Chinese (zh_TW)A4Debian 參考卡片 - The 101 most important things when using DebianShen-Ta Hsieh <ibmibmibm.tw@gmail.com>179 ok, 8 fuzzy, 1 todo.

Print, Fold, and Enjoy

Warning

The reference card has been designed for printers that are able to print whole pages, without large margins! On my own private printer (HP Inkjet) or other so-called consumer printers you cannot print the card!

Folding

First, the paper side with the title and the legal notice (copyleft) are on the back. Fold the right third of the paper to the small mark at the upper margin between the left and middle third. Now fold the left third over the right one. The title page should be in the front, the legal notice on the back. If not, try again.

Of course, you may alter the reference card to your needs and create a customised refcard. You need to install the build dependencies with apt-get build-dep refcard; these are mostly: docbook-xsl, texlive-extra-utils, pdftk, po4a, dblatex, poppler-utils, and xsltproc.

Help!

If you like to translate the reference card into your language, please contact me first, so that duplicated work is prevented.

If you are going to translate the refcard, make sure to

  1. use the file po4a/entries.pot as template;

  2. check out the latest version from the git repository;

  3. do not forget to translate the legal notice;

  4. use UTF-8 as encoding.

Use whatever editor you like, but it must work with UTF-8. A nice editor for translations is poedit. If you happen to use Emacs (emacs24), try gettext-el.

Warning

Because other languages might be more verbose than English (and German is more verbose), the translation might not fit on one sheet! Translators need to re-phrase things! The translation does not need to be 100% exact, it's more important, that everything fits on the card!

The reference card has been designed for international paper format (ISO A4) - the US letter format has less space. This applies to English, French, and Spanish.

Acronyms related to Debian

English and Vietnamese explanations
Debian Women Dictionary, useful for everyone

Thanks

Michael Wiedmann helped a lot with the db2latex-xsl toolchain.

The following people helped by correcting my so-called English, by adding important commands, by advertising the card, by giving valuable hints, or just by motivating me: Adrian Dagurashibanipal von Bidder, Andreas Tille, Chris Walker, Eduard Bloch, Holger Blaschka, Oliver Kurth, Philip Miller, Rahmat M. Samik-Ibrahim, Ralph Aichinger, Ralph Katz, Rob Bradford, Frank Küster, Wouter Verhelst, Justin B Rye for corrections and useful ideas.

Revision History
Revision 10 -- Debian 10 'Buster' -- 2018-12-25
Update refcard for Buster; source repository moved from svn (Alioth) to git (Salsa); remove dependency to xmlroff (unfortunately ar, he and ml cannot be built now anymore); updated translations.
Revision 9.0 - Debian 9 'Stretch' -- 2016-07-09
Change versioning scheme; updated content matching Stretch; drop Apache/Samba/m-a/make-kpkg content; translation updates, added Serbian translation.
Revision 5.0.92013-10-10
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.82012-07-10
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.72010-12-13
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.62010-12-09
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.52010-04-30
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.42008-11-05
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.32008-10-05
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.22008-09-18
New and updated translations.
Revision 5.0.12008-08-01
Use dblatex as alternative renderer.
Revision 5.0-0.12008-07-13
Removed some obsolete entries, added one for the wiki.
Revision 3.2-0.12008-01-25
Changed the layout engine from db2latex-xsl to xmlroff for the sake of RTL languages. Changed the translation mechanism to po4a to make translators live easier. Packaging. License changed to GPL 3.
Revision 3.1-0.22005-09-03
Enabled more translations. Added international titles to web page. Using texlive instead of tetex, not sure which one I will use in the future. Two new keywords to translate: Version and Made by!
Revision 3.1-0.12005-08-23
Changed all files to UTF-8 encoding. Use subversion instead of CVS.
Revision 3.12005-06-19
Bumped version number to Debian release number to confuse everybody. Added folding advice. Commented out unimportant entries, where necessary.
Revision 1.0.52005-05-23
Added CVS checkout commands to refcard web page, thanks to Geert Stappers (stappers AT stappers.nl).
Revision 1.0.42004-09-14
Polish translation added.
Revision 1.0.32004-09-02
Finnish and Hungarian translations added.
Revision 1.0.22004-08-27
Ukrainian translation added.
Revision 1.0.12004-08-22
Some new translations available (Catalan, Danish) or under construction (Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Slovak, Turkish, Ukrainian). Once again, Michael Wiedmann (mw AT miwie.in-berlin.de) found a lot of important tricks to make things work. Thanks!
Revision 1.02004-06-14
Split translatable contents from boilerplate, easing life of translators and me.
Revision 0.92004-04-29
Not yet released, but preliminary translations for French and Portuguese are here!
Revision 0.82004-04-27
Not yet released, but preliminary translations into Dutch and Spanish are here!
Revision 0.72004-04-18
More changes and additions!
Revision 0.62004-04-17
Got a German translation from Alexander Schmehl (alexander AT schmehl.info). Because my original version changed in the mean time, I had to rework it a little bit. Finally added auto-apt.
Revision 0.52004-04-16
More minor changes. Restructured some sections, to make the card more comprehensive.
Revision 0.42004-04-16
Minor changes.
Revision 0.32004-04-15
Many changes. Added a fold mark between pages two and three, hopefully at the right position. The basic idea is taken from leaflet.cls by Jürgen Schlegelmilch (schlegel AT informatik.uni-rostock.de).
Revision 0.22004-04-12
Some more commands, files, hints. Fixes in the XSL lead to better PDF.
Revision 0.12004-04-10
Initial version, based on the APT and Dpkg Quick Reference Sheet by Matthew Danish (mdanish AT andrew.cmu.edu). Some layout ideas are taken from the BSD leaflet by Oliver Fromme (olli AT fromme.com), and other public sources.