#man RTFM
manual entry for RTFM

NAME
 rtfm -- Acronym for Read The F*cking Manual

USAGE
 Person1: "How do I...?"
 Person2: "RTFM"
 Person1: "huh?"

DESCRIPTION
 RTFM is often used as a response to technical questions. Unfortunately,
 many people don't even know how to *find* the manual, let alone
 understand it.

 If someone tells you to RTFM, they could mean any of the
 following:  
 (1) The manual says it better than I do, please look there.
 (2) I'm too busy to answer you right now; try to find the answer
  yourself.
 (3) I don't know the answer to your question.
 (4) I've been asked this question too many times and I'm irritable.
  Find the answer yourself.

OPTIONS
 There are a number of options available when you have been told to
 RTFM:

 (1) Try the man pages.  (Or info, or --help)
  This is useful if you know the name of the command or
  application you are using.  Type "man " (without the quotes)
  followed by the name of the command.  For more information on
  man, (which is short for "manual") type "man man" (without the
  quotes.) 

  If you don't know the exact command you need, try using apropos
  or man -k to get a list of commands that do have man pages
  available. (eg "man -k rename")

  Also, sometimes there is more than one man page with the same
  name that might be listed like this: "hiccup(8)" To get to that
  particular page, use "man 8 hiccup".

  Similarly, you can use the "info" command to get more
  information on some applications, (type "info info" to learn
  more about info) and you can often use the --help or -h flag
  (eg "man --help") to get a quick summary of options.

 (2) Look for other documentation on your machine. 
  Try looking in /usr/doc or /usr/doc/HOWTO or other
  documentation directories.  (The location of the documentation
  will vary depending on how your system is setup.)

 (3) Look at the Linux Documentation Project.
   It can be found at http://www.linuxdoc.org/.  In fact, this is
  probably easier than looking for documentation on your system.

 (4) Search the web. 
  Try looking through archives to see if anyone else has asked
  the same question.  I suggest using Google
  (http://www.google.com/) for websearches or searching
  newsgroups using http://groups.google.com, but there are many
  other ways to do it.

  If your queries are coming up with information that doesn't
  help you, try including the search terms like "HOWTO", "FAQ" or
  "Guide". 

  If you're using a specific application, make sure to look up
  the webpage for that application.  And try to look at the
  homepage for your distribution (Eg: http://www.debian.org,
  http://www.redhat.com, http://www.slackware.com, etc.).  Often
  they have search engines of their own.

 (5) Rephrase your query.
  Maybe what you asked was too broad or wasn't well understood.
  Rather than just asking exactly the same thing again, try to
  explain yourself further, telling people what you've tried and
  what documentation you've already read.  Ask if anyone knows
  of a good HOW-TO or can direct you to a webpage.  As a rule,
  the more information you give about your problem the more
  likely someone is to be able to help, and people are much more
  willing to help you if you're showing that you're really
  interested in learning.

  If you've posted on a public forum, often there are many people
  listening to your query, so give them a chance to respond
  before giving up hope!

 (6) Ask a knowledgeable friend.
  If you know someone, they're more likely to feel guilty about
  brushing you off and telling you to read the manual.  It's not
  a bad idea to offer to make them dinner or do them a favour as
  a thank you! 

SEE ALSO
 man, info, help, http://www.linuxdoc.org

HISTORY
 Many people are told to "RTFM" before they know what it stands for, nor
 where to find the appropriate manual.  This page is intended to help.

AUTHOR
 Terri Oda (terri (a) zone12.com) compiled this man page with the help of


 the members of the lists at linuxchix.org.