Communicating and getting help

In other languages: العربية (ar) čeština (cs) English (en) español (es) français (fr) Bahasa Indonesia (id) italiano (it) 日本語 (ja) 한국어 (ko) português (pt) português do Brasil (pt-br) русский (ru) 中文（中国大陆） (zh-cn) [edit]

Fedora has a strong community that is ready to help you. Because users and contributors span the globe, a key element to the project is communication. forums , mailing lists and IRC provide quick and easy ways to communicate.

Quick Links
Web Forums	Email	IRC
Ask Fedora (Guidelines)	Mailing Lists	IRC Channels
Short URL for this page: http://bit.ly/FedoraHelp
Additional community websites can be found on the Community Websites page.

Interacting with the Community

Make sure that you understand and follow our guidelines before you start communicating with others in the Fedora community. Some basic guidelines can be found in the Mailing List Guidelines and the IRC How-To.

Helping Yourself

Before seeking help from others, please take a little time to review the huge variety of self-help resources that are available. Check out the Fedora Documentation and FAQs. If you are already using Fedora, man and info pages provide a lot of useful information. You can access these by using the man and info commands. For example, to use man to learn about yum, you would use:

man yum

Press q to quit.

To read the info pages on gcc, you can use:

info gcc

Press q to quit.

There are a number of other documents available on your system under the documentation folder at /usr/share/doc/. The rpm command provides an option to list all of the documentation associated with a particular package. As an example, to list all of the documents available from the "coreutils" package, you can use:

rpm -qd coreutils

While these commands work from a terminal, other easy-to-use tools are also available. Check the menus for your desktop and programs. Don't forget to check the Fedora Documentation.

Providing Feedback to Developers

If you believe you have found a bug or would like to suggest enhancements, use the Bugzilla bug tracking system.

More information is available on the Bugs and feature requests page.

The Ask Fedora forum or users mailing list is the place for most questions.

Development discussions happen in the Fedora development mailing list, devel, and we encourage community users and developers interested in Fedora to participate there. You can post in this list for development-related discussions that are not straight-forward bug reports or feature requests. This is not a suitable place to ask general questions. If you are using a test release or the development version of Fedora, post feedback to the test mailing list and bug reports to Bugzilla. Developers do not usually follow discussions in end-user sources since they are high-traffic and not as efficient as a tracker like Bugzilla. For other mailing list options, see Mailing Lists below.

Forums

Forums provide Fedora users with an easy way to get help for any issue that may arise. Most of the forums are extremely active and provide structured access to a number of knowledgeable and helpful Fedora users.

Ask Fedora is a community knowledge base and support forum hosted by Fedora Project.

fedoraforum.org is an independent community website and not hosted or affiliated to Fedora Project or Red Hat. It is a platform for users to help each other. Other forums are also available:

• linuxforums.org
• linuxquestions.org

Community Websites

There are many great community websites beyond the Fedora Project that may be of interest to you.

See the Community Websites page.

Mailing Lists

Mailing lists are special email addresses which send email to all users who have subscribed to them. Sending an email to a mailing list reaches all users interested in discussing a specific topic and users who are available to help other users with that topic.

Using Mailing Lists
To subscribe to a mailing list, follow the appropriate link below and fill out the subscription form, or send an email message to <listname>-request@lists.fedoraproject.org (replace <listname> with the desired mailing list name, such as users) with only the word subscribe in the subject. The mailing lists are hosted at https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo.

Personal Information
Fedora is a very visible and transparent project, which means that its mailing lists are archived and mirrored in many places on the internet outside of our control. Please use caution when sharing personal information with Fedora on a mailing list, because it is not possible for us to remove any postings from the wider Internet universe after they are sent. For more details, please refer to Fedora's Privacy Policy.

NOTE
Certain etiquette is required to help mailing lists work efficiently and smoothly. See the Mailing list guidelines for specific points to follow while using Fedora Project mailing lists.

If you are using the mailing lists and see a post that is off-topic, you can direct the user to the PostIsOffTopic page, which will provide them with information to guide them in list selection in the future. Please do not be unnecessarily rude, as it hurts Fedora when you offend other users.

User Mailing Lists

users - General discussion and community assistance for users of Fedora releases. If you want help with a problem installing or using Fedora, this is the list for you. You might also use Ask Fedora forum instead

• announce - Announcements of Fedora changes and events. To stay aware of major Fedora news, subscribe to this list.
• classroom - Discussion, Ideas, feedback, planning and announcement of Fedora IRC Classroom sessions.
• package-announce - Announcements of Fedora Package Updates for potentially all Fedora sub-projects. See announcement to learn how to setup filters.
• laptop - For users of laptops running Fedora.
• test - For testers of Fedora test releases. If you would like to discuss experiences using Fedora TEST releases, this is the list for you.
• livecd - For discussion of Fedora Live CD efforts.
• virt - For discussion about virtualization in Fedora.
• xen - For discussion about Xen virtualization in Fedora.
• selinux - For discussions about the Fedora SELinux Project.
• games - For discussions about games for Fedora.
• women - For the women that use and contribute to Fedora.
• xfce - For users of the Fedora Xfce Spin.
• lxde - For users of the Fedora Lxde Spin.
• kde - For users of the Fedora KDE Spin.

Contributors Mailing Lists

• devel-announce - Announcements for developers, no discussions.
• fedora-join - For people looking to contribute to Fedora, to interact with current volunteers
• devel - For developers, developers, developers. If you are interested in helping create Fedora releases, this is the list for you.
• packaging - Packaging Committee discussions and questions or clarifications on packaging in Fedora.
• advisory-board - Fedora Advisory Board list discussions. Anyone is free to join the list and participate.
• scm-commits - For CVS change notifications of all Fedora packages. Fedora package maintainers are encouraged to subscribe to this.
• desktop - For discussions about desktop development issues such as user interfaces and usability
• security-commits - Commit messages about changes in fedora-security module
• docs - For participants of the Documentation Project
• docs-commits - For CVS change notifications from the FDP repository. Documentation contributors are encouraged to subscribe to this
• security - For discussions about public issues related to security in Fedora.
• design-team - For participants of the Fedora Design Team (formerly the Fedora Artwork Project; old archives located
• websites - For contributors to official Fedora websites and interested Community websites administrators
• perl-devel - For discussions about packages relating to the perl programming language
• php-devel - For discussions about packages relating to the php programming language
• python-devel - For discussions about packages relating to the Python programming language
• java-devel - For discussions about Java-related Fedora development
• fonts - For discussions on fonts and other Fedora text rendering components
• fonts-bugs - Automated issue tracking on fonts and other Fedora text rendering components
• ambassadors - Fedora Ambassadors discussions.
• marketing - For discussions about marketing and expanding the Fedora user base
• infrastructure - For participants of the Infrastructure Project
• buildsys - Discussion of Fedora build system
• triage - Discussion about bug maintenance in Fedora
• music - For discussions about integrating open music and professional audio base in Fedora
• i18n - For discussions about the internationalization of Fedora
• trans - For discussions about translating the software and documentation associated with the Fedora Project
• legal - For public discussions about legal issues affecting Fedora.
• scitech - For discussion between scientific and technical users.
• spins - The Spin Special Interest Group mailing list, Low-traffic list
• power-management - For discussion about the power management in Fedora.

Architecture Specific Mailing Lists

• sparc - For discussions about supporting Fedora on the SPARC architecture and platforms
• arm - For discussions about supporting Fedora on the ARM architecture and platforms
• s390x - For discussion about supporting Fedora on the s390x architecture and platforms
• ppc - For discussion about supporting Fedora on the PowerPC architecture and platforms
• mips - For discussion about supporting Fedora on the MIPS architecture and platforms
• secondary - For discussion about supporting Fedora on secondary architectures(IA-64, PA-RISC, etc...)

Regional Mailing Lists

• anz For discussions about Fedora in Australia and New Zealand
• bangladesh-users - For Fedora Bangladeshi Users and Contributors
• br-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Brazilian Portuguese language
• brasil-marketing - Brazilian Fedora Ambassadors
• chinese For discussions about Fedora in the Chinese language
• cs-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Czech and Slovak language
• de-users - For discussions about Fedora in the German language
• el-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Greek language
• es-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Spanish language
• fa-community For Persian Fedora Users and Contributors
• fedora-pa - For Panama Fedora Users and Contributors
• fedora-softcatalà - For discussions about Fedora in Catalan language
• fr-users - For discussions about Fedora in the French language
• id-community - For discussions about Fedora in the Indonesia language
• india - For Fedora Indian Users and Contributors
• it-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Italian language
• lb-users - For Fedora Users and Contributors in Lebanon
• lk-users For discussions related with Fedora Sri Lanka Community; Sinhalese/ Tamil/ English language
• pakistan - For Fedora Users and Contributors in Pakistan
• sq-users - For discussions about Fedora in the Albanian language
• vn-community For discussions about Fedora in the Vietnamese language

Localization (L10N) Teams Mailing Lists

Please find your wanted language team in the L10N_Teams page.

Searching Mailing Lists

• See Communicate/MailingListGuidelines#searchit

IRC for interactive community support

IRC, or Internet Relay Chat, is a real-time, text-based form of communication. You can have conversations with multiple people in an open channel or chat with someone privately one-on-one.

To talk to other Fedora Project participants, log onto the freenode IRC network.

To learn how to use IRC, refer to the IRC Tutorial at irchelp.org and IRC HowTo.

NOTE
You may be required to register your user nickname (nick) and identify with that nick. Otherwise, you may not be able to join or be heard on the IRC channel. There is a page describing how to register your nick at freenode.net.

WARNING
Some of the Fedora channels ban users that are logged into their system as root. Make sure that you are logged into your system as a normal user and that any ident server you may have running is accurately reporting your username.

User Help

• #fedora^[?] - General discussion and community assistance for users of Fedora releases. If you want help with a problem installing or using a currently maintained release of Fedora, this is the list for you, but register with Freenode and read the FAQ before joining.
• #fedora-art^[?] - Fedora's artist/designers hangout, talks about using Fedora/FOSS software for creating art.
• #fedora-eol^[?] - End User Support for end of life Fedora versions.

Administration

• #fedora-admin^[?] - Chat related to Fedora Infrastructure, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-apps^[?] - Channel used to discuss the development and deployment of Fedora Infrastructure's webapps.
• #fedora-ops^[?] - Administrative chat for all Fedora Channel Operators
• Meeting Rooms
  • #fedora-meeting^[?] - Channel used by different Fedora groups and sub-projects for meetings.
  • #fedora-meeting-1^[?] - Channel used by different Fedora groups and sub-projects for meetings.
  • #fedora-meeting-2^[?] - Channel used by different Fedora groups and sub-projects for meetings.

Projects and SIGS

Specific/Non end-user discussion channels

• #fedora-design^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora Design and Artwork, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-devel^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora development, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-docs^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora Documentation, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-ambassadors^[?] - Chat related to Fedora Ambassadors Project, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-mentors^[?] - Chat to help new and potential Fedora contributors get started, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-mktg^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora Marketing, not end-user discussions
• #fedora-websites^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora Websites, not end-user discussions.
• #fedora-sage^[?] - Chat specifically related to the packaging of Sage(math) in Fedora, not end-user discussions

General Fedora Discussions

• #fedora-join^[?] - Talk to contributors and get help getting started with contributing to Fedora
• #fedora-qa^[?] - Fedora Quality Assurance discussions (Please report bugs through Bugzilla , not here)
• #fedora-server^[?] - Fedora Server discussion
• #fedora-usability^[?] - Fedora Usability discussions
• #fedora-security^[?] - Fedora Security discussions
• #fedora-i18n^[?] - Fedora internationalization

Fedora Architectures

• #fedora-ppc^[?] - Fedora on the PowerPC architecture
• #fedora-arm^[?] - Fedora on the ARM architecture
• #fedora-s390x^[?] - Fedora on the s390x architecture

Projects/Development

• #fedora-games^[?] - Chat specifically related to anything about games in Fedora
• #fedora-kde^[?] - Chat related to KDE in Fedora
• #fedora-astronomy^[?] - Chat specifically related to Fedora Astronomy project
• #fedora-audio^[?] - Chat specifically related to audio and podcasting on Fedora
• #fedora-bugzappers^[?] - Fedora Bugzappers
• #fedora-desktop - Fedora desktop development discussions (on irc.gnome.org)
• #fedora-selinux^[?] - Fedora SELinux development
• #fedora-mini^[?] - Chat related to a slim Fedora spin based on Moblin
• #fedora-ds^[?] - Fedora Directory Server

Programming Languages and Platforms

• #fedora-haskell^[?] - The Haskell programming language in Fedora
• #fedora-python^[?] - Python languages discussions in Fedora
• #fedora-java^[?] - The Open Source Java platform in Fedora

SIGs

• #fedora-power^[?] - Chat related to the Power Management SIG
• #fedora-science^[?] - Chat related to the Science and Technology SIG
• #fedora-hams^[?] - The Fedora Amateur Radio SIG. Chat with fellow hams who use Fedora.
• #fedora-ruby^[?] - A SIG for people who are interested in improving the state of Ruby in Fedora.
• #fedora-bigdata^[?] - Chat related to the inclusion of "big data" tools in Fedora.

Other fun stuff

• #fedora-social^[?] - The appropriate channel for non-Fedora discussions
• #fedora-clubhouse^[?] - A social channel currently limited access to those with a Fedora cloak
• #fedora-women^[?] - Chat forum for women in the Fedora Community

International

Asia

• #fedora-arabic^[?] - Fedora discussions in Arabic
• #fedora-pakistan^[?] - Fedora discussions in Pakistan
• #fedora-india^[?] - Fedora India discussions
• #fedora-id^[?] - Fedora discussions in Indonesia
• #fedora-ir^[?] - Fedora discussions in Persian (????? ?????)
• #fedora-il^[?] - Fedora discussions for users from Israel (mainly in Hebrew)
• #fedora-lb^[?] - Fedora discussions in Lebanon (may be Arabic or English)
• #fedora-my^[?] - Fedora discussions in Malaysia
• #fedora-nepal^[?] - Fedora discussions for users from Nepal
• #fedora-russian^[?] - Fedora discussions in Russian
• #fedora-l10n-ru^[?] - Fedora Localization (Translation), Russian Team
• #fedora-bangladesh^[?] - Fedora discussions in Bangladesh
• #fedora-tw^[?] - Fedora discussions in Chinese (Tranditional)
• #fedora-zh^[?] - Fedora discussions in Chinese (Both simplified and tranditional)
• #fedora-jp^[?] - Fedora discussions in Japanese

Europe

• #fedora-sq^[?] - Fedora discussions in Albanian (Shqip)
• #fedora-nl^[?] - Fedora discussions in Dutch
• #fedora-ee^[?] - Fedora discussions in Estonian
• #fedora-fi^[?] - Fedora discussions in Finnish
• #fedora-fr^[?] - Welcome on the French-speaking channel of Fedora
• #fedora-trans-fr^[?] - Fedora translation in French
• #fedora-el^[?] - Fedora discussions in Greek
• #fedora-de^[?] - Fedora discussions in German
• #fedora-hu^[?] - Fedora discussions in Hungarian
• #fedora-it^[?] - Fedora discussions in Italian
• #fedora-es^[?] - Fedora discussions in Spanish
• #fedora-cs^[?] - Fedora discussions in Slovak and Czech
• #fedora-uk^[?] - Fedora discussions for users from United Kingdom
• #fedora-pl^[?] - Fedora discussions in Polish
• #fedora-ro^[?] - Fedora discussions in Romanian
• #fedora-se^[?] - Fedora discussions in Swedish or relating to sweden
• #fedora-pt^[?] - Fedora discussions in Portuguese

North America

• #fedora-newmexico^[?] - Fedora discussions in New Mexico, USA
• #fedora-pa^[?] - Fedora discussions in Panama

South America

• #fedora-uy^[?] - Fedora discussions for users from Uruguay
• #fedora-ve^[?] - Fedora discussions for users from Venezuela
• #fedora-latam^[?] - Latin American Fedora Ambassadors discussions
• #fedora-br^[?] - Fedora discussions in Brazilian Portuguese

Localization

• #fedora-l10n^[?] - Fedora Localization (Translation)

Several projects are large enough to have their own channels. Individual project channels, IRC server, and channel information are also found on the project pages. See the Projects list.

More Information

• FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about IRC

Collaboration tool

The text collaboration tool called Gobby can help you to collaborate with other Fedora contributors. Gobby is a first-class, GUI-based text collaboration tool. You can use it, in conjunction with a collaboration server, to work together in real time with an unlimited number of people on any text based file, code or content. Fedora offers a server for Gobby to maximize your online experience with your collaborators.