1. Overview and Reader's Guide

Most people read a manual not for entertainment purposes but rather because they are looking for a particular information. Here's a short guide for finding what you're looking for. A table of contents can be found in the appendix Table of Contents (you can also get there by clicking the Table of Contents button in the header or footer). If you want to read the manual like a book, use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons in the header or footer of the pages to go forward or backward.

1.1 If you want to know what Sharity is good for

If you want to know what Sharity can do for you, you should start reading with the chapter What is Sharity. It describes what Sharity does and lists some typical applications. Chapter Limitations is the opposite: it describes where the abilities of Sharity end. After you know what Sharity is, you probably want to know what it looks like. You can then either install it immediately (just start the setup script, it will guide you through the installation) and play with the GUI application, or you can read the description of this application in chapter The GUI. It also contains some screenshots. If you don't understand all terms and concepts used in these chapters, you might want to read the Glossary in the appendix and learn more about the basic concepts in the chapter General Concepts.

1.2 If you want to plan your Installation

If you only want to try out Sharity, you probably don't want to plan the installation. Just start the setup script and use the defaults (unless you don't want to install in /usr/local/).

If you already know Sharity and want to choose the best installation concept for your network, read chapter Installation. This chapter explains the various ways to install Sharity in a network and the relative advantages or disadvantates.

1.3 If you don't understand all Terms used in the Program

If you have already installed Sharity, but you don't know what the various buttons and commandline utilities are good for even after reading the online help, you should definitely read the Glossary in the appendix and the chapter General Concepts. An overview of the commandline utilities can be found in the chapter Using Sharity from the Commandline.

1.4 Something does not work as expected

If Sharity does not behave as you would expect it to, this may have two reasons: Either you are expecting the wrong thing or you have discovered a bug. In either case please read the instructions in chapter Troubleshooting. The chapter Limitations might help you understand what to expect from Sharity and what not.

In certain network configurations, browsing of CIFS servers may not work immediately. To understand the required prerequisites, read the section Browsing in chapter General Concepts.

1.5 If you are looking for new Features

Typical users do not read any manuals before installing a software and playing with it. But after some time of playing and understanding the basic concepts, they look for the more advanced features and read the manual for the first time. Even if the first thing you did was reading the manual, it's likely that you did not notice all details.

In any case: If you are not looking for something specific, you should read (or skim through) all of the manual like a book. Use the next button on each page to go through all the chapters, or explore the manual from the Table of Contents.