"missing the first step on the linux-installation page": "First" here referred to the first step mentioned in my post, namely to download and unpack the OpenACS tarball in /tmp.

I think what tripped up our friend was that he just wanted an installation to tryi things out, and he already had a linux box. He didn't want to bother with reinstalling linux or setting up CVS or all the other things, so he probably just skipped that chapter entirely, not noticing that there were little things buried in there, which would burn him later.

He's not very Linux-savvy, but that shouldn't be a requirement to getting a version of OpenACS/.LRN up to try it out.

/Lars