SoLOD(3) on Linux
The text d4d2011ee1ed, as Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) shipped it.
The SoLOD class is used to choose a child based distance between viewer and object. The class documentation for the SoLOD node class would be similar enough to that of SoLevelOfDetail that we will refer you to look at that one first. It will explain the general principles of what a level-of-detail mechanism is, and why and how to use it.