In the context of “pk4 - avail the Debian source package producing the specified package”, I interpret “avail” as a shorter alternative to “make available”. Once you run the command, the sources are at your fingertips. They have been downloaded (if required), unpacked (if required) and a shell has been started in their directory.
On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 10:05 AM, Philip Hands <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > > Thanks for the report. I thought about it for a while, and I’d prefer to > > keep the description as-is. Sorry. > > Judging by the usage throughout the manpage, as well as in the short > description, you obviously think that "avail" precisely fits the meaning > that you are attempting to convey, but sadly I suspect that it doesn't > actually mean what you think it means. > > I'm certainly not an English scholar, but I am a reasonably well > educated native (British) English speaker, and I do include avail" in my > active vocabulary, albeit on the periphery of that vocabulary. > > Your usage of "avail" provides me with no real certainty as to what you > mean by it. > > You appear to be using it as a synonym for "get", which is not a meaning > that I immediately recognise, nor one that is strongly suggested by > dictionary definitions I can find -- occasionally it is defined as > meaning "provide" but I would even then dispute that it means provide in > the way that you are using it. > > Perhaps you could expand on what you think it means. > > That might allow people to suggest an alternative choice of words that > would be comprehensible to a wider audience. > > Cheers, Phil. > -- > |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] HANDS.COM Ltd. > |-| http://www.hands.com/ http://ftp.uk.debian.org/ > |(| Hugo-Klemm-Strasse 34, 21075 Hamburg, GERMANY > -- Best regards, Michael
