Package: bsd-mailx
Version: 8.1.2-0.20081101cvs-2
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
The old package description said:
# Description: A simple mail user agent
# mailx is the traditional command-line-mode mail user agent.
# Even if you don't use it it may be required by other programs.
This is valid native-speakerish English, although poorly punctuated.
Compare the alternative of saying the two clauses in reverse order:
"IT may be required by other programs even if you don't use IT".
But the new version says:
# Description: A simple mail user agent
# mailx is the traditional command-line-mode mail user agent.
# Even if you don't use it may be required by other programs.
^^^^
That's just ungrammatical; either "use" has a missing object or
"may" has a missing subject. I see in the changelog:
# bsd-mailx (8.1.2-0.20081101cvs-1) experimental; urgency=low
[...]
# * Remove duplicated `it' from desctiption (lintian).
Duplicated "it" may be a typo, or it may be grammatical English.
For instance if you told me you were being threatened by a robot
that was demanding you hand back its recharger unit, I'd tell you
"just give it it!"
In that example you can't even put a comma between them, but in the
bsd-mailx package description that option seems the best way of
shutting Lintian up. My patch also takes the opportunity to fix the
only remaining thing in this description that I'd nitpick if it came
through [email protected] for a review: the
capitalised indefinite article in the synopsis (see DevRef 6.2.2).
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (50, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i586)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.28.custom
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages bsd-mailx depends on:
ii base-files 5 Debian base system miscellaneous f
ii libc6 2.7-18 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii liblockfile1 1.08-3 NFS-safe locking library, includes
ii postfix [mail-transport-agent 2.5.5-1.1 High-performance mail transport ag
bsd-mailx recommends no packages.
bsd-mailx suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
diff -ru bsd-mailx-8.1.2-0.20081101cvs.pristine/debian/control bsd-mailx-8.1.2-0.20081101cvs/debian/control
--- bsd-mailx-8.1.2-0.20081101cvs.pristine/debian/control 2009-02-17 16:03:17.000000000 +0000
+++ bsd-mailx-8.1.2-0.20081101cvs/debian/control 2009-02-17 16:04:24.000000000 +0000
@@ -11,10 +11,9 @@
Provides: mail-reader, mailx
Conflicts: mailutils (<< 1:1.1+dfsg1-4), mailx (<< 1:20071201)
Replaces: mailx (<< 1:20071201)
-Description: A simple mail user agent
+Description: simple mail user agent
mailx is the traditional command-line-mode mail user agent.
- Even if you don't use it may be required by other programs.
-
+ Even if you don't use it, it may be required by other programs.
Package: mailx
Priority: extra
