Bug#646992: Package description unclear
Martin Eberhard Schauer wrote:
Updating the German package description I found that the first sentence
of the description might be simplified or rephrased.
Yes, it needs something; provides [...] common operation is
ungrammatical.
What does provides support and common operation mean? If the library
supports the format, I expect it to provide all necessary functionality
to work with the format. Providing the ability to perform operations
that are needed very often one could describe as the ability to perform
common operations. From this point of view in support *and* common
operations and is wrong as common operations are a subset of full
support:
and common operations is superfluous. If the support is limited, I would
like to know the limitations or an enumeration of the capabilities.
So I would start the description with something like
- This library provides support for the XPM image format, ...
- This library supports the XPM image format, ...
- This library enables your applications to handle the XPM image
format, ...
I'd go for that first one. Or maybe the paragraph should just be
about XPM format, so it can serve as boilerplate for the other
packages in the set too, and the part specific to libxpm4 should just
say This package provides runtime support for XPM format.
Looking at the whole description:
# Description: X11 pixmap library
# libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
# is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
# monochrome XBM bitmap specificied in the X protocol.
# .
# More information about X.Org can be found at:
# URL:http://www.X.org
# .
# This module can be found at
# git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
Paragraphs two and three of that look redundant now that there are
Homepage and Vcs-* fields.
Is it really correct for applications that use XPM format to be
described as legacy? XPM is my all-time favourite format for custom
desktop icons (since you can create them in a text editor), and I've
never seen any deprecation announcements. So maybe we can just say
traditional X applications...
Suggested patch attached.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
--- control.pristine2011-10-29 11:35:19.0 +0100
+++ control 2011-10-29 11:52:59.296548059 +0100
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
pkg-config,
ghostscript,
Standards-Version: 3.8.3
+Homepage: http://www.x.org
Vcs-Git: git://git.debian.org/git/pkg-xorg/lib/libxpm
Vcs-Browser: http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/lib/libxpm.git
@@ -26,15 +27,11 @@
Pre-Depends: ${misc:Pre-Depends}
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Description: X11 pixmap library
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
+ X PixMap format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap format
+ specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional X
+ applications.
.
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
- .
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package provides runtime support for XPM format.
Package: libxpm4-dbg
Section: debug
@@ -43,18 +40,11 @@
Priority: extra
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, libxpm4 (= ${binary:Version})
Description: X11 pixmap library (debug package)
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
- .
- This package contains the debug versions of the library found in libxpm4.
- Non-developers likely have little use for this package.
+ X PixMap format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap format
+ specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional X
+ applications.
.
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
- .
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package provides debug symbols.
Package: libxpm-dev
Section: libdevel
@@ -62,32 +52,21 @@
Multi-Arch: same
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, libxpm4 (= ${binary:Version}),
libx11-dev, x11proto-core-dev
Description: X11 pixmap library (development headers)
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
- .
- This package contains the development headers for the library found in
- libxpm4. Non-developers likely have little use for this package.
+ X PixMap format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap format
+ specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional X
+
Bug#646992: Package description unclear
Justin B Rye wrote:
Martin Eberhard Schauer wrote:
Updating the German package description I found that the first sentence
of the description might be simplified or rephrased.
Oops, my first try at this
(http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=646992#10;) didn't
(a) CC d-l-e or (b) mention that XPM is an image format. Second try.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
--- control.pristine2011-10-29 11:35:19.0 +0100
+++ control 2011-10-29 12:25:36.732547904 +0100
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
pkg-config,
ghostscript,
Standards-Version: 3.8.3
+Homepage: http://www.x.org
Vcs-Git: git://git.debian.org/git/pkg-xorg/lib/libxpm
Vcs-Browser: http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/lib/libxpm.git
@@ -26,15 +27,11 @@
Pre-Depends: ${misc:Pre-Depends}
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Description: X11 pixmap library
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
+ The X PixMap image format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap
+ format specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional
+ X applications.
.
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
- .
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package provides runtime support for XPM format.
Package: libxpm4-dbg
Section: debug
@@ -43,18 +40,11 @@
Priority: extra
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, libxpm4 (= ${binary:Version})
Description: X11 pixmap library (debug package)
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
- .
- This package contains the debug versions of the library found in libxpm4.
- Non-developers likely have little use for this package.
+ The X PixMap image format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap
+ format specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional
+ X applications.
.
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
- .
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package provides debug symbols.
Package: libxpm-dev
Section: libdevel
@@ -62,32 +52,21 @@
Multi-Arch: same
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, libxpm4 (= ${binary:Version}),
libx11-dev, x11proto-core-dev
Description: X11 pixmap library (development headers)
- libXpm provides support and common operation for the XPM pixmap format, which
- is commonly used in legacy X applications. XPM is an extension of the
- monochrome XBM bitmap specified in the X protocol.
- .
- This package contains the development headers for the library found in
- libxpm4. Non-developers likely have little use for this package.
+ The X PixMap image format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap
+ format specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional
+ X applications.
.
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
- .
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package contains the development headers for the libxpm4 library.
+ Non-developers likely have little use for this package.
Package: xpmutils
Architecture: any
Pre-Depends: ${misc:Pre-Depends}
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Description: X11 pixmap utilities
- This package provides two tools, cxpm and sxpm.
- .
- cxpm is a tool to check the integrity of an XPM file.
- .
- sxpm is a tool to view XPM files, and takes a number of options.
- .
- More information about X.Org can be found at:
- URL:http://www.X.org
+ The X PixMap image format is an extension of the monochrome X BitMap
+ format specified in the X protocol, and is commonly used in traditional
+ X applications.
.
- This module can be found at
- git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/lib/libXpm
+ This package provides two tools: cxpm (to check the integrity of an
+ XPM file) and sxpm (to view XPM files).
Bug#646992: Package description unclear
Package: libxpm4 Version: 1:3.5.9-3 Severity: wishlist X-Debbugs-CC: debian-l10n-engl...@lists.debian.org Dear X Maintainers, thank you for maintaining this big, fat and complicated software. Updating the German package description I found that the first sentence of the description might be simplified or rephrased. What does provides support and common operation mean? If the library supports the format, I expect it to provide all necessary functionality to work with the format. Providing the ability to perform operations that are needed very often one could describe as the ability to perform common operations. From this point of view in support *and* common operations and is wrong as common operations are a subset of full support: and common operations is superfluous. If the support is limited, I would like to know the limitations or an enumeration of the capabilities. So I would start the description with something like - This library provides support for the XPM image format, ... - This library supports the XPM image format, ... - This library enables your applications to handle the XPM image format, ... Kind regards, Martin -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
