Debian policy 2.4.1.2 section 3.6: Console Messages (re "...")
The following quotes are from the Debian Policy Manual, version 2.4.12,
Section 3.6: Console Messages:
--begin quote--
* If you want to express that the computer is working on something
(performing a specific task, not starting or stopping a program),
we use an ``ellipsis'', namely three dots `...'. Note that we
don't insert spaces in front of or behind the dots. If the task
has been completed we write `done.' and a line feed.
--end quote--
--begin quote--
You should print the `done.' right after the job has been
completed, so that the user gets informed why he has to wait. You
can get this behaviour by saying
echo -n "Doing something very useful..."
do_something
echo "done."
in your script.
--end quote--
I have noticed that there is a discrepancy between this section and
what seems to be the actual practice in Debian 2.0. Almost all the
messages that I've seen look like: "Doing something very useful... done."
with the space either printed before or after the action.
Examples from /etc/init.d:
--from modutils--
echo -n "Calculating module dependencies... "
depmod -a > /dev/null
echo "done."
--end--
--from single--
echo -n "Sending all processes the TERM signal... "
killall5 -15
echo "done."
--end--
And here's one that does it according to the policy manual:
--from bind--
echo -n "Reloading named configuration..."
start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet \
--pidfile /var/run/named.pid --exec /usr/sbin/named
echo "done."
--end--
You can get a better idea of what I'm talking about by doing a
"grep done /etc/init.d/*" on a Debian 2.0 system.
It seems that the majority of actual practice uses the "... " format.
Is the policy on this correct as in the policy file, or as in the
startup scripts?
--
* Gavin Lewis zif@hax0r.org *
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