Bug#184807: whois has a weak and misleading description
Package: whois
Version: 4.6.2
Severity: serious
Tags: patch
The description for whois claims that it is GNU whois. However, the
FSF's Free Software Directory [1] lists this package as not GNU
software. Therefore, I find the description misleading and deceiving.
I have included a patch to fix this. As well, I believe I have
made the description more descriptive and useful for users who are
unfamiliar with the advantages of the default Debian whois package.
Simon
[1] http://www.gnu.org/directory/whois.html
diff -ruw whois-4.6.2.orig/debian/control whois-4.6.2/debian/control
--- whois-4.6.2.orig/debian/control 2002-10-11 08:25:19.000000000 -0400
+++ whois-4.6.2/debian/control 2003-03-14 15:47:32.000000000 -0500
@@ -9,11 +9,12 @@
Architecture: any
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}
Replaces: bsdmainutils (<= 4.5.1), bsdutils (<< 3.0-0)
-Description: The GNU whois client
- This is a new whois (RFC 954) client rewritten from scratch by me.
- It is derived from and compatible with the usual BSD and RIPE whois(1)
- programs.
- It is intelligent and can automatically select the appropriate whois
- server for most queries.
+Description: Advanced and intelligent whois client.
+ This is a new client implementation of the whois protocol (RFC 954)
+ that is compatible with the usual BSD and RIPE whois(1) programs. Like
+ the BSD whois(1), it has a table of known whois servers. Unlike the
+ BSD whois(1), it is intelligent enough to automatically select the
+ appropriate whois server for most queries. In addition, it knows about
+ top-level domains (TLDs), NIC handles, and AS numbers.
.
- The package also contains mkpasswd, a simple front end to crypt(3).
+ This package also contains mkpasswd, a simple front end to crypt(3).
diff -ruw whois-4.6.2.orig/whois.spec whois-4.6.2/whois.spec
--- whois-4.6.2.orig/whois.spec 2002-12-04 19:22:27.000000000 -0500
+++ whois-4.6.2/whois.spec 2003-03-14 15:47:42.000000000 -0500
@@ -10,11 +10,12 @@
Prefix: /usr
%description
-This is a new whois (RFC 954) client rewritten from scratch by me.
-It is derived from and compatible with the usual BSD and RIPE whois(1)
-programs.
-It is intelligent and can automatically select the appropriate whois
-server for most queries.
+This is a new client implementation of the whois protocol (RFC 954)
+that is compatible with the usual BSD and RIPE whois(1) programs. Like
+the BSD whois(1), it has a table of known whois servers. Unlike the
+BSD whois(1), it is intelligent enough to automatically select the
+appropriate whois server for most queries. In addition, it knows about
+top-level domains (TLDs), NIC handles, and AS numbers.
%prep
%setup
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