Re: Documentation question: components vs. sections
On Fri, Jan 10, 2003 at 06:12:23PM +0100, Durk Strooisma wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> First I'm not really sure this is the right place to ask this question, but
> it's a question related to documentation conventions concerning Debian.
>
> To get an answer to question, I tried the IRC channel #debian
> (freenode.net). The following is the discussion which happened there (I'm
> Durk):
> <Durk> Hi people, I'm getting a bit confused by the naming of things in the
> Debian archive structure. I'm wondering if there is a official name for
> "main", "contrib", "non-free". The Debian Policy Manual calls these things
> "sections", but the man page of "sources.list" calls them components. Not to
> mention the different speak of people. Or.. isn't there just a official name?
> <jm_> durnew -- they have been called section since I can remember
> <Durk> jm_: how much official is it? Isn't there a naming convention?
> <cafuego> Durk: We pretty much all bide by whatever jm_ decides.
> <jm_> Durk -- well I'm just a long term Debian user, it has always been
> called section in my book
> <Durk> jm_: then it's pretty strange people call it component in man pages..
> But I should call it "section" to avoid misunderstanding?
> <jm_> Durk -- well I think more people will know what a section is as
> opposed to a component
> <Durk> jm_: yeah, of course, by the meaning of the word...
> <Durk> jm_: okay, so I may conclude that there is no officiallity in naming
> of the objects "main", "contrib", etc.
> <jm_> Durk -- ask on the mailing list to be sure ;)
> <Durk> jm_: okay I will. Thanks sofar :-)
>
> Additional, it seems that the word "component" is also used in the Release
> files which remain in the Debian archives.
>
> Hope you can help. :-)
>
Section sounds better to me, too. The most effective approach would be
to submit a patch to the man page, as a wishlist bug on the package.
--
"The way the Romans made sure their bridges worked is what
we should do with software engineers. They put the designer
under the bridge, and then they marched over it."
-- Lawrence Bernstein, Discover, Feb 2003
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