Re: proposed changes to debian-faq
Holger Wansing wrote:
> Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Holger Wansing wrote:
>>>> <p>Starting with Debian Jessie, some frequently used
>>>> -<prgn/apt-get/ and <prgn/apt-cache/ commands got an equivalent via
>>>> +<prgn/apt-get/ and <prgn/apt-cache/ commands have an equivalent via
>>>
>>> I don't see the improvement here, so omitting this.
>>
>> It's a non-native-speakerism. The current FAQ says that the commands
>> "got" (="did acquire") an equivalent. What it's trying to say is
>> that the commands "have" (="do possess") an equivalent.
>
> Yes, that was exactly what I wanted to say when I wrote that sentence:
> that there is a new binary named apt, introduced with Jessie, which has said
> advantages.
>
> And that's why I like the "got" :-)
It doesn't work with simple past "got", though; we're not talking
about something that's over and done with, we're talking about the
present-day effects of this new binary being added, so it's
present-perfect - they "have gotten" or more likely "have gained" an
equivalent. And since we've already explicitly said when the change
happened, we wouldn't lose any information if we just said "have".
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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