Bug#212031: dpkg-source manual page seems to use "dependency" backwards

["Daniel B." <dsb@smart.net>]

Package: dpkg-dev
Version: 1.9.21

The dpkg-dev manual page seems to use the word "dependency" backwards.
This error makes the documentation hard to understand.

Per the The American Heritage Dictionary (via
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dependency), a dependency
is:
    1. Dependence. 
    2. Something dependent or subordinate. 
    3. A territory under the jurisdiction of a state of
       which it does not form an integral part. 

The dpkg-dev manual page's uses of "dependency" in the first sense (e.g., 
a dependency between two things, or dependency in general) are fine.

However, the uses of "dependency" in the second first seem to be 
backards.

If A depends on B, the A is a dependency of B.  B is not a dependency 
of A (unless the dependency relationship is circular).

The manual page says:

   ...  The dependencies are added to the substitution variables file 
   debian/substvars as variable names shlibs:dependencyfield where 
   dependency­field is a dependency field  name.   

It's not clear whether that's referring to dependency in the first
sense (the information "A depends on B" is added) or the second sense
(just B is added), but if it's the second sense, it seems backwards.



The manual page says:

    -eexecutable
              Include dependencies  appropriate  for  the  shared libraries 
              required by executable.

   -ddependencyfield
              Add  dependencies  to  be added to the control file
              dependency field dependencyfield.   (The  dependen­
              cies  for  this  field  are  placed in the variable
              shlibs:dependencyfield.)

    ...

(Roughly same comment.)





Daniel
-- 
Daniel Barclay
dsb@smart.net