Re: Again: "metapackage", "meta package" or "meta-package" (Was: Accepted cdd 0.5.3 (source all))
On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:52:24 +0100
MJ Ray <mjr@phonecoop.coop> wrote:
> > Andreas Tille wrote:
> > >>[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-l10n-english/2008/04/msg00006.html
> [...]
> > > I'm keeping
> > > Ben Armstrong in CC who is a native speaker and he used in the Debian
> > > Junior packages the spelling "meta package".
Possibly influenced by a lazy tendency to refer to them just as "metas"
colloquially rather than a conscientious adherence to the rules of the
language.
> At best, "meta package" would be a two-word noun, not an adjective and
> a noun. (Compare with "the Yugoslavia report" which is a valid noun.)
> In line with the various style guides that argue that compound nouns
> become hyphenated and then eventually become single words, I'd write
> it as "metapackage".
Either meta-package or metapackage would be fine.
> Maybe we should be calling them more mainstream like "task packages",
> "requirements packages" or something like that instead?
Good luck getting people to follow suit.
Ben
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