Re: Bug#452388: Back on "'standard system' is confusing" bug report

[Justin B Rye <jbr@edlug.org.uk>]

Christian Perrier wrote:
>> Description: Standard system
>>  This task installs a reasonably small character-mode system.
> 
> What about something like:
> 
> Description: Standard (non-graphical) system
>  This task installs a reasonably small character-mode system,
>  that provides the most commonly used tools in non-graphical environments.

No comma before a "that" clause; and the last part isn't quite right
either ("provides [...] tools in [...] environments"?).  I assume
the intended sense is "the tools that in non-graphical environments
are used most commonly", but there's no good way of phrasing that.
How about just:

  This task installs a reasonably small character-mode system, providing
  tools often used in non-graphical environments.

However, I worry that this will encourage CLI-phobic users to
uncheck the Standard task.  It's not for console-only systems; after
all, I'm using mutt right now in my window manager.  It's a basic
"neutral" user environment, including apt, exim4, perl, python, and
so on, just not X - the only time I would leave it out is on a
bare-bones server with no users.  Perhaps it should say something
more like: 

  This task sets up a basic user environment, providing a reasonably
  small selection of services and tools usable on the command line.

Or if the idea is that GNOME users _don't_ need it, it needs a name
change to, say, "Traditional" or "Command Line User Environment".  A
name change might be appropriate anyway, given that tasksel's
"Standard task" includes the whole of "Priority: required" and
"Priority: important", not just "Priority: standard".
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package