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Re: phpbb3 templates, asking for advice



David Prévot wrote:
> Before filing a request for review, I would appreciate some advice.

Sorry, I haven;t tried to answer your questions, I'm just going to
review the texts.

> Package: phpbb3
[...]
> Description: A fully featured and skinnable flat (non-threaded) webforum

Or, saying the same thing more DevRef-compliantly:

  Description: full-featured, skinnable non-threaded web forum

I recognise "skinnable" as a widely accepted alternative for
"themed" (though to me it always sounds like a synonym for
"peelable"!); I don't recognise "flat" as a word for "non-threaded",
and if you need to waste space on explaining the term (and then
don't use it again) there's no point using it in the first place.

>  phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customisable open-source
>  bulletin board package.

We're standardising on en_US, so "customizable".  Open Source is the
default in Debian package descriptions.  But is this talking about
phpBB, the upstream project, or the phpbb3 Debian package?

>                          phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and
>  straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ.

Less of the brandname-hammering, please.
                                                          Based on the powerful
>  PHP server language and your choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL database servers,
>  phpBB is the ideal free community solution for all web sites.

This is basically just repeating the information that's already
there in the Depends line (and in the case of PHP, the name and
debtags too), except that it leaves out Sqlite (er, does Sqlite
work?) and adds some advert-speak.  How about:

  Description: full-featured, skinnable non-threaded web forum
   phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable
   bulletin board, with a user-friendly interface, simple and
   straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ. 
   .
   It supports a choice of database back-ends.

> Package: phpbb3-l10n
[...]
> Description: phpBB additional languages
>  phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customisable open-source
>  bulletin board package. phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and
>  straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ. Based on the powerful
>  PHP server language and your choice of MySQL or PostgreSQL database servers,
>  phpBB is the ideal free community solution for all web sites.
>  .
>  This package contains WordPress language files

If they're in .mo format, what's the connection to WordPress?  I'd
guess:

  Description: additional language packs for phpBB
   phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable
   bulletin board, with a user-friendly interface, simple and
   straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ. 
   .
   This package contains WordPress-style language packs.

> Template: phpbb3/httpd
> Type: multiselect

This still seems strange.  Once you support apache2 and lighttpd,
what happens if I select both but have neither installed?

> Choices: apache2

Make that "__Choices:"

> Default: apache2
> _Description: Webserver(s) to configure:
>  phpBB runs on any webserver with PHP support. However, only Apache variants
>  are currently supported by this configuration script. Select the one(s) you
>  want to configure.
>  .
>  Note: You will need to restart the server(s) yourself (typically by running
>  something like  /etc/init.d/apache-??? reload).

Oh, doesn't it do this?

I've been trying to find a way of phrasing this that doesn't need
rewriting when the list of supported servers changes.  One approach
would be to say something a bit notty:

  Template: phpbb3/httpd
  Type: multiselect
  __Choices: apache2
  Default: apache2
  _Description: Web server to configure automatically:
   phpBB can run on any web server supporting PHP, but those not listed
   here cannot be configured automatically.
   .         
   Please select any web server that should be configured automatically
   for phpBB.
   .
   To activate the new configuration, the server must be manually
   reloaded by a command such as "/etc/init.d/apache2 reload".

-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package


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