Re: request for feedback regarding package description

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Paul J Stevens <paul@nfg.nl> writes:

> I've been asked by a prospective sponsor/mentor to have you guys take
> a look at the description of the package I'm trying to get uploaded.
>
> I'm pasting the control file below.

Thanks for your diligence in improving your package work.

> Package: dbmail
> Priority: optional
> Architecture: any
> Pre-Depends: adduser
> Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${shlibs:Depends}, ucf (>= 0.30), debconf
> (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0
> Provides: imap-server, pop3-server
> Suggests: dbmail-pgsql | dbmail-mysql, sqlite3
> Description: mail server that supports sql based mailstorage

This is a well-worded synopsis. A couple of fixes:

* “SQL” should be spelled with all capitals.

* “mailstorage” is not a word; “mail storage” might be better, but
  probably “mailbox storage” is closer to the actual meaning.

>  DBMAIL is a collection of programs that allows both users and email to
>  be stored in and retrieved from a relational database.

Is the canonical upstream name of the work actually “DBMAIL”, all
capitals?

>  .
>  It supports MySQL, PostgreSQL and Sqlite3 as database backends. The
>  Sqlite3 backend, LDAP authentication and Sieve filtering are included
>  in the base package.

“SQLite” is the spelling used by that project, so “SQLite 3” seems best
(to indicate “SQLite version 3”).

“backend” is sometimes used, but it is unnecessary jargon. “back-end” or
even “back end” will probably be clearer and easier to translate.

>  .
>  Supported client protocols are: POP3, IMAP4, LMTP, MANAGESIEVE.

All good.

> Package: dbmail-pgsql
> Priority: optional
> Architecture: any
> Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${shlibs:Depends}, dbmail (= ${binary:Version})
> Description: PostgreSQL module for dbmail
>  This package provides a module for adding PostgreSQL database
>  support to DBMAIL.
>  .
>  DBMAIL is a collection of programs that allows both users and email to
>  be stored in and retrieved from a relational database.

It is conventional for the common part of package descriptions to
precede the differentiated parts. What do other members of this forum
think?

-- 
 \      “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more |
  `\   to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a |
_o__)                                 sober one.” —George Bernard Shaw |
Ben Finney