Re: Bug#674192: Please reconsider package description
Martin Eberhard Schauer wrote (CCing d-l-e):
> translating the package description I wondered whether the last
> paragraph could be improved. I'm afraid that it is not just the last
> paragraph
This one's been through debian-l10n-english a couple of times before,
so I was already happy with it. That doesn't mean it can't still be
improved, though...
> Description: process scheduling daemon
> The cron daemon is a background process that runs particular programs at
> particular times (for example, every minute, day, week, or month), as
> specified in a crontab. By default, users may also create crontabs of
> their own so that processes are run on their behalf.
> .
> Output from the commands is usually mailed to the system administrator
> (or to the user in question); you should probably install a mail system
> as well so that you can receive these messages.
> .
> This cron package is configured by default to do some basic daily system
> maintenance tasks. Other packages, such as checksecurity, can provide
> further maintenance tasks.
>
>
> I'm afraid a newbie does not know what a crontab is. So it should be
> explained or skipped.
The strategy it's currently going for is to try to arrange things so
that they can work it out for themselves. This might work better if
we made it clearer that "crontab" is the name of the kind of file
that's used for specifying the tasks that get run:
as specified in a "crontab" file.
> I would appreciate considering my suggestion:
>
> Description: process scheduling daemon
> The cron daemon runs programs at scheduled times (for example, every
> minute, day, week, or month). By default, users may also specify
> processes to be run on their behalf.
> .
> Output from the commands is usually mailed to the system administrator
> (or to the user in question). You should install a mail system as well
> in order to receive these messages.
I would keep the "probably" (as it's only a "Recommends"), but
otherwise this phrasing seems a little better. After all, as it's
just said, the mail recipient isn't necessarily the sysadmin.
> .
> This cron package is pre-configured to do some basic daily system
> maintenance tasks. Other packages, such as checksecurity, help with
> further maintenance tasks.
The "basic daily system maintenance tasks" are being phased out (see
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=579640). Sooner or
later this paragraph is going to need a rewrite, or maybe it would be
better just to drop it completely.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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