Re: Bug#685822: Please rewrite package description
> Description: Interactive Graphics Language Editor
>
> The short description is outdated - upstream (2) now calls it Graphics Layout
> Engine.
That's better - why would I want to edit a graphics language? And
there was never an excuse for the capital I on Interactive. (Besides
which, how did it ever make sense to talk about an interactive editor?
How would a non-interactive one work?)
> GLE is a high quality graphics package for scientists,
> combining a user friendly interface with a full range of
> facilities for producing publication quality graphs,
> diagrams, posters and slides.
> .
> GLE provides LaTeX quality fonts together with a flexible
> graphics module which allows the user to specify any
> feature of a graph (down to the line width of the subticks,
> for example)
>
> At first glance I didn't understand whether it uses just LaTeX
> fonts or LaTeX itself.
I read it as just claiming to provide fonts which are as good as
LaTeX fonts are (however good that is). It was only later that I
learned that it does this by actually using LaTeX.
So shouldn't there be some sort of package dependency on LaTeX?
> .
> Complex pictures can be drawn with user defined subroutines
> and simple looping structures.
> .
> Current device drivers support DECWINDOWS, REGIS, TEK4010,
> all PC graphics cards, VT100s, HP-Plotters, PostScript
> Printers, EPSON Printers and LaserJet Printers.
> .
> GLE runs on both VAXes and PCs, giving an identical user
> interface on both platforms.
>
> I suggest to skip the last two paragraphs or to skip the last paragraph and
> rewrite the preceding one. Talking about VAXes and VT100s could make people
> think that the software is quite dated. Obviously it is actively maintained.
The phrase "both VAXes and PCs" was insanely dated even when this
software was first packaged for Debian in 2005.
> In general the formatting has the charme of man output.
And the attempt at non-proportional justification is doomed to failure
anyway, since http://packages.debian.org/sid/gle-graphics and other
displays shows it re-wrapped in a sans-serif font!
> Please consider my proposol (LaTeX clarified, DEC hardware
> references removed)
> as a starting point for a new description.
>
>
> Description: Graphics Layout Engine
> GLE is a high quality graphics package for scientists, combining
> a user friendly interface with a full range of facilities for
> producing publication quality graphs, diagrams, posters and slides.
> .
> GLE uses LaTeX together with a flexible graphics module which enables
> the user to specify any feature of a graph (e.g., down to the line
> width of the subticks).
> .
> Complex pictures can be drawn with user defined subroutines and
> simple looping structures.
> .
> Current device drivers support REGIS, TEK4010, all PC graphics
> cards, HP-Plotters, PostScript Printers, EPSON Printers and
> LaserJet Printers.
Why don't we just import the updated upstream blurb? It even conforms
to d-l-e house style on serial comma!
(It misspells "formulae", though... which was enough to tempt me into
rephrasing a few bits here and there. For instance I've reduced the
number of times it squawks its name.)
Description: Graphics Layout Engine
GLE is a graphics scripting language designed for creating publication
quality figures such as charts, plots, graphs, and diagrams. It
supports various chart types (including function plot, histogram, bar
chart, scatter plot, contour plot, color map, and surface plot) through
a simple but flexible set of graphing commands; more complex output can
be created by relying on its scripting language, which is full featured
with subroutines, variables, and logic control.
.
GLE relies on LaTeX for text output and supports mathematical formulae
in graphs and figures. Output formats include (E)PS, PDF, JPEG, and PNG.
Patch attached.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
diff -ru gle-graphics-4.2.4c.pristine/debian/control gle-graphics-4.2.4c/debian/control
--- gle-graphics-4.2.4c.pristine/debian/control 2012-06-27 20:49:48.000000000 +0100
+++ gle-graphics-4.2.4c/debian/control 2012-08-24 22:36:29.020411475 +0100
@@ -26,23 +26,14 @@
Architecture: any
Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${shlibs:Depends}
Recommends: libgs9
-Description: Interactive Graphics Language Editor
- GLE is a high quality graphics package for scientists,
- combining a user friendly interface with a full range of
- facilities for producing publication quality graphs,
- diagrams, posters and slides.
+Description: Graphics Layout Engine
+ GLE is a graphics scripting language designed for creating publication
+ quality figures such as charts, plots, graphs, and diagrams. It
+ supports various chart types (including function plot, histogram, bar
+ chart, scatter plot, contour plot, color map, and surface plot) through
+ a simple but flexible set of graphing commands; more complex output can
+ be created by relying on its scripting language, which is full featured
+ with subroutines, variables, and logic control.
.
- GLE provides LaTeX quality fonts together with a flexible
- graphics module which allows the user to specify any
- feature of a graph (down to the line width of the subticks,
- for example)
- .
- Complex pictures can be drawn with user defined subroutines
- and simple looping structures.
- .
- Current device drivers support DECWINDOWS, REGIS, TEK4010,
- all PC graphics cards, VT100s, HP-Plotters, PostScript
- Printers, EPSON Printers and LaserJet Printers.
- .
- GLE runs on both VAXes and PCs, giving an identical user
- interface on both platforms.
+ GLE relies on LaTeX for text output and supports mathematical formulae
+ in graphs and figures. Output formats include (E)PS, PDF, JPEG, and PNG.
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