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Re: [RFR] templates://b43-fwcutter/{b43-fwcutter.templates}



Christian PERRIER wrote:
> Your review should be sent as an answer to this mail.
[...]

Don't apply this patch until we've had feedback from the maintainer to
say how badly I'm misunderstanding things!

>  Template: b43-fwcutter/install-unconditional
>  Type: boolean
>  Default: true
> -_Description: Install firmware for hardware not present on this system?
> - Should the installer package download and install firmware for hardware
> - that is not currently present on the system. This is useful if you plan to
> +_Description: Install firmware even if Broadcom 43xx is not present on this system?
> 
> "Hardware? What hardware?" would be the question in case this question
> comes in the middle of a bunch of other debconf prompts..:-)
> 
> So, this is an attempt to explain what all this is about.

It's a bit long, though.  Could we say
   _Description: Install b43 firmware even if no such device is present?

Hang on.  I'm confused.  What is it that *installs* this firmware? The
package b43-fwcutter doesn't include the installer or the downloader,
only the extractor.  The downloader/installer script is in the preinst
of the firmware-b43*-installer packages; they depend on b43-fwcutter
(and not vice versa) to provide /usr/bin/b43-fwcutter.

I'm going to assume that although b43-fwcutter contains this template,
it's actually only *called* by the other two packages.  Right?
 
> + The b43-fwcutter package aims at installing firmware for some Broadcom wireless
> + network cards.

This may be true of the source package, but it's not exactly true
about this particular binary package (and I'm not sure a template
activated by installing a different package should be trying to
describe this one anyway).

> + .
> + Please chosse whether you want the installer package to download and install
              ^o          ~~~~~~~~
Typo.  And the point isn't to make up my mind what I want, the point
is to signal whether this should happen!

> + firmware even if the relevant hardware is not currently present on the system.
> + .
> + This might be useful if you plan to
>   move this installation to different hardware or share the same
>   installation on different systems.

If we're talking LiveCDs, make that "across multiple systems".
 
> The remaining rewrite is mostly aimed at bringing more readability by
> splitting sentences in paragraphs. Also avoid a partial sentence in
> the long description ("Should the installer package"....)

Technically it would be a complete sentence if you added the question
mark, but then we'd have to throw it out.

How about:

   _Description: Install b43 firmware even if no such device is present?
    The b43 packages are designed to handle firmware for Broadcom 43xx
    wireless network cards.
    .
    Please choose whether they should download and install firmware even
    if the corresponding hardware is not currently present on the system.
    .
    This might be useful if you plan to move this installation to different
    hardware or share the same installation across multiple systems.
 
Then in the control file:

>  Package: b43-fwcutter
>  Architecture: any
>  Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
> +Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware
> + This package provides a tool which can extract firmware from various source files.
>   It's written for BCM43xx driver files. It grabs firmware for BCM43xx
>   from a website and installs it. 

That fixes it to match the d-l-e styleguide, but meanwhile the content
seems mendacious.  *This* package doesn't grab software from anywhere,
and nor does it install it.  Did it once contain the script that now
lives in the other packages' preinsts?

Oh, and we should probably mention "wireless" somewhere, too.

I suspect we need to change this to something like:

   Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware
    This package provides a tool for extracting BCM43xx wireless chip
    firmware from Broadcom's proprietary driver files.
    .
    It is used by the firmware-b43(legacy)-installer packages as part of
    the automated process of downloading and installing firmware.

>  Package: firmware-b43-installer
[...]
> -Description: Installer package for firmware for the b43 driver
> +Description: installer package for firmware for the b43 driver

No need for two "for" phrases, and no need to point out that it's a
package; just make it:

   Description: firmware installer for the b43 driver

>   This package installs the firmware required for the use of the b43
> - kernel driver.
> + kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.
> 
> "a kernel driver for what" would be the question I'd have if I read
> this description without context. So, we need to explain what this
> mysterious "b43" stands for (after all, it could be a Boeing aircraft,
> after all).

In fact it's a fifties variable yield nuclear bomb!

Again this package description seems not to fully describe the current
scheme.  I would phrase it:

     This package downloads and installs the firmware needed by the b43
     kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.

[...]
>  Package: firmware-b43legacy-installer
[...]
> Same changes.

Likewise.
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
diff -ru b43-fwcutter-017.pristine/debian/b43-fwcutter.templates b43-fwcutter-017/debian/b43-fwcutter.templates
--- b43-fwcutter-017.pristine/debian/b43-fwcutter.templates	2013-02-06 02:12:39.000000000 +0000
+++ b43-fwcutter-017/debian/b43-fwcutter.templates	2013-05-19 12:37:00.484353388 +0100
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 Template: b43-fwcutter/install-unconditional
 Type: boolean
 Default: true
-_Description: Install firmware for hardware not present on this system?
- Should the installer package download and install firmware for hardware
- that is not currently present on the system. This is useful if you plan to
- move this installation to different hardware or share the same
- installation on different systems.
+_Description: Install b43 firmware even if no such device is present?
+ The b43 packages are designed to handle firmware for Broadcom 43xx
+ wireless network cards.
+ .
+ Please choose whether they should download and install firmware even
+ if the corresponding hardware is not currently present on the system.
+ .
+ This might be useful if you plan to move this installation to different
+ hardware or share the same installation across multiple systems.
diff -ru b43-fwcutter-017.pristine/debian/control b43-fwcutter-017/debian/control
--- b43-fwcutter-017.pristine/debian/control	2013-02-06 02:12:39.000000000 +0000
+++ b43-fwcutter-017/debian/control	2013-05-19 13:00:42.554783800 +0100
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@
 Package: b43-fwcutter
 Architecture: any
 Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
-Description: Utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware
- fwcutter is a tool which can extract firmware from various source files.
- It's written for BCM43xx driver files. It grabs firmware for BCM43xx
- from a website and installs it. 
+Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware
+ This package provides a tool for extracting BCM43xx wireless chip
+ firmware from Broadcom's proprietary driver files.
+ .
+ It is used by the firmware-b43(legacy)-installer packages as part of
+ the automated process of downloading and installing firmware.
 
 Package: firmware-b43-installer
 Section: contrib/kernel
@@ -23,28 +25,28 @@
 Recommends: linux-image
 Replaces: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (<= 1:015-14)
 Breaks: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (<= 1:015-14)
-Description: Installer package for firmware for the b43 driver
- This package installs the firmware required for the use of the b43
- kernel driver.
+Description: firmware installer for the b43 driver
+ This package downloads and installs the firmware needed by the b43
+ kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.
  .
  Supported chipsets:
-  - BCM4306/3
-  - BCM4311
-  - BCM4318
-  - BCM4321
-  - BCM4322 (only 14e4:432b)
-  - BCM4312 (with Low-Power aka LP-PHY)
+  * BCM4306/3;
+  * BCM4311;
+  * BCM4318;
+  * BCM4321;
+  * BCM4322 (only 14e4:432b);
+  * BCM4312 (with Low-Power a.k.a. LP-PHY).
 
 Package: firmware-b43legacy-installer
 Section: contrib/kernel
 Architecture: all
 Recommends: linux-image
 Depends: b43-fwcutter (>= ${source:Version}), wget, ${misc:Depends}
-Description: Installer package for firmware for the b43legacy driver
- This package installs the firmware needed for the use of the
- b43legacy kernel driver.
+Description: firmware installer for the b43legacy driver
+ This package downloads and installs the firmware needed by the b43legacy
+ kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.
  .
  Supported chipsets:
-  - BCM4301
-  - BCM4306/2
-  - BCM4306
+  * BCM4301;
+  * BCM4306/2;
+  * BCM4306.
Template: b43-fwcutter/install-unconditional
Type: boolean
Default: true
_Description: Install b43 firmware even if no such device is present?
 The b43 packages are designed to handle firmware for Broadcom 43xx
 wireless network cards.
 .
 Please choose whether they should download and install firmware even
 if the corresponding hardware is not currently present on the system.
 .
 This might be useful if you plan to move this installation to different
 hardware or share the same installation across multiple systems.
Source: b43-fwcutter
Section: contrib/utils
Priority: optional
Maintainer: Daniel Echeverry <epsilon77@gmail.com>
Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9), po-debconf, debconf
Standards-Version: 3.9.4
Homepage: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
Vcs-Git: git://git.debian.org/collab-maint/b43-fwcutter.git
Vcs-Browser: http://git.debian.org/?p=collab-maint/b43-fwcutter.git

Package: b43-fwcutter
Architecture: any
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware
 This package provides a tool for extracting BCM43xx wireless chip
 firmware from Broadcom's proprietary driver files.
 .
 It is used by the firmware-b43(legacy)-installer packages as part of
 the automated process of downloading and installing firmware.

Package: firmware-b43-installer
Section: contrib/kernel
Architecture: all
Depends: b43-fwcutter (>= ${source:Version}), bzip2, wget, ${misc:Depends} 
Recommends: linux-image
Replaces: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (<= 1:015-14)
Breaks: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (<= 1:015-14)
Description: firmware installer for the b43 driver
 This package downloads and installs the firmware needed by the b43
 kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.
 .
 Supported chipsets:
  * BCM4306/3;
  * BCM4311;
  * BCM4318;
  * BCM4321;
  * BCM4322 (only 14e4:432b);
  * BCM4312 (with Low-Power a.k.a. LP-PHY).

Package: firmware-b43legacy-installer
Section: contrib/kernel
Architecture: all
Recommends: linux-image
Depends: b43-fwcutter (>= ${source:Version}), wget, ${misc:Depends}
Description: firmware installer for the b43legacy driver
 This package downloads and installs the firmware needed by the b43legacy
 kernel driver for some Broadcom 43xx wireless network cards.
 .
 Supported chipsets:
  * BCM4301;
  * BCM4306/2;
  * BCM4306.

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