Hi Justin,
thanks a million and apologies for the mistakes.
Please, find attached a new patch where all your suggestions have been
applied. I also analyzed (using grep) all the other files in the same
directory for gender-specific language and corrected some other
occurrences. Among them, there's the one you spotted in kernel.sgml:
thanks a lot!
On 14/07/14 19:21, Justin B Rye wrote:
> ^^^
> Except that now my eyes drift to the previous paragraph, which talks
> about the boot-floppies package, last seen in... what, Potato?
Unfortunately I do not have yet enough knowledge to correct those kind
of semantic mistakes.
Please, find the latest patch attached.
All the best,
Myriam
There
> are some intimidating cobwebs in here.
>
>> Index: pkg_basics.sgml
>> ===================================================================
>> --- pkg_basics.sgml (revision 10421)
>> +++ pkg_basics.sgml (working copy)
> [...]
>> package <tt>foo</tt> once <tt>foo</tt> has been unpacked from its Debian
>> archive (".deb") file. Often, 'postinst' scripts ask the user for input,
>> - and/or warn the user that if he accepts default values, he should remember
>> + and/or warn the users that if they accepted default values, they should remember
>
> Make that
> archive (".deb") file. Often, 'postinst' scripts ask users for input,
> and/or warn them that if they accept default values, they should remember
>
>> to go back and re-configure that package as the situation warrants.
>> Many 'postinst' scripts then execute any commands necessary to start or
>> restart a service once a new package has been installed or upgraded.
> [...]
>>
>> <p>Their meanings are:
>> <list>
>> - <item>unknown - the user has never indicated whether he wants the package
>> - <item>install - the user wants the package installed or upgraded
>> - <item>remove - the user wants the package removed, but does not want to
>> + <item>unknown - users have never indicated whether they want the package
>> + <item>install - users want the package installed or upgraded
>> + <item>remove - users want the package removed, but do not want to
>
> I don't think this works (it sounds as if the users on any given
> machine decide things like this communally). Instead, just change the
> first one to
>
> <item>unknown - the user has never indicated whether the package is wanted
>
> [...]
>> - <item>hold - the user wants this package not to be processed, i.e., he
>> - wants to keep the current version with the current status whatever that is.
>> + <item>hold - users want this package not to be processed, i.e., they
>> + want to keep the current version with the current status whatever that is.
>
> Try:
> <item>hold - the user wants this package not to be processed, or in other words
> wants to keep the current version with the current status whatever that is.
>
> [...]
>> <list>
>> - <item>guide the user as he/she chooses among packages to install or remove,
>> + <item>guide the users as they choose among packages to install or remove,
>> ensuring that no packages are installed that conflict with one another,
>> and that all packages required to make each package work properly are
>> installed;
>> - <item>warn the user about inconsistencies or incompatibilities in their
>> + <item>warn the users about inconsistencies or incompatibilities in their
>> selections;
>> <item>determine the order in which the packages must be installed;
>> <item>automatically perform the installation or removal; and
>> - <item>guide the user through whatever configuration process are required
>> + <item>guide the users through whatever configuration process are required
>> for each package.
>
> These are all okay-ish, but would be more idiomatic if you dropped the
> article - that is, s/the user/users/. Wait... is this is talking
> about dselect?
>
>> <item><strong/Select/ specific packages for installation on his system.
> ^^^
> You missed one here! Tricky, but "on the system" would do.
>
>> After choosing this menu item, the user is first presented with a full
>> screen of help (unless the `--expert' command line option was used).
>> - Once the user exits the Help screen, he sees the split-screen menu for
>> + Once exiting the Help screen, a user sees the split-screen menu for
>> choosing packages to install (or remove).
>
> Oh, a good idea, but you can't do it with "once", and you can't turn
> "the" user (definite in the previous sentence) into "a" user. It
> would work as:
>
> On exiting the Help screen, the user sees the split-screen menu for
>
Index: choosing.sgml
===================================================================
--- choosing.sgml (revision 10421)
+++ choosing.sgml (working copy)
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
<item>So on June 20, both testing and unstable have
XYZ-3.7 in their repositories.
<item>Let's say, The user of testing distribution sees
-that a new XYZ package is available and updates his XYZ-3.6 to XYZ-3.7
+that a new XYZ package is available and updates the XYZ-3.6 to XYZ-3.7
<item>Now on June 25, someone
using testing or unstable discovers an RC bug in XYZ-3.7 and files it
in the BTS.
Index: kernel.sgml
===================================================================
--- kernel.sgml (revision 10421)
+++ kernel.sgml (working copy)
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
(<file>/usr/sbin/modconf</file>) which can be used to customize the
configuration of modules. This script presents a menu-based interface,
prompting the user for particulars on the loadable device drivers
-in his system. The responses are used to customize the file
+in the system. The responses are used to customize the file
<file>/etc/modules.conf</file> (which lists aliases, and other arguments that
must be used in conjunction with various modules) through files in
<file>/etc/modutils/</file>, and <file>/etc/modules</file> (which lists the
Index: pkg_basics.sgml
===================================================================
--- pkg_basics.sgml (revision 10421)
+++ pkg_basics.sgml (working copy)
@@ -87,8 +87,7 @@
number may have formats as different as "19990513" and "1.3.8pre1".
<p>The <tt>RRR</tt> component is the Debian revision number, and is
-specified by the Debian developer (or an individual user if he chooses
-to build the package himself). This number corresponds to the revision
+specified by the Debian developer (or a user who chooses to rebuild the package locally). This number corresponds to the revision
level of the Debian package, thus, a new revision level usually signifies
changes in the Debian Makefile (<tt>debian/rules</tt>), the Debian control
file (<tt>debian/control</tt>), the installation or removal scripts
@@ -194,8 +193,8 @@
<tag/postinst/
<item>This script typically completes any required configuration of the
package <tt>foo</tt> once <tt>foo</tt> has been unpacked from its Debian
- archive (".deb") file. Often, 'postinst' scripts ask the user for input,
- and/or warn the user that if he accepts default values, he should remember
+ archive (".deb") file. Often, 'postinst' scripts ask users for input,
+ and/or warn them that if they accept default values, they should remember
to go back and re-configure that package as the situation warrants.
Many 'postinst' scripts then execute any commands necessary to start or
restart a service once a new package has been installed or upgraded.
@@ -365,13 +364,13 @@
<p>Their meanings are:
<list>
- <item>unknown - the user has never indicated whether he wants the package
- <item>install - the user wants the package installed or upgraded
+ <item>unknown - the user has never indicated whether the package is wanted
+ <item>install - the user wants the package installed or upgraded
<item>remove - the user wants the package removed, but does not want to
remove any existing configuration files.
<item>purge - the user wants the package to be removed completely,
including its configuration files.
- <item>hold - the user wants this package not to be processed, i.e., he
+ <item>hold - the user wants this package not to be processed, or in other words,
wants to keep the current version with the current status whatever that is.
</list>
Index: pkgtools.sgml
===================================================================
--- pkgtools.sgml (revision 10421)
+++ pkgtools.sgml (working copy)
@@ -239,15 +239,15 @@
<p><prgn/dselect/ can:
<list>
- <item>guide the user as he/she chooses among packages to install or remove,
+ <item>guide users as they choose among packages to install or remove,
ensuring that no packages are installed that conflict with one another,
and that all packages required to make each package work properly are
installed;
- <item>warn the user about inconsistencies or incompatibilities in their
+ <item>warn users about inconsistencies or incompatibilities in their
selections;
<item>determine the order in which the packages must be installed;
<item>automatically perform the installation or removal; and
- <item>guide the user through whatever configuration process are required
+ <item>guide users through whatever configuration process are required
for each package.
</list>
@@ -256,9 +256,9 @@
by using the arrow keys to move the highlighter bar, then pressing the
<em><enter></em> key to select the highlighted action.
-<p>What the user sees next depends on the action he selected. If he selects
+<p>What users see next depends on the action they selected. If they select
any option but <tt>Access</tt> or <tt>Select</tt>, then <prgn/dselect/
-will simply proceed to execute the specified action: e.g., if the user
+will simply proceed to execute the specified action: e.g., if a user
selected the action <tt>Remove</tt>, then dselect would proceed to remove
all of the files selected for removal when the user last chose the
<tt>Select</tt> action.
@@ -291,10 +291,10 @@
installed are stored. (But if it is not there, <prgn/dselect/ will
offer to make it for you.)
- <item><strong/Select/ specific packages for installation on his system.
+ <item><strong/Select/ specific packages for installation on the system.
After choosing this menu item, the user is first presented with a full
screen of help (unless the `--expert' command line option was used).
- Once the user exits the Help screen, he sees the split-screen menu for
+ On exiting the Help screen, the user sees the split-screen menu for
choosing packages to install (or remove).
<p>The top part of the screen is a relatively narrow window into the
Index: software.sgml
===================================================================
--- software.sgml (revision 10421)
+++ software.sgml (working copy)
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
<item>&debian; is distributed with keymaps for nearly two dozen
keyboards, and with utilities (in the <tt>kbd</tt> package) to install,
view, and modify the tables.
- <p>The installation prompts the user to specify the keyboard he will use.
+ <p>The installation prompts the user to specify the keyboard to use.
<item>Vast majority of the software we packaged supports entering
non-US-ASCII characters used in other Latin languages (e.g. ISO-8859-1
or ISO-8859-2), and a number of programs support multi-byte languages
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