Re: Last part of the proposed changes to debian-faq
Beatrice Torracca wrote:
> Index: choosing.sgml
> ===================================================================
> --- choosing.sgml (revisione 11198)
> +++ choosing.sgml (copia locale)
> @@ -29,7 +29,8 @@
> in. You can easily switch to the more modern unstable (or testing) once you are a little
> more confident.</p>
>
> -<item><p>If you are a desktop user with a lot of experience in the operating system and does not mind
> +<item><p>If you are a desktop user with a lot of experience in the
> +operating system and who does not mind
> facing the odd bug now and then, or even full system breakage, use unstable. It has all the latest and
> greatest software, and bugs are usually fixed swiftly.</p>
Or simpler,
<item><p>If you are a desktop user with a lot of experience in the operating system and do not mind
> @@ -62,9 +63,9 @@
> even without subscribing. The archives can be read
> through <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/";>. Information regarding
> subscribing to the list can be found at the location of archives. You are
^the
> -strongly encouraged to post your questions on the mailing-list than on <url
> +strongly encouraged to post your questions on the mailing-list rather than on <url
> id="http://www.debian.org/support"; name="irc">. The mailing-list messages are
> -archived, so solution to your problem can
> +archived, so the solution to your problem can
> help others with the same issue. </p>
>
[...]
> <sect1>Could you tell me whether to install stable, testing or unstable?
>
> <p>No, this is a rather subjective issue. There is no perfect answer
> as it depends on the software needed, the users' needs
> -and the experience of its system administrator. Here are some tips:
> +and the experience of their system administrator. Here are some tips:
> </p>
I'm not sure I follow this. What "needs" does the user have (that
Debian can help with) other than software? Are we imagining the
sysadmin as a different person from the user? If so then that's who
they should probably be asking for advice. I suspect this may have
been originally intended to mean:
<p>No, this is a rather subjective issue. There is no perfect answer
as it depends on your software needs and your experience in system
administration. Here are some tips:
Or maybe:
<p>No, this is a rather subjective issue. There is no perfect answer
as it depends on your software needs, your willingness to deal with possible
breakage, and your experience in system administration. Here are some tips:
> @@ -166,8 +167,8 @@
>
> <p>The idea is that, if the package has any problems, it would be discovered by
> people using unstable and will be fixed before it enters testing. This keeps
> -the testing in an usable state for most period of the time. Overall a
> -brilliant concept, if you ask me. But things are always not so simple. Consider
> +the testing in an usable state for most of the time. Overall a
No article before the quasi-name "testing"; and "usable" begins with a
consonant (you can't trust English orthography):
testing in a usable state for most of the time. Overall a
> +brilliant concept, if you ask me. But things aren't always so simple. Consider
> the following situation:</p>
>
> <p><list>
> @@ -207,18 +208,18 @@
> </list>
>
> <p>The situation can get much more complicated, if say, XYZ depends on 4 other
> -packages. This could in turn lead to unusable testing distribution for months.
> -The above scenario which is artificially created by me, can occur in the real
> +packages. This could in turn lead to an unusable testing distribution for months.
> +The above scenario which is artificially created by me, can occur in real
> life. But such occurrences are rare.
That precise scenario can't occur in real life because there isn't
(and never will be) a real package named XYZ. It's obviously a
hypothetical scenario, and obviously designed to warn about analogous
real ones. How about:
packages. This could in turn lead to an unusable testing distribution for months.
While the scenario above is imaginary, similar things can occur in real life,
though they are rare.
Wait... doesn't this whole scenario depend on packages taking ten days
to migrate (with a default urgency=low)? The default changed to five
(i.e. urgency=medium) a couple of years ago - see #730343.
> <sect1>From an administrator's point of view, which distribution
> requires more attention?
>
> -<p>One of the main reasons many people chose Debian over other Linux distributions is
> +<p>One of the main reasons many people choose Debian over other Linux distributions is
> that it requires very little administration. People want a system that just works.
> In general one can say, that stable requires very little maintenance, while
^
Another surplus comma.
> testing and unstable require constant maintenance from the administrator. If you are
> -running stable, all you need to worry about is, keeping track of security
> +running stable, all you need to worry about is keeping track of security
> updates. If you are running either testing or unstable it is a good idea to be
> aware of the new bugs discovered in the installed packages, new
> bugfixes/features introduced
[...]
> @@ -253,15 +254,15 @@
> <item>After some time testing becomes frozen. But it will still be called
> testing. At this point no new packages from unstable can migrate to testing
> unless they include release-critical (RC) bug fixes.
> - <item>When testing is frozen, all the new bugfixes introduced, have to be
> + <item>When testing is frozen, all the new bugfixes introduced have to be
> manually checked by the members of the release team. This is done to ensure
> - that there won't be any unknown severe problems in the frozen
> + that there won't be any unknown severe problem in the frozen
> testing.
You've been changing "(not) any Xs" to "(not) any Y", enforcing a
grammar rule that modern English speakers generally ignore. Usually
it does no harm, but here it seems to me that it changes the sense
from "it won't have whatever-sort-of errors" to "it will have
absolutely no errors". Keep it as
that there won't be any unknown severe problems in the frozen
[...]
> @@ -398,8 +399,8 @@
> they use the same formatting and name (.deb), does not make them immediately
> compatible.
>
> -<p>For example, Knoppix is a Linux distribution designed to be booted as a live CD where as
> -Debian is designed to be installed on hard-disk. Knoppix is great if you want
> +<p>For example, Knoppix is a Linux distribution designed to be booted as a live CD whereas
> +Debian is designed to be installed on the hard-disk. Knoppix is great if you want
> to know whether a particular hardware works, or if you want to experience how a
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Uh-oh, a "-ware" noun used as countably singular. Nope, I'm afraid
they're all mass nouns; you need
to know whether a particular piece of hardware works, or if you want to experience how a
> linux system 'feels' etc., Knoppix is good for demonstration purposes while
^
Linux has a capital letter. In these days of Linux-based Android
devices I would prefer to credit the "feel" to "GNU/Linux".
[...]
> Index: compat.sgml
> ===================================================================
> --- compat.sgml (revisione 11198)
> +++ compat.sgml (copia locale)
> @@ -47,10 +47,9 @@
> </list>
>
> <p>The development of binary distributions of Debian for
> -<em/armhf/ (for ARM boards and devices with a floating-point unit),
> <em/arv32/ (for Atmel's 32-bit RISC architecture),
> <em/m32/ (for 32-bit RISC microprocessor of Renesas Technology),
> -<em/s390x/ (for the 64-bit userland for IBM System z mainframes), and
> +and
> <em/sh/ (for Hitachi SuperH processors)
> is currently underway.
Is it really?
> Index: contrib.sgml
> ===================================================================
> --- contrib.sgml (revisione 11198)
> +++ contrib.sgml (copia locale)
[...]
> @@ -72,9 +73,10 @@
> <p>There are a number of organizations created in different countries that hold
> assets in trust for Debian. The <url id="http://www.debian.org/donations";
> name="donations page"> lists the trusted organisations individuals can donate
> -to. At the time of this writing there are two of them: <url
> -id="http://www.ffis.de/"; name="Verein zur Förderung Freier Informationen & Software"> (in Germany) and
> -the <url id="https://france.debian.net/"; name="Debian France Association"> (in France).
> +to. At the time of this writing there are three of them: <url
> +id="http://www.ffis.de/"; name="Verein zur Förderung Freier Informationen & Software"> (in Germany),
> +the <url id="https://france.debian.net/"; name="Debian France Association"> (in
> +France), and <url id="http://debian.ch/"; name="debian.ch"> (Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein).
> Additional affiliate organisations in other countries are listed in <url id="https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Auditor/Organizations"; name="Organizations"> page in the Debian Wiki.
This paragraph spells "organi?ation" inconsistently. Is the FAQ
localised or localized?
[...]
> Index: ftparchives.sgml
> ===================================================================
> --- ftparchives.sgml (revisione 11198)
> +++ ftparchives.sgml (copia locale)
[...]
> @@ -42,10 +42,10 @@
> release 1.1, <tt>rex</tt> for release 1.2, <tt>bo</tt> for releases 1.3.x,
> <tt>hamm</tt> for release 2.0, <tt>slink</tt> for release 2.1,
> <tt>potato</tt> for release 2.2, <tt>woody</tt> for release 3.0,
> -<tt>sarge</tt> for release 3.1, <tt>etch</tt> for release 4.0, and
> -<tt>lenny</tt> for release 5.0, and
> +<tt>sarge</tt> for release 3.1, <tt>etch</tt> for release 4.0,
> +<tt>lenny</tt> for release 5.0,
> <tt>squeeze</tt> for release 6.0,
> -<tt>wheezy</tt> for release 7.0.
> +<tt>wheezy</tt> for release 7.0, and <tt>jessie</tt> for release 8.0.
Hang on; squeeze was "6.0", but by the time we got to jessie the
release announcement definitely said plain "8" (things weren't
consistent in wheezy, but I think it was *meant* to be "7").
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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