Re: Debian-installer/grub-installer: proposal for template change
Holger Wansing wrote:
> John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>> On 11/19/19 8:06 PM, Holger Wansing wrote:
>>> It's unclear, what the "new system" is supposed to be.
>>> So above patch to clarity.
>>
>> Why would that be unclear? When you just finished an installation, I
>> think the term "your new system" is pretty unambiguous in the context.
>
> 'The new xyz' tends to be error-prone IMO, since what is 'new' today, gets
> older every day and some day it's the 'old' one.
> Of course, this picture does not fully apply to the above situation, I know,
> but I would like to avoid such phrasing if possible.
In this case we know it's brand-new, in that the user has just
finished creating it. But a reader *could* misinterpret it this way -
"after the machine boots, from then on you'll always be able to choose
whether to boot one of those other operating systems or whatever thing
you've installed most recently at that point".
> Also, 'system' is a term which is used for different instances, like the
> real hardware PC (like in 'PC system'), the operating system (like Debian,
> Windows ...) or virtual operating systems...
And don't forget the EFI "system partition", which might be "new" if
the user has only previously used legacy BIOS.
> Thus, users might get confused, and in fact I read an installation report
> (not in the Debian BTS), where this was mentioned.
Yes; "system" is one of those words that's rarely wrong to use, but
also rarely pulls its weight in making it clear what you're talking
about.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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