request for clarification in Ch.3 about control files
I have trouble interpreting the third paragraph of Chapter 3 of the
policy, specifically the two sentences marked between ---> <--- below.
I think I know what it means, and I think that I understand why the
warning is necessary, but the way it is worded initially confused me. I
had to read this carefully several times, and only after recalling that
the .deb file format has a control.tgz file inside did I realise what
the 'control information file member of the .deb file format' meant.
I think the difficulty I have with parsing this phrase is due to the
nature of the English language, which allows overloading words with
different meaning. "Control information file member" is either a
sequence of four nouns or three adjectives and a noun. With parenthesis
for binding it should probably read like this:
((control information) file) member
Sorry to be picking this nit... I'll provide a suggested rewording to
try and be constructive instead of just complaining. ;-)
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html
"""There is unfortunately a collision of terminology here between
control information files and files in the Debian control file format.
Throughout this document, a control file refers to a file in the Debian
control file format. These files are documented in Control files and
their fields, Chapter 5.
---> Only files referred to specifically as control information files
are the files included in the control information file member of the
.deb file format used by binary packages. Most control information files
are not in the Debian control file format. <--- """
My suggested rewording of the marked phrase:
The metadata files in a .deb package as described in the previous
paragraph are explicitly referred to as 'control information files';
most of them are not in the Debian control file format.
Best,
Dennis van Dok
--
D.H. van Dok :: Software Engineer :: www.nikhef.nl/grid ::
Phone +31 20 592 22 28 :: http://www.nikhef.nl/~dennisvd/
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