On Thu, Oct 22 2009, Raphael Geissert wrote: > Manoj Srivastava wrote: > >> I also think that style issues should not be a part of even >> Pedantic checks. If a package is using a different, and arguably >> better style, then lintian should keep its nose out. > > If there's a better style I guess nobody would object to consider > recommend it or
You are not getting it. Better is subjective. You can have a dozen "better" styles, all contradictory. Are you planning on having checks that can never all be met simultaneously? That is what you get when you go for subjectively "better" styles. > at least make sure lintian doesn't complain about it. Ah. I have a few of those. For example, take this warning from Lintian: description-synopsis-might-not-be-phrased-properly This is not policy, but dev-ref, and when it was proposed, it was argued that if we had a non clause, the front ends can make it look "nicer", by completing the sentence, adding the period, etc, (perhaps by showing "Package" is a <short description> . That was around 6 years or so ago. Here is an excerpt from aptitude (lines edited to remove size and version info for email): --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- i kernel-package A utility for building Linux kernel related Debian packages. i module-assistant tool to make module package creation easier --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Frankly, I like the Package-Name: A short sentence with a period. way better. The front ends have never started to display the short descriptions as though they were noun phrases And why is this a warning as opposed to an informational message? How is the package impacted by having a gosh darned period in the short description? This is the same level of impairment as the other non info warnings? seriously? Thisis not a severity normal bug. It is not even a severity wishlist bug. It is a style issue. Once the front ends have been changed, then perhaps it would be a wishlist bug. Things like that are why I take every lintian warning with a huge grain of salt. Ideally, Errors should correlate to important+ bugs, and must violations, I think, warnings are bugs (minor and normal) and should violations, and everything wishlist ought to be a informational message. Style things belong in experimental. And, to give credit where it is due, the majority of the tags are listed at their proper severity. But by no means all of them are. Lintian is a great tool. But it has long standing flaws, and previous maintainers of lintian have been resistant to changing that. manoj -- His life was formal; his actions seemed ruled with a ruler. Manoj Srivastava <sriva...@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/> 1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-mentors-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org