Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral.
This mirrors a similar recent fix to automake.texi. Any technical reasons against this patch? The rest of the manual greps ok. Thanks, Ralf Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral. * doc/libtool.texi (Introduction): Use gender-neutral formulation when addressing developers. diff --git a/doc/libtool.texi b/doc/libtool.texi index bbc22f4..051aec3 100644 --- a/doc/libtool.texi +++ b/doc/libtool.texi @@ -230,13 +230,13 @@ Platform quirks @node Introduction @chapter Introduction -In the past, if a source code package developer wanted to take advantage -of the power of shared libraries, he needed to write custom support code -for each platform on which his package ran. He also had to design a -configuration interface so that the package installer could choose what -sort of libraries were built. +In the past, if you were a source code package developer and wanted to +take advantage of the power of shared libraries, you needed to write +custom support code for each platform on which your package ran. You +also had to design a configuration interface so that the package +installer could choose what sort of libraries were built. -GNU Libtool simplifies the developer's job by encapsulating both the +GNU Libtool simplifies your job by encapsulating both the platform-specific dependencies, and the user interface, in a single script. GNU Libtool is designed so that the complete functionality of each host type is available via a generic interface, but nasty quirks
Re: Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral.
Hallo Ralf, On 6 Jun 2010, at 18:24, Ralf Wildenhues wrote: This mirrors a similar recent fix to automake.texi. Any technical reasons against this patch? Looks good to me. Thanks! The rest of the manual greps ok. Thanks, Ralf Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral. * doc/libtool.texi (Introduction): Use gender-neutral formulation when addressing developers. Cheers, -- Gary V. Vaughan (g...@gnu.org)
Re: Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral.
On Sun, 6 Jun 2010, Ralf Wildenhues wrote: This mirrors a similar recent fix to automake.texi. Any technical reasons against this patch? The rest of the manual greps ok. Regardless of Gary's affirmation, I don't think that replacing 'he' with 'you' is suitable. 'He' and 'you' are not at all equivalent terms. If there are two people in a room and one of them is 'you' then the other one may be 'he' or 'she' but is definitely not 'you'. If one is talking about the past, then the gentle reader might still have been in elementary school at the time (or the womb) and so it is not suitable to use the term 'you'. Bob Thanks, Ralf Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral. * doc/libtool.texi (Introduction): Use gender-neutral formulation when addressing developers. diff --git a/doc/libtool.texi b/doc/libtool.texi index bbc22f4..051aec3 100644 --- a/doc/libtool.texi +++ b/doc/libtool.texi @@ -230,13 +230,13 @@ Platform quirks @node Introduction @chapter Introduction -In the past, if a source code package developer wanted to take advantage -of the power of shared libraries, he needed to write custom support code -for each platform on which his package ran. He also had to design a -configuration interface so that the package installer could choose what -sort of libraries were built. +In the past, if you were a source code package developer and wanted to +take advantage of the power of shared libraries, you needed to write +custom support code for each platform on which your package ran. You +also had to design a configuration interface so that the package +installer could choose what sort of libraries were built. -GNU Libtool simplifies the developer's job by encapsulating both the +GNU Libtool simplifies your job by encapsulating both the platform-specific dependencies, and the user interface, in a single script. GNU Libtool is designed so that the complete functionality of each host type is available via a generic interface, but nasty quirks -- Bob Friesenhahn bfrie...@simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/ GraphicsMagick Maintainer,http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
Re: Rewrite manual intro to be gender-neutral.
Hello Bob, * Bob Friesenhahn wrote on Sun, Jun 06, 2010 at 05:15:11PM CEST: On Sun, 6 Jun 2010, Ralf Wildenhues wrote: This mirrors a similar recent fix to automake.texi. Any technical reasons against this patch? The rest of the manual greps ok. Regardless of Gary's affirmation, I don't think that replacing 'he' with 'you' is suitable. 'He' and 'you' are not at all equivalent terms. If there are two people in a room and one of them is 'you' then the other one may be 'he' or 'she' but is definitely not 'you'. If one is talking about the past, then the gentle reader might still have been in elementary school at the time (or the womb) and so it is not suitable to use the term 'you'. I'm really confused now. Is there any specific formulation, sentence, or something in the manual that my change made worse in any way? If you think so, can you please point it out precisely, including a suggestion on how to improve it? Your comment seems very general, and while I can guess that in general, the transformation from third to second person singular can be problematic, I fail to see why this should be the case in this patch. In all autotools manuals, use of you is already abundant. Thanks, Ralf --- a/doc/libtool.texi +++ b/doc/libtool.texi @@ -230,13 +230,13 @@ Platform quirks @node Introduction @chapter Introduction -In the past, if a source code package developer wanted to take advantage -of the power of shared libraries, he needed to write custom support code -for each platform on which his package ran. He also had to design a -configuration interface so that the package installer could choose what -sort of libraries were built. +In the past, if you were a source code package developer and wanted to +take advantage of the power of shared libraries, you needed to write +custom support code for each platform on which your package ran. You +also had to design a configuration interface so that the package +installer could choose what sort of libraries were built. -GNU Libtool simplifies the developer's job by encapsulating both the +GNU Libtool simplifies your job by encapsulating both the platform-specific dependencies, and the user interface, in a single script. GNU Libtool is designed so that the complete functionality of each host type is available via a generic interface, but nasty quirks
