Re: [PATCH] Documentation: fix typos in man pages
- From
Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@xiplink.com>
- Date
- Jul 30, 2013, 14:51 UTC
- Message-ID
- <51F7D2FA.7020208@xiplink.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <1375132543-20361-1-git-send-email-oystwa@gmail.com>
On 13-07-29 05:15 PM, Øystein Walle wrote:
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> Signed-off-by: Øystein Walle <oystwa@gmail.com> > --- > I thought I'd take part in the typo fixing frenzy :) > > I have some other potential typos lines up. Right now the docs refer to both > 'filesystem' and 'file system', as well as both 'testsuite' and 'test suite'. I > think words like these are generally split in English but I'm not sure.
I generally prefer to see the spaces in these words, otherwise it starts to look more like German.
But of course English is full of exceptions...
> There are also some words that I think look better with with a dash, e.g. > 'trade-off'. Should I just send these as a patch too instead of jabbering on > about it?
I'm indifferent to that. I guess it depends on the context, so seeing the patch would help.
I personally don't have a lot of time to investigate the nuances of English. However, I desperately hope this list can avoid any linguistic flame wars. In that spirit, I suggest that anyone posting an orthographic patch (i.e. for something that isn't an obvious spelling mistake) could helpfully include a link or two to an explanation of the reasoning for the change. Especially for folks who aren't native English speakers, this could help avoid a lot of back-and-forth.
One general source I've found is the English StackExchange: http://english.stackexchange.com/
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> Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/git-clone.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/git-daemon.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/git-diff.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/gitcli.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/githooks.txt | 2 +- > Documentation/gitweb.conf.txt | 4 ++-- > Documentation/user-manual.txt | 2 +- > 8 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) > > diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt b/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt > index d2df487..5354301 100644 > --- a/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt > +++ b/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt > @@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ OPTIONS > Read file names from stdin instead of from the command-line. > > -z:: > - The output format is modified to be machine-parseable (see > + The output format is modified to be machine-parsable (see
I believe this is a US/UK nuance. As I've recently stated, I think this kind of change isn't all that helpful as we're likely to see some well-intentioned person switch it back sometime in the future. If the git project could choose an official English dialect it would go a long way towards mitigating such churn.
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> below). If `--stdin` is also given, input paths are separated > with a NUL character instead of a linefeed character. > > diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt > index 450f158..3865658 100644 > --- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt > +++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt > @@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository. > --separate-git-dir=<git dir>:: > Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed > to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory, > - then make a filesytem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there. > + then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there. > The result is Git repository can be separated from working > tree. > > diff --git a/Documentation/git-daemon.txt b/Documentation/git-daemon.txt > index 223f731..a3283e1 100644 > --- a/Documentation/git-daemon.txt > +++ b/Documentation/git-daemon.txt > @@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ Git configuration files in that directory are readable by `<user>`. > service by exiting with a non-zero status (or to allow it by > exiting with a zero status). It can also look at the $REMOTE_ADDR > and $REMOTE_PORT environment variables to learn about the > - requestor when making this decision. > + requester when making this decision.
Although I prefer the -or form for this word, this really is one of English's vague areas. Some words that end with -st definitely take the -er suffix (tester, jester) but others take the -or suffix (investor). A bit of Googling also gave no firm result[1][2].
So I think this change is neither good nor bad. However, like the UK/US-isms, I wonder if there's some way to avoid people changing this back and forth. But I don't think simply choosing a dialect will help here.
[1] http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/29254/whats-the-difference-between-requester-and-requestor [2] http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/ends4.html
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> + > The external command can optionally write a single line to its > standard output to be sent to the requestor as an error message when > diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt > index 78d6d50..fe42bf6 100644 > --- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt > +++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt > @@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index. > commit relative to the named <commit>. Typically you > would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you > do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD. > - If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborned branches) and > + If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborn branches) and > <commit> is not given, it shows all staged changes. > --staged is a synonym of --cached. > > diff --git a/Documentation/gitcli.txt b/Documentation/gitcli.txt > index 9ac5088..670c285 100644 > --- a/Documentation/gitcli.txt > +++ b/Documentation/gitcli.txt > @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ arguments. Here are the rules: > they can be disambiguated by placing `--` between them. > E.g. `git diff -- HEAD` is, "I have a file called HEAD in my work > tree. Please show changes between the version I staged in the index > - and what I have in the work tree for that file". not "show difference > + and what I have in the work tree for that file", not "show difference
Good eyes!
M.