This will hopefully avoid questions over which spelling and grammar should
be used. Translators are of course free to create localizations for
specific English dialects.
Signed-off-by: Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
On 13-08-01 02:21 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> + The documentation generally follows US English (en_US) norms for spelling
>> + and grammar, although most spelling variations are tolerated. Just avoid
>> + mixing styles when updating existing text. If you wish to correct the
>> + English of some of the existing documentation, please see the documentation-
>> + related advice in the Documentation/SubmittingPatches file.
>
> Is that accurate? My impression has been:
>
> The documentation liberally mixes US and UK English (en_US/UK)
> norms for spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate.
> In an ideal world, it would have been better if it consistently
> used only one and not the other, and we would have picked en_US.
>
> A huge patch that touches the files all over the place only to
> correct the inconsistency is not welcome, though. Potential
> clashes with other changes that can result from such a patch is
> simply not worth it. What we would want is to gradually convert
> them, with small and easily digestable patches, as a side effect
> of doing some other _real_ work in the vicinity (e.g. rewriting
> a paragraph to clarify, while turning en_UK spelling to en_US).
I was focused more on just describing what the documentation should be rather than what it is. I don't feel strongly about it & I think your phrasing is fine. I do think the topic needs to be in both CodingGuidelines and SubmittingPatches. How about this?
(The SubmittingPatches change also switches "I am " to "we are" in the following paragraph, because I found the jump a bit too jarring.)
M.
Documentation/CodingGuidelines | 8 ++++++++
Documentation/SubmittingPatches | 14 +++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
index 559d5f9..8acf557 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
+++ b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
@@ -242,6 +242,14 @@ Writing Documentation:
processed into HTML and manpages (e.g. git.html and git.1 in the
same directory).
+ The documentation liberally mixes US and UK English (en_US/UK)
+ norms for spelling and grammar, which is somewhat unfortunate.
+ In an ideal world, it would have been better if it consistently
+ used only one and not the other, and we would have picked en_US.
+ (If you wish to correct the English of some of the existing
+ documentation, please see the documentation-related advice in the
+ Documentation/SubmittingPatches file.)
+
Every user-visible change should be reflected in the documentation.
The same general rule as for code applies -- imitate the existing
conventions. A few commented examples follow to provide reference
diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
index d0a4733..b3477ba 100644
--- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -65,7 +65,19 @@ feature does not trigger when it shouldn't. Also make sure that the
test suite passes after your commit. Do not forget to update the
documentation to describe the updated behaviour.
-Oh, another thing. I am picky about whitespaces. Make sure your
+Speaking of the documentation, it is currently a liberal mixture of US
+and UK English norms for spelling and grammar. A huge patch that
+touches the files all over the place only to correct the inconsistency
+is not welcome, though. Potential clashes with other changes that can
+result from such a patch are simply not worth it. We prefer to
+gradually reconcile the inconsistencies (in favor of US English), with
+small and easily digestible patches, as a side effect of doing some
+other real work in the vicinity (e.g. rewriting a paragraph for clarity,
+while turning en_UK spelling to en_US). Obvious typographical fixes are
+also welcome ("teh -> "the"), preferably submitted as independent patches
+separate from other documentation changes.
+
+Oh, another thing. We are picky about whitespaces. Make sure your
changes do not trigger errors with the sample pre-commit hook shipped
in templates/hooks--pre-commit. To help ensure this does not happen,
run git diff --check on your changes before you commit.
--
1.8.3.1
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