"allows to" in package descriptions not caught by lintian

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

Binary package hint: lintian

"allows to" is a common grammar error made by package maintainers who do not have English as their first language

~> grep-available -is Package,Description -F Description "allows to " | egrep -i "Package:|allows to " | wc -l
77

~> grep-available -is Package,Description -F Description "allows to " | egrep -i "Package:|allows to " | head -20
Package: memtest86+
 look at `memtester', which allows to test your memory within Linux,
Package: python-wnck
 This package contains a module that allows to communicate with the
Package: python-gnomeapplet
 This package contains a module that allows to write applets for the
Package: python-mediaprofiles
 This package contains a module that allows to use the GNOME media
Package: libglade2-0
 This library allows to load externally stored user interfaces into
Package: libgnome2-perl
 libgnome2-perl allows to write programs with a GNOME user
Package: kpowersave
 KPowersave is a KDE systray applet which allows to control the power
Package: libpackagekit-glib11
 PackageKit allows to perform simple software management tasks over a DBus
Package: packagekit
 PackageKit allows to perform simple software management tasks over a DBus
Package: python-evince
 This package contains a module that allows to write applications using

This phrase could be caught in lintian, in the same way that common misspellings are.

[Niels Thykier (niels-thykier)]

Hey,

Sounds like a decent idea. Do you have any suggestions for a correction?

~Niels

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

There is no one correction that will work in every case.

Sometimes, the appropriate correction is "lets you". For example:

Package: memtest86+
 look at `memtester', which lets you test a computer's memory within Linux,
Package: python-gnomeapplet
 This module lets you write applets for the
Package: kpowersave
 KPowersave is a KDE systray applet which lets you control the power

Sometimes, the correction needs to refer to a specific type of person or program. For example:

Package: python-wnck
 This module lets Python programs communicate with the
Package: python-mediaprofiles
 This module lets Python applications use the GNOME media
Package: libglade2-0
 This library lets programs load externally stored user interfaces.
Package: libgnome2-perl
 The library lets Perl developers write programs with a GNOME user
Package: python-evince
 These modules let Python applications display documents

And sometimes, neither is appropriate. For example:

Package: packagekit
 PackageKit allows simple software management tasks requested over a DBus

[Niels Thykier (niels-thykier)]

Hi

I have just committed a patch to Lintian's VCS[1] for this issue. I used "allows one to" as correction based on a debate with the Lintian maintainers[2].

Thanks for the report.

~Niels

[1] http://git.debian.org/?p=lintian/lintian.git;a=commitdiff;h=ba2d36f8b01f6db1bd12e14fe1ce798cdc7d5aa4

[2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-lint-maint/2011/01/msg00057.html

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Unfortunately, "allows one to" isn't appropriate for a package description either, unless it's a package intended for use only by the Queen of England. Take the first example: "look at `memtester', which allows one to test your memory within Linux". Allows one what to test your memory? Allows anyone on the Internet to test your memory?

I really don't think there's any getting around the fact that the appropriate correction is "Rewrite, and if you need help, ask a native speaker".

[Russ Allbery (rra-debian)]

Matthew Paul Thomas <email address hidden> writes:

> Unfortunately, "allows one to" isn't appropriate for a package
> description either, unless it's a package intended for use only by the
> Queen of England. Take the first example: "look at `memtester', which
> allows one to test your memory within Linux". Allows one what to test
> your memory? Allows anyone on the Internet to test your memory?

That sentence, while not ideal, seems good enough to this native speaker
to suggest as a replacement. I wouldn't have given that sentence in the
description a second thought. Use of "one" in that style as a generic
pronoun is common usage in American English.

In other words, the correction gets the description at least into the
realm of the average description. Good review and rewriting by a native
speaker can of course improve it further, but that's the case for many
package descriptions.

--
Russ Allbery (<email address hidden>) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

This bug is fixed in 2.5.0~rc1ubuntu1.

 lintian (2.5.0~rc1ubuntu1) natty; urgency=low
 .
   * Merge from Debian unstable. Remaining changes:
     - Don't warn about a symlinked changelog file in Ubuntu due to CDBS.
     - checks/init.d: fix LP: #496798 again; upstream only took part of our
       patch and the rest of the fix was dropped in the last merge; per
       maintainer's comments in Debian bug #569492, Ubuntu will need to
       carry this fix for the time being
 .
 lintian (2.5.0~rc1) experimental; urgency=low
 .
   The "welcome Niels Thykier!" release.
 .
   * Summary of tag changes:
     + Added:
       - build-depends-on-specific-java-doc-package
       - depends-on-specific-java-doc-package
       - unneeded-build-dep-on-quilt
       - description-synopsis-starts-with-article
       - needless-dependency-on-jre
       - temporary-debhelper-file
       - compressed-objects.inv
       - unused-build-dependency-on-cdbs
       - python-debug-in-wrong-location
       - debian-watch-contains-dh_make-template
       - missing-dependency-on-python-central
       - python-module-in-wrong-location
       - missing-dependency-on-python-support
       - package-installs-python-bytecode
       - debhelper-maintscript-needs-versioned-build-depends
     + Removed:
       - embedded-zlib (now in embedded-library)
       - embedded-libpng (now in embedded-library)
       - embedded-libjpeg (now in embedded-library)
       - embedded-libopenjpeg (now in embedded-library)
       - package-installs-python-pyc (replaced by
         package-installs-python-bytecode)
 .
   * checks/*:
     + [NT] Use the new pre-sorted file {index,info} when iterating over
       files.
     + [NT] All checks now report files without any "./" or "/" prefix.
       This may break existing overrides. (Closes: #534940)
   * checks/binaries:
     + [RA] Exclude kfreebsd-kernel-di-{amd64,i386} from the
       embedded-zlib check since it's in the kernel. (Closes: #593397)
     + [RG] Add swipl to the list of known interpreters. (Closes: #591316)
     + [RG] Detect embedded copies of ftgl, t1lib, gl2ps, libgd2,
       ncurses, openssl (libcrypto), sqlite/3, libm, ltdl, curl, libmng,
       libmsn, libmikmod, libmysqlclient, and tinyxml.
     + [RG] Merge embedded-{zlib,lib{png,jpeg,openjpeg}} into
       embedded-library.
     + [RG] Find directories based on the file's type instead of file(1)'s
       unforgiving output. Thanks, Gabriele Giacone. (Closes: #597990)
   * checks/cruft{,.desc}:
     + [NT] Extended the diff-contains-substvars check to also catch files
       prefixed with a package name.
     + [NT] Corrected the description of diff-contains-$vcs-control-dir.
       It incorrectly assumed that -i worked for native packages.
       (Closes: #609153)
     + [NT] Moved the list of autotools packages into data/cruft/autotools.
     + [NT] Clarified that dpkg-source looks for <package>_<upstreamversion>
       and not <package>_<version> in the description of
       native-package-with-dash-version. Thanks to Daniel Thomas for the
       report. (Closes: #594254)
   * checks/debhelper{,.desc...