[Fedora-packaging] Re: Long and "advertising" descriptions

[Ralf Corsepius]

On Mon, 2008-09-15 at 13:53 +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> On 14.09.2008 15:35, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
> > On Sun, 2008-09-14 at 10:36 +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> >> Yes, I know, enlightenment is designed for small machines and quite
> >> fast 
> >> on them. But those things I quoted and other sections in the
> >> description 
> >> sound more like advertising than a proper description. Up to a
> >> specific 
> >> point that's okay IMHO, but here the packager IMHO shoot way over the
> >> top.
> > Wow. That is indeed too much information. :) I'm not sure how we should
> > "guideline" that, other than something like:
> > 
> > == Descriptions ==
> > Your package description should contain useful data about the package,
> > and answer the question "what is this and what does it do?". In general,
> > the description should not exceed 10 lines or so. Try not to put too
> > much here, this isn't an epic novel, it's just a package description.
> > Also, there is no real need to "advertise" the package here, so
> > statements like "this is the best perl module that has ever been created
> > by humans", while possibly accurate, are not terribly useful in
> > answering the question "what is this and what does it do?".
+1

> Sounds good. Not sure, but maybe it's possible to write it a bit shorter 
Agreed. Shorter would be better.

Futhermore, I'd like to see some words added aiming at use of
non-self-explanatory acronyms/names and redundant wording.

I am getting the creeps when reading descriptions similar to
"Hawaii, the Moscow-daemon for Tokio, a free open-source implemention of
PROZL/RKNR for GNIZL implemented by Dr. J.Doe at IRTX in
Nutbush-City/TX." 

Everything in Fedora is supposed to be "open source" ... who implemented
it and where is non-interesting ... Hawaii, Moscow, Tokio etc. don't
tell much to anybody, who aren't already familiar with any of these.

Ralf