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

[David A. Wheeler]

The existing description for enlightenment is clearly too long and
advertizy, and saying something is the "best" is meaningless ad puff.

But...  if there's more than one package that does a function,
I'd like _some_ way of distinguishing one from the other.
E.G., does this package strive to fast? small? featureful?
interoperate with everything in the known universe?
A sentence or two about a package can help people avoid
a lot of work to evaluate a package that really isn't appropriate
to their purpose.

So to this:
> > == 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?".

I propose adding something like this:

If the package has a particular advantage over similar packages,
state that factually, clearly, and briefly, to help users decide if
this package is right for them. Possible advantages include good performance,
smallness, quantity of features, unique functions, configurability, and
interoperability.  Avoid meaningless terms like "very" or "best".
The description should not look like an advertisement.


--- David A. Wheeler