yum broken; headers directory missing

[Charles Curley]

On Sun, Mar 28, 2004 at 08:44:48AM -0800, Andy Ross wrote:
> Seth Vidal wrote:
> > to be anal - yum is not broken - yum is doing exactly what it should do
> > under the circumstance where the metadata it requires is missing. It's
> > exiting with what I think is a fairly obvious error.
> >
> > I'm being picky, I know, but I'm trying to offset a bunch of bug reports
> > about yum being 'broken' b/c it can't find data that's not there. :)
> 
> You're beeing way too picky.  :)

No, he is not. Seth is absolutely correct. As he is absolutely
correct, he is not picky in the least.

> 
> To expand the elided English in my subject:
> 
>   Yum [has been] broken [because the] header directory [is] missing


Even with the amended sentence, yum is not broken. The server is
broken. The solution is for the administrator to run yum-arch on it.

> 
> Are you OK with that verb tense?
> 
> Seriously: "yum" might be your code, but it's also an update system
> most of us rely on to get new stuff from the download servers.  

Then a more accurate subject would be in order.

> If the *system* is broken, we should be able to submit bug reports
> against "[the] yum [update system]" without worrying about hurting
> the feelings of individual developers. :)

I am not concerned with Seth's feelings; I'm sure he can take care of
them himself.

I am concerned with the precise use of the English language. Think of
language like a network protocol. If you don't use a network protocol
correctly, you don't communicate. Similarly, if you don't use English
correctly, you don't communicate.

-- 

Charles Curley                  /"\    ASCII Ribbon Campaign
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