From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:49207) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEzdE-00040a-F0 for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:58:00 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEzdA-0003fC-4X for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:57:56 -0400 Received: from mail-yi0-f45.google.com ([209.85.218.45]:34425) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEzdA-0003f5-1z for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:57:52 -0400 Received: by yib19 with SMTP id 19so630651yib.4 for ; Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:57:50 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <4DB7005E.5040006@mail.berlios.de> References: <1303806576-10286-1-git-send-email-weil@mail.berlios.de> <201104261904.13291.marten@xtal.rwth-aachen.de> <4DB7005E.5040006@mail.berlios.de> Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:57:50 +0100 Message-ID: From: Stefan Hajnoczi Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] [Qemu-trivial] [PATCH] Fix typo in code and comments List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , To: Stefan Weil Cc: qemu-devel@nongnu.org, Stefan Hajnoczi On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Stefan Weil wrote: > Am 26.04.2011 19:04, schrieb Jan Marten Simons: >> >> Am Dienstag 26 April 2011 11:25:58 schrieb Stefan Hajnoczi: >>> >>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Stefan Weil >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Replace writeable -> writable >>> >>> Why make this change? writeable and writable are both commonly used >>> spellings. >> >> It seems like "writeable" is the commonly used term in computer sciences >> and >> "writable" is the normal english adjective formed from "to write" + >> "-able" in >> general English.[1] >> >> As we are refering to computer science related "writeable" it should be >> left >> as is imho. But as I'm no native speaker, you might feel different on >> this. >> On a side note: Samba offers both spellings as valid for thier >> configuration >> files. [2] >> >> [1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/writeable >> [2] http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=22258.0 >> >> With regards, >> >> Dipl. Phys. >> Jan M. Simons >> >> Institute of Crystallography >> RWTH Aachen University > > Commonly used is not necessarily correct. > > The Oxford dictionary only accepts writable (even when I select > american english). Same result with Merriam-Webster. > Google suggests writable instead of writeable. > > I see "writeable" only in computer programs and related contexts, > therefore I assume that it is simply a very common spelling error > contributed by non-native speakers (like myself). Interesting > detail: The spelling checker of my mailing client (Icedove) marks > writeable as correct and writable as wrong (which is obviously wrong). > Maybe I should send a bug report to Debian. > > The ratio of writeable:writable in unpatched qemu is 37:47. > Even if both writings were correct, I might argue that a > uniform spelling is better and choose the form which is more commonly > used. The patch mostly touches comments and won't affect external interfaces, it makes the code consistent. So let's take it and move on: http://repo.or.cz/w/qemu/stefanha.git/shortlog/refs/heads/trivial-patches Stefan