From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:43727 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751180AbaJ0K7l (ORCPT ); Mon, 27 Oct 2014 06:59:41 -0400 Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:59:34 +0100 From: Karel Zak To: Benno Schulenberg Cc: JWP , Util-Linux Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/5] hwclock: clean up message periods/full stops Message-ID: <20141027105934.GG10134@x2.net.home> References: <5449BE57.9040203@gmx.com> <1414150431.840372.182833341.74402120@webmail.messagingengine.com> <544A4817.3070406@gmx.com> <20141024125939.GD10134@x2.net.home> <544A795B.8090301@gmx.com> <1414184287.962524.183013401.569326CF@webmail.messagingengine.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: <1414184287.962524.183013401.569326CF@webmail.messagingengine.com> Sender: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:58:07PM +0200, Benno Schulenberg wrote: > > On Fri, Oct 24, 2014, at 18:07, JWP wrote: > > So what is the util-linux position on message punctuation in general, and > > line termination specifically? The documentation seem to imply not using any. > > The current situation is a mess. And the documentation does not say > anything about what error messages, status reports, and imperatives I don't think so, but it would be nice to have Documentation/howto-messages.txt. > to the user should look like. The general style seems to be: > > 1) Error messages (anything that is preceded by the program name > followed by a colon and a space, in thise case "hwclock: ") start with > a lowercase letter and do not end in a period, nor use any period. The preferred way to print error and warning messages is err() and warn() (or errx() and warnx()). > 2) Status reports and imperatives to the user use full sentences: > they start with a capital letter and end in a period. yep. Karel -- Karel Zak http://karelzak.blogspot.com