Re: ls --help: further tweak

[Jim Meyering]

Benno Schulenberg wrote:

> On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:53 +0200, "Jim Meyering" <address@hidden> wrote:
>> +Using color to distinguish file types is disabled by default, and with\n\
>> +--color=never.  With --color=auto, ls emits color codes only when\n\
>> +standard output is connected to a terminal.
>
> The thing is: the explicit "is disabled" before the comma describes a
> situation, the understood "is disabled" after the comma describes
> an action.  In my head this grates.  But maybe this is just my Dutch
> shimmering through: there different verbs are needed for those two
> things ("is uitgeschakeld", "wordt uitgeschakeld").
>
> "Using color is disabled by default, and (is disabled) with --color=never."
>
> The grating gets less but not nil when putting in an "also":
>
> "Using color is disabled by default, and also with --color=never."

It did feel a little awkward.
One more iteration:

>From 24d0b21efd42bdcec937d5c0ba2944b3e2fe96f4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jim Meyering <address@hidden>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:53:35 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] doc: ls: further improve --help message re --color

* src/ls.c (usage): Correct grammar, change voice, shorten.
Inspired by a report from Bruno Schulenberg.
---
 src/ls.c |    6 +++---
 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/ls.c b/src/ls.c
index 859d7c4..28fc3e5 100644
--- a/src/ls.c
+++ b/src/ls.c
@@ -4671,9 +4671,9 @@ Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for 
short options too.\n\
       emit_size_note ();
       fputs (_("\
 \n\
-Using color to distinguish types of files is not enabled by default, or when\n\
---color=never is specified.  With --color=auto, color codes are output only\n\
-when standard output is connected to a terminal.  The LS_COLORS environment\n\
+Using color to distinguish file types is disabled both by default and\n\
+with --color=never.  With --color=auto, ls emits color codes only when\n\
+standard output is connected to a terminal.  The LS_COLORS environment\n\
 variable can change the settings.  Use the dircolors command to set it.\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (_("\
--
1.6.5.rc1.220.g6de7f