Re: please attempt to minimize string changes

[Benno Schulenberg]

On Sun, Dec 22, 2013, at 5:55, Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
> Will below patch help? It also removes trailing dot on the first
> paragraph which was not present before.

Thanks, the patch looks good.  Except that the trailing dot needs
to be there: it is a doc string and should end in a period.  The
addition of the dot was an improvement.  :)

The general rule is: when the string starts with a capitalized word,
it wants to be a full sentence and should end in a period.  When the
message starts with a lowercase letter, don't use a period anywhere
in the message; when you need a second sentence, use a semicolon.

> I usually use [TERMINAL ...] (with extra spaces). I find it established
> enough practice at least in UNIX manuals.

Indeed.  Although in most of the man pages I've looked at just now
(df, ls, grep, sed, swapon, gawk), only gawk uses a space before the
dots.  But whatever you choose, please make it consistent across
grub -- I've seen at least one instance without a space before the
dots in grub's messages.

Regards,

Benno

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