Bug#390706: 'man update-exim4' typos: "delvered" and "domainlist"

[A. Costa]

On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 00:01:39 +0200
Marc Haber <mh+debian-packages at zugschlus.de> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 02, 2006 at 01:09:22PM -0400, A. Costa wrote:
> > -is used to populate the relay_to_domains domainlist, a list of domains for 
> > -which we accept mail from anywhere on the Internet but which are not delvered
> > +is used to populate the relay_to_domains list, a list of domains for 
> > +which we accept mail from anywhere on the Internet but which are not delivered
> 
> The typo is fixed in svn.
> 
> A "domain list" is a technical term for exim, having semantic meaning
> (see spec.txt chapter 10.8). I have fixed the spelling to the official
> spelling "domain list" in svn.
> 
> Thanks for finding and reporting these issues.

Thanks for the courteous and prompt reply.

Agreed that "domain list" is correct, (it even _sounds_ correct),
however that's not really the problem, and sadly, I might not have
reported the bug correctly... 

I think at the very least I should have tagged this bug "needless
words".  I'm still working on how to mechanize such bugs -- the idea is
to send a bug so obvious that nobody can possibly be confused.
Unfortunately "needless words" bugs seem less obvious than
typos.  (BTW, I'd love to know if there are good German words or
phrases for "needless words".)

Anyway, the true error was NOT that the term "domain list"
was incorrect, but rather that the adjective "domain" is redundant:

	...the relay_to_domains domainlist, a list of domains...
	       1                2           3 4    5  6

I've numbered six consecutive words.  Note how the string "domain" is
in #1, #2, and #6.  Often consecutive repeated adjectives (or terms
that function as adjectives) are a bad sign.  (Hmm, a search for those
could be automated.)

The clause "a list of domains" makes it clear enough that
"relay_to_domains" is a not just a list, it also is a "domains list".
Therefore word #2 can be shortened to "list". There are many ways to
express the same thing:

	1) the relay_to_domains domain list	
	2) the domain list called relay_to_domains
	3) a list of domains called relay_to_domains
	4) relay_to_domains, a list of domains
	5) relay_to_domains, a domain list

"1)" is weak, because of "..._domains domain".  "2)" and "3)" need an
additional qualifier "called".  "5)" or "4)" seems best, and better
than my patch.

I hope this reply isn't more than you wanted to read; if not
it's a successful bug report, it may help if only as
experimental research in how to deal better with "needless words"
bugs.  The general question is "what is the minimum information a
maintainer needs to be made aware of such a bug?"  Wish I knew...