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

[Marc Haber]

On Wed, Oct 04, 2006 at 02:04:46AM -0400, A. Costa wrote:
> 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.)

You're right from a style point of view. However, I feel that in
technical documents, it is IMO more important to get the technical
facts right. In this context, (1) is a variable name, (2) a technical
term relevant to upstream docs and software configuration, and (6) is
part of the explanation.

I'd feel uncomfortable with stylistic changes as there _are_ three
meanings of the word "domain", and removing one of them would mean
removing information. Additionally, the wording chosen by me is
emphasizing that "domain list" is more than just a "list of domains"
since it has a special meaning in exim.

Greetings
Marc

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