Bug#239456: gettext: Fixes to funny grammar and wording in ABOUT-NLS (fwd)

[Santiago Vila]

Hello.

I received this report from the Debian BTS.

[ For the record, I am not a native English speaker, but I see some of
  the changes a little bit gratuitous ].

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Wesley J. Landaker <address@hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <address@hidden>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 13:19:02 -0700
Subject: Bug#239456: gettext: Fixes to funny grammar and wording in
    ABOUT-NLS

Package: gettext
Version: 0.14.1-2
Severity: minor
Tags: patch

The other day I was reading the ABOUT-NLS document that is part of the
gettext documentation (/usr/share/gettext/ABOUT-NLS). I am a native
English speaker and noticed a few very awkward parts in the text where
either the grammar was wrong (and hence, confusing), or where the wording
was strange.

I tried to change as little as possible, only fixing things where they
really needed to be fixed. I also reformatted text in paragraphs I
modified; I believe the same text-wrap length was used, but it was
hard to tell exactly.

Anyway, attached is a patch that fixes most of the problems I came across.

--- ABOUT-NLS.orig      2004-03-22 12:59:20.000000000 -0700
+++ ABOUT-NLS   2004-03-22 13:11:03.000000000 -0700
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@

 Free software is going international!  The Free Translation Project is
 a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all
-together, so that will gradually become able to speak many languages.
-A few packages already provide translations for their messages.
+together, so that this software will gradually become able to speak
+many languages.  A few packages already provide translations for their
+messages.

    If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may
 assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally,
@@ -12,10 +13,10 @@
 need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using
 this package with messages translated.

-   Installers will find here some useful hints.  These notes also
-explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
-available translations.  They tell how people wanting to contribute and
-work at translations should contact the appropriate team.
+   Installers will find here some useful hints.  These notes also explain
+how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the available
+translations.  They also explain how people wanting to contribute and work
+on translations can contact the appropriate team.

    When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be
 related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
@@ -36,10 +37,10 @@
 the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as
 many features (such as locale alias, message inheritance, automatic
 charset conversion or plural form handling) as the implementation here.
-It is also not possible to offer this additional functionality on top
-of a `catgets' implementation.  Future versions of GNU `gettext' will
-very likely convey even more functionality.  So it might be a good idea
-to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
+It is not possible to offer this additional functionality on top of a
+`catgets' implementation.  Future versions of GNU `gettext' will very
+likely convey even more functionality.  So it might be a good idea to
+change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.

    So you need _not_ provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
 you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@

    By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
 messages.  It will automatically detect whether the system already
-provides the GNU `gettext' functions.  If not, the GNU `gettext' own
+provides the GNU `gettext' functions.  If not, the included GNU `gettext'
 library will be used.  This library is wholly contained within this
 package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior installation of
 the GNU `gettext' package is _not_ required.  Installers may use
@@ -65,16 +66,16 @@
      ./configure --with-included-gettext
      ./configure --disable-nls

-will respectively bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the
-internationalizing routines provided within this package, or else,
+will, respectively, bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the
+internationalizing routines provided within this package, or
 _totally_ disable translation of messages.

    When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
 configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
 probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
-will decide to use this.  This might be not what is desirable.  You
-should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library.  I.e.
-if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
+will decide to use this.  This might not be desirable; you may want to
+use a more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library.  I.e.  if the
+file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
 package is more recent, you should use

      ./configure --with-included-gettext
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@
 emulation of `gettext' on top of `catgets' could not provide all the
 extensions of the GNU `gettext' library.

-   Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
+   Internationalized packages usually have many `po/LL.po' files, where
 LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language.  Unless
 translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
 `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
@@ -753,8 +754,8 @@
 If you are writing a freely available program and want to
 internationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your
 package.  Of course you have to respect the GNU Library General Public
-License which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library.  This means
-in particular that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared
+License which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library.  This means,
+in particular, that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared
 library, whereas only free software can use `libintl' as a static
 library or use modified versions of `libintl'.