rsync.yo doc patch

Aaron S. Hawley Aaron.Hawley at uvm.edu
Mon Jan 26 23:30:16 GMT 2004


On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, jw schultz noted:

> On Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 12:21:13PM -0500, Aaron S. Hawley wrote:
>
> > I went with (:), seemed to be the choice of a few other man pages.
> Most of the time you now use () it is correct because
> context makes it a parenthetic.  However, having done it
> that way means you are not using quotes.  So when you have
> literals that are not parenthetic the parenthasees are out
> of place.

As a compromise I've used parenthesis when it's parenthetical and quotes
when it is first introduced.  I hold the belief that manual pages are
scanned and not read by users, so it would be important to keep each
section and paragraph as autonomous as possible.

> Quite frankly the more i look at them the more i dislike your changes
> adding descriptive terms.

My hope is to make it readable, for both beginners and screen readers (the
blind).  If you find it looks incorrect then reject those changes in the
patch.

> > -  This is the equivalent of a leading ^ in regular expressions.
> > +  This is the equivalent of a leading caret (^) in regular expressions.
>
> Are you sure you want to call a circumflex a caret?

yes.

http://www.google.com/search?q=regex+OR+%22regular+expressions%22+circumflex
Results: 3,560

http://www.google.com/search?q=regex+OR+%22regular+expressions%22+caret
Results: 9,900

> While tecnically kinda, sorta OK i'm inclined to reject the
> use of "web site".  "website" is correct.  We are not
> talking about the location of a web that common usage has
> rendered "website".

"site" is old Unix/Internet-verbeage for computer location.
and "web" describe that it is web server software running and is world
wide web (WWW)-related.
The 'press' has settled on using largely the separated-word form.
rsync's manual currently uses both, scoring 2 to 1.
the patch enforces "website".

http://www.uvm.edu/~ashawley/rsync/rsync.yo-1.145-ashawley.diff-u

/a
not subscribed.

Index: rsync.yo
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/rsync/rsync.yo,v
retrieving revision 1.145
diff -u -r1.145 rsync.yo
--- rsync.yo	23 Jan 2004 16:40:17 -0000	1.145
+++ rsync.yo	26 Jan 2004 22:28:32 -0000
@@ -48,35 +48,35 @@

 itemize(
 	it() for copying local files. This is invoked when neither
-	     source nor destination path contains a : separator
+	     source nor destination path contains a single colon ":" separator

 	it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine using
 	a remote shell program as the transport (such as ssh or
 	rsh). This is invoked when the destination path contains a
-	single : separator.
+	single colon (:) separator.

 	it() for copying from a remote machine to the local machine
 	using a remote shell program. This is invoked when the source
-	contains a : separator.
+	contains a single colon (:) separator.

 	it() for copying from a remote rsync server to the local
-	machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
+	machine. This is invoked when the source path contains a double colon "::"
 	separator or an rsync:// URL.

 	it() for copying from the local machine to a remote rsync
-	server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a ::
+	server. This is invoked when the destination path contains a double colon (::)
 	separator or an rsync:// URL.

 	it() for copying from a remote machine using a remote shell
 	program as the transport, using rsync server on the remote
-	machine.  This is invoked when the source path contains a ::
+	machine.  This is invoked when the source path contains a double colon (::)
 	separator and the --rsh=COMMAND (aka "-e COMMAND") option is
 	also provided.

 	it() for copying from the local machine to a remote machine
 	using a remote shell program as the transport, using rsync
 	server on the remote machine.  This is invoked when the
-	destination path contains a :: separator and the
+	destination path contains a double colon (::) separator and the
 	--rsh=COMMAND option is also provided.

 	it() for listing files on a remote machine. This is done the
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@

 A trailing slash on the source changes this behavior to avoid creating an
 additional directory level at the destination.  You can think of a trailing
-/ on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
+slash "/" on a source as meaning "copy the contents of this directory" as opposed
 to "copy the directory by name", but in both cases the attributes of the
 containing directory are transferred to the containing directory on the
 destination.  In other words, each of the following commands copies the
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@
 quote(rsync -avz /src/foo/ /dest/foo)

 You can also use rsync in local-only mode, where both the source and
-destination don't have a ':' in the name. In this case it behaves like
+destination don't have a colon (:) in the name. This behaves like
 an improved copy command.

 quote(rsync somehost.mydomain.com::)
@@ -169,8 +169,8 @@
 that:

 itemize(
-	it() you use a double colon :: instead of a single colon to
-	separate the hostname from the path or an rsync:// URL.
+	it() you use a double colon (::) instead of a single colon (:) to
+        separate the hostname from the path or an rsync:// URL.

 	it() the remote server may print a message of the day when you
 	connect.
@@ -261,10 +261,10 @@
       sync: get put)

 this allows me to sync with a CVS directory at the other end of the
-connection. I then do cvs operations on the remote machine, which saves a
-lot of time as the remote cvs protocol isn't very efficient.
+connection. I then do CVS operations on the remote machine, which saves a
+lot of time as the remote CVS protocol isn't very efficient.

-I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" ftp sites with the
+I mirror a directory between my "old" and "new" FTP sites with the
 command

 quote(rsync -az -e ssh --delete ~ftp/pub/samba/ nimbus:"~ftp/pub/tridge/samba")
@@ -670,11 +670,11 @@

 dit(bf(--include-from=FILE)) This specifies a list of include patterns
 from a file.
-If em(FILE) is bf(-) the list will be read from standard input.
+If em(FILE) is a dash "-" the list will be read from standard input (stdin).

 dit(bf(--files-from=FILE)) Using this option allows you to specify the
-exact list of files to transfer (as read from the specified FILE or "-"
-for stdin).  It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
+exact list of files to transfer as read from the specified FILE or if a dash (-)
+from stdin.  It also tweaks the default behavior of rsync to make
 transferring just the specified files and directories easier.  For
 instance, the --relative option is enabled by default when this option
 is used (use --no-relative if you want to turn that off), all
@@ -684,15 +684,15 @@
 you want it.

 The file names that are read from the FILE are all relative to the
-source dir -- any leading slashes are removed and no ".." references are
-allowed to go higher than the source dir.  For example, take this
+source directory -- any leading slashes (/) are removed and no parent directory references ".." are
+allowed to go higher than the source directory.  For example, take this
 command:

 quote(rsync -a --files-from=/tmp/foo /usr remote:/backup)

 If /tmp/foo contains the string "bin" (or even "/bin"), the /usr/bin
 directory will be created as /backup/bin on the remote host (but the
-contents of the /usr/bin dir would not be sent unless you specified -r
+contents of the /usr/bin directory would not be sent unless you specified -r
 or the names were explicitly listed in /tmp/foo).  Also keep in mind
 that the effect of the (enabled by default) --relative option is to
 duplicate only the path info that is read from the file -- it does not
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@
 In addition, the --files-from file can be read from the remote host
 instead of the local host if you specify a "host:" in front of the file
 (the host must match one end of the transfer).  As a short-cut, you can
-specify just a prefix of ":" to mean "use the remote end of the
+specify just a prefix of colon (:) to mean "use the remote end of the
 transfer".  For example:

 quote(rsync -a --files-from=:/path/file-list src:/ /tmp/copy)
@@ -916,31 +916,31 @@

 itemize(

-  it() if the pattern starts with a / then it is matched against the
+  it() if the pattern starts with a slash (/) then it is matched against the
   start of the filename, otherwise it is matched against the end of
   the filename.
-  This is the equivalent of a leading ^ in regular expressions.
+  This is the equivalent of a leading caret "^" in regular expressions.
   Thus "/foo" would match a file called "foo" at the top of the
   transferred tree.
   On the other hand, "foo" would match any file called "foo"
   anywhere in the tree because the algorithm is applied recursively from
   top down; it behaves as if each path component gets a turn at being the
   end of the file name.
-  The leading / does not make the pattern an absolute pathname.
+  The leading slash (/) does not make the pattern an absolute pathname.

-  it() if the pattern ends with a / then it will only match a
+  it() if the pattern ends with a slash (/) then it will only match a
   directory, not a file, link or device.

   it() if the pattern contains a wildcard character from the set
-  *?[ then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
+  bf(*?[) then expression matching is applied using the shell filename
   matching rules. Otherwise a simple string match is used.

   it() the double asterisk pattern "**" will match slashes while a
   single asterisk pattern "*" will stop at slashes.

-  it() if the pattern contains a / (not counting a trailing /) or a "**"
+  it() if the pattern contains a slash (/) (not counting a trailing slash) or a double asterisk "**"
   then it is matched against the full filename, including any leading
-  directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a / or a "**", then it is
+  directory. If the pattern doesn't contain a slash (/) or double asterisk (**), then it is
   matched only against the final component of the filename.  Again,
   remember that the algorithm is applied recursively so "full filename" can
   actually be any portion of a path below the starting directory.
@@ -953,7 +953,7 @@
   then it is always considered an exclude pattern, even if specified as
   part of an include option. The "- " part is discarded before matching.

-  it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark ! then the current
+  it() if the pattern is a single exclamation mark "!" then the current
   include/exclude list is reset, removing all previously defined patterns.
 )

@@ -1084,15 +1084,15 @@
 copying their referent, rather than the symlink.

 rsync also distinguishes "safe" and "unsafe" symbolic links.  An
-example where this might be used is a web site mirror that wishes
-ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
+example where this might be used is a website mirror that wishes
+to ensure the rsync module they copy does not include symbolic links to
 bf(/etc/passwd) in the public section of the site.  Using
 bf(--copy-unsafe-links) will cause any links to be copied as the file
 they point to on the destination.  Using bf(--safe-links) will cause
 unsafe links to be omitted altogether.

 Symbolic links are considered unsafe if they are absolute symlinks
-(start with bf(/)), empty, or if they contain enough bf("..")
+(start with a slash (/)), empty, or if they contain enough parent directory (..)
 components to ascend from the directory being copied.

 manpagesection(DIAGNOSTICS)
@@ -1128,10 +1128,10 @@
 dit(bf(0)) Success
 dit(bf(1)) Syntax or usage error
 dit(bf(2)) Protocol incompatibility
-dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, dirs
+dit(bf(3)) Errors selecting input/output files, directories
 dit(bf(4)) Requested action not supported: an attempt
 was made to manipulate 64-bit files on a platform that cannot support
-them; or an option was specifed that is supported by the client and
+them; or an option was specified that is supported by the client and
 not by the server.
 dit(bf(5)) Error starting client-server protocol
 dit(bf(10)) Error in socket I/O
@@ -1207,12 +1207,12 @@
 rsync is distributed under the GNU public license.  See the file
 COPYING for details.

-A WEB site is available at
+A website is available at
 url(http://rsync.samba.org/)(http://rsync.samba.org/).  The site
 includes an FAQ-O-Matic which may cover questions unanswered by this
 manual page.

-The primary ftp site for rsync is
+The primary FTP site for rsync is
 url(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync)(ftp://rsync.samba.org/pub/rsync).

 We would be delighted to hear from you if you like this program.


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