Re: Trailing periods in kernel messages

[Jan Engelhardt]

On Dec 21 2007 17:56, Herbert Xu wrote:
>> 
>> I do not believe "opinions" are relevant here. Relevant would be cites
>> from respected style guides (Fowlers, Oxford Guide To Style et al.) to
>> show they do not need a full stop. 
>> 
>> I've not found one, but I am open to references.
>
>Well from where I come from, full stops are only used for complete
>sentences.
>[...]
>As to what is a complete sentence, that is debatable.  However,
>typically it would include a subject and a predicate.  By this
>rule the following line is not a complete sentence:
>
>	[XFS] Initialise current offset in xfs_file_readdir correctly
>
>The reason is that it lacks a subject.

"current offset" is your subject.

But I would tend to agree to "(most) kernel messages are not sentences."

Actually, I see it a bit different: (most) kernel messages are more like an
itemized list of what has been done/is going to be done. A *list*!

 * water
 * flour
 * salt
 * yeast or baking powder
 * dough (obviously)

(I'm a programmer, not a cook.) Would you really add a fullstop?

>Of course I would completely agree that some kernel messages
>are complete sentences and should have a full stop.

+1. Those kernel messages which clearly have two or more sentences
obviously have sentences. ("If a device doesn't work, try "pci=routeirq".)

Can we get back to programming?
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/