GNU bug report logs - #12530
nice(1) man page, bad wording

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Package: coreutils;

Reported by: David Diggles <david.diggles <at> dnrm.qld.gov.au>

Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:15:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Tags: fixed

Done: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Message #17 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#12530: nice(1) man page, bad wording
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:04:02 +0200

Pádraig Brady wrote:
> On 09/28/2012 05:46 PM, Jim Meyering wrote:
>> Thanks!
>> Here's an additional patch to avoid something I noticed in the context.
>> Using "niceness" is bad enough without cementing the ugliness by using a
>> plural form.
>
> Heh I'd done that too, but then reverted because I thought
> the awkward phrasing might be there for a reason
> (to ensure people didn't think they could specify a range).
> But I was over thinking it, and your amendment is clearer.
>
> thanks,
> Pádraig.

Hmm... looks like you were right to think that.
I have just now looked for other occurrences of "nicenesses"
and found this explanation from NEWS in 2005:

    nice changes:

      Documentation and diagnostics now refer to "nicenesses" (commonly
      in the range -20...19) rather than "nice values" (commonly 0...39).

I expect to perform the same substitution on the sole use of "nicenesses"
in coreutils.texi.   Sorry I didn't think to check there before.

    $ g grep -i nicenesses doc
    doc/coreutils.texi:may have a wider range of nicenesses; conversely, other systems may
This bug report was last modified 6 years and 310 days ago.

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