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

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From: David Diggles <david.diggles <at> dnrm.qld.gov.au>
To: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
Cc: "12530-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <12530 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>, Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>, "Voelker, Bernhard" <bernhard.voelker <at> siemens-enterprise.com>
Subject: bug#12530: nice(1) man page, bad wording
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:19:13 +1000

I had not expected a response.

GNU rocks,

Cheers!

On Sat, 2012-09-29 at 02:46, Jim Meyering wrote:
> Pádraig Brady wrote:
> 
> > On 09/28/2012 02:25 PM, Voelker, Bernhard wrote:
> >> David Diggles wrote (Friday, September 28, 2012 4:45 AM)
> >>
> >>> DESCRIPTION
> >>>         Run  COMMAND  with an adjusted niceness, which affects process
> >>> scheduling.  With no COMMAND, print the current niceness.  Nicenesses
> >>> range from -20
> >>>         (most favorable scheduling) to 19 (least favorable).
> >>>
> >>> Favorable to what?  It really does not explain, since it can be
> >>> interpreted in opposite ways.  Please use words like higher and lower
> >>> priority.
> >>
> >> Hello to Brisbane!
> >>
> >> Thanks for the report.
> >>
> >> "Favorable" means the kernel will favor this process before
> >> it will take "least favorable" processes into account for
> >> scheduling.
> >>
> >> I don't think the words "higher"/"lower" will bring clarity
> >> to it, maybe it'd even be worse because a higher nice number
> >> leads to lower priority.
> >>
> >> What about a stronger term like "aggressive scheduling"?
> >
> > Well with relative terms, it's best to state what they're relative to,
> > so I'll apply something like this, as the wording is ambiguous.
> >
> > thanks!
> > Pádraig.
> >
> > diff --git a/src/nice.c b/src/nice.c
> > index 1a90320..12d0b0f 100644
> > --- a/src/nice.c
> > +++ b/src/nice.c
> > @@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ usage (int status)
> >        printf (_("\
> >  Run COMMAND with an adjusted niceness, which affects process scheduling.\n\
> >  With no COMMAND, print the current niceness.  Nicenesses range from\n\
> > -%d (most favorable scheduling) to %d (least favorable).\n\
> > +%d (least favorable to the system) to %d (least favorable to the process).\n\
> >  \n\
> >    -n, --adjustment=N   add integer N to the niceness (default 10)\n\
> >  "),
> 
> 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.
> 
> From 0d4efc37133820c5571316d0ebdf341270e712a4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Jim Meyering <meyering <at> redhat.com>
> Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:42:05 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] doc: correct an old bit of ugliness in nice --help output
> 
> * src/nice.c (usage): s/Nicenesses/Niceness values/
> ---
>  src/nice.c | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/src/nice.c b/src/nice.c
> index 7402b9e..f13be63 100644
> --- a/src/nice.c
> +++ b/src/nice.c
> @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ usage (int status)
>        printf (_("Usage: %s [OPTION] [COMMAND [ARG]...]\n"), program_name);
>        printf (_("\
>  Run COMMAND with an adjusted niceness, which affects process scheduling.\n\
> -With no COMMAND, print the current niceness.  Nicenesses range from\n\
> +With no COMMAND, print the current niceness.  Niceness values range from\n\
>  %d (most favorable to the process) to %d (least favorable to the process).\n\
>  \n\
>    -n, --adjustment=N   add integer N to the niceness (default 10)\n\
> --
> 1.7.12.1.382.gb0576a6


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