I hate to bitch but bitch I must

[Roman Neuhauser]

On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 07:27:42PM -0400, PJ wrote:
> Polytropon wrote:
> > On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:54:23 -0400, PJ <af.gourmet at videotron.ca> wrote:
> >> but from man tunefs:
> >> BUGS
> >> This utility should work on active file systems.
> >> What in hades does this mean--just above it says cannot be run on active
> >> file systems. ???
> >>     
> >
> > It "should". This means: Don't try that. :-)
> >
> > My printer isn't printing!
> > But it should.
> > No, it is not printing!
> > Yes, but it should.
> > :-)
> >
> >   
> Aha! Gotcha! Whoever wrote that has made an unintentionnal booboo. It is
> a subtle difference and is indicative that whoever wrote it is not a
> native english user... the meaning is clearly "should be executed, done,
> carried out, performed" - should work means it  can be carried out  - I
> think the author meant to say "should not be done"

Dunno, maybe it's because E is my SL, but I fail to see the problem
here.  The meaning is clearly (SECTION BUGS, ffs) "The friggin program
should have a feature it's currently lacking."

That's not to say I haven't had my share of gripes with man pages,
it's just that if you ignore the man page structure and associated
meaning, you're in for trouble.  Just like with any message.

--
roman