RFC: deprecation of nve(4) in 10-STABLE and removal from 11-CURRENT

[Ian Smith]

On Fri, 7 Feb 2014 04:18:45 +0100, Julian H. Stacey wrote:
 > David Chisnall wrote:
 > > On 6 Feb 2014, at 18:34, Julian H. Stacey <jhs at berklix.com> wrote:
 > > 
 > > > Best avoid the obscure word `Deprecated' in manuals:
 > > >  It's not common/ plain English.  Maybe a geek import, or USA
 > > >  dialect ?  It's not easily internationaly understood English.
 > > >  Best make manuals easier for non native English speakers (& native
 > > >  English too ;-).  I am British born & bred, whether in English
 > > >  speaking circles in UK or Germany I never hear or read 'deprecated'
 > > >  unless its in BSD context.  Few native English speakers I know will be
 > > >  immediately sure of the meaning, it's too obscure.
 > > 
 > > I'd strongly disagree with this.  Deprecated is, perhaps, only in common use as jargon, but it's very widespread within the tech field.  I don't think I've ever read an API reference that doesn't include the word, for example, and it's even a keyword in many code documentation tools.  For example, JavaDoc supports @deprecated and gcc / clang include an __attribute__((deprecated)) that generates a compile-time warning whenever anyone tries to call a deprecated function.  
 > > 
 > > I've not come across the word outside of tech uses, but I've also not come across the term network interface outside of tech circles.  Deprecated, in this use, may be jargon, but it's very widespread jargon, and requesting it not be used sounds like asking for words like driver or processor also be avoided.
 > > 
 > > David
 > > (Also a native English speaker, although familiar with the unofficial fork from Leftpondia)
 > 
 > Uh Huh ;-)  http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Leftpondia
 > American 1620 fork of English deduced.
 >   1620: When a Mayflower butter maid Deprecated a milk maid giving 20 ounces
 >   to a pint, & confused USA liquids down to 16 ounces.  (Beware man units).
 > 
 > Amerian is not always best international English.

While I don't disagree with that Julian - assuming you meant American 
and not Armenian - you're wrong about 'deprecate' being an Americanism, 
and also about its use in non-technical contexts.

>From my trusty Concise Oxford Dictionary, Sixth Edition 1976, Fourth 
Impression 1977 (with corrections):

 de'prec|ate v.t. Plead against (~ person's anger, entreat him not to be 
 angry); express wish against or disapproval of (deprecate war, hasty 
 action, panic); so ~A'TION n., ~ATIVE, ~ATORY, adjs. [f. L DE(precari 
 pray) + -ATE]

And of course it's not a million miles away from 'depreciate', usually 
more to do with money but also to 'disparage, belittle'.

Aussies generally tend to favour taking the piss over the stiff upper 
lip approach; here's a recent snippet .. if you'll pardon my pascal :-)

    else if tok = 'dateform' then	{ precedes use in dates }
	mrkn := match(upcase(arg),'CA|NA|US')  { dflt AU|NZ|UK..}
[...]
	    if pos('/',arg) > 0 then begin
			{ dd/mm/[-]yyyy or mm/dd/[-]yyyy }
		if not split3 (arg, '/', dd, mm, yy) then begin
		    writeln ('token ',tok,' bad date "',arg,'"');
		    break
		end;
		if mrkn then begin td := mm; mm := dd; dd := td end
	    end

cheers, Ian