Bug 45493
| Summary: | Confusing comment in /etc/crontab | ||||||
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| Product: | Base System | Reporter: | Kevin Oberman <oberman> | ||||
| Component: | misc | Assignee: | freebsd-bugs (Nobody) <bugs> | ||||
| Status: | Closed FIXED | ||||||
| Severity: | Affects Only Me | ||||||
| Priority: | Normal | ||||||
| Version: | 4.7-STABLE | ||||||
| Hardware: | Any | ||||||
| OS: | Any | ||||||
| Attachments: |
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Description
Kevin Oberman
2002-11-19 21:20:01 UTC
On Tue, 19 Nov 2002, Kevin Oberman wrote: > >Description: > The comment for the adjkerntz entry in /etc/crontab is not > clear. The comma usage makes it unclear which cadse is the accepted > and which is rejected. > >How-To-Repeat: > Not applicable. > >Fix: > > --- crontab Mon Jun 10 21:20:09 2002 > +++ crontab.new Tue Nov 19 13:14:47 2002 > @@ -19,6 +19,6 @@ > 30 5 1 * * root periodic monthly > # > # time zone change adjustment for wall cmos clock, > -# does nothing, if you have UTC cmos clock. > +# does nothing if you have UTC cmos clock. > # See adjkerntz(8) for details. > 1,31 0-5 * * * root adjkerntz -a Something should be done about the first comma too. crontab is apparently supposed to be written in non-English with all "sentences" in comments not beginning with a capital letter and not ending with a period, but the comment about adjkerntz violates this by using bad English (a comma splice) in its first line, the stray comma and a period in its second line, and actual English in its last line. Bruce I'd appreciate your feedback on this patch which fixes the ambiguous adjkerntz(8) statement in /etc/crontab and generally tidies up the grammar used in comments. Thanks, Tom Index: crontab =================================================================== RCS file: /home/ncvs/src/etc/crontab,v retrieving revision 1.31 diff -u -r1.31 crontab --- crontab 19 Feb 2001 02:47:41 -0000 1.31 +++ crontab 21 Nov 2002 10:09:19 -0000 @@ -10,18 +10,17 @@ # */5 * * * * root /usr/libexec/atrun # -# save some entropy so that /dev/random can reseed on boot +# Save some entropy so that /dev/random can reseed on boot. */11 * * * * operator /usr/libexec/save-entropy # -# rotate log files every hour, if necessary +# Rotate log files every hour, if necessary. 0 * * * * root newsyslog # -# do daily/weekly/monthly maintenance +# Perform daily/weekly/monthly maintenance. 1 3 * * * root periodic daily 15 4 * * 6 root periodic weekly 30 5 1 * * root periodic monthly # -# time zone change adjustment for wall cmos clock, -# does nothing, if you have UTC cmos clock. -# See adjkerntz(8) for details. +# Timezone adjustment for wall CMOS clock. Does nothing for UTC CMOS +# clock. See adjkerntz(8) for details. 1,31 0-5 * * * root adjkerntz -a On 2002-11-21 03:50, Tom Hukins <tom@FreeBSD.org> wrote: > I'd appreciate your feedback on this patch which fixes the ambiguous > adjkerntz(8) statement in /etc/crontab and generally tidies up the > grammar used in comments. It looks fine, except for one minor detail. The following is still a bit strange, since "Does nothing for UTC CMOS clock." is not a valid, complete sentence. > +# Timezone adjustment for wall CMOS clock. Does nothing for UTC CMOS > +# clock. See adjkerntz(8) for details. "This does nothing..." "It does nothing..." "adjkerntz(8) does nothing..." You can pick whichever you like :) On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 02:29:13PM +0200, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> On 2002-11-21 03:50, Tom Hukins <tom@FreeBSD.org> wrote:
>
> The following is still a bit strange, since "Does nothing for UTC
> CMOS clock." is not a valid, complete sentence.
>
> > +# Timezone adjustment for wall CMOS clock. Does nothing for UTC CMOS
> > +# clock. See adjkerntz(8) for details.
Yes, on reflection "Adjust the time zone only if the CMOS clock keeps
local time. See adjkerntz(8) for details." seems clearer to me.
Tom
On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:10:05AM -0800, Tom Hukins wrote:
> Yes, on reflection "Adjust the time zone only if the CMOS clock keeps
> local time. See adjkerntz(8) for details." seems clearer to me.
What other time does it keep? ;)
"Adjust the time zone only if local time is kept by the CMOS clock" ?
Ceri
--
By the gems of the blood, you shall meet your end!
On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 01:16:10PM +0000, Ceri Davies wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:10:05AM -0800, Tom Hukins wrote:
>
> > Yes, on reflection "Adjust the time zone only if the CMOS clock keeps
> > local time. See adjkerntz(8) for details." seems clearer to me.
>
> What other time does it keep? ;)
"Adjust the time zone if the CMOS clock keeps local time, as opposed
to UTC time."
Third time lucky?
Tom
On 2002-11-21 05:20, Ceri Davies <ceri@FreeBSD.ORG> wrote: > On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:10:05AM -0800, Tom Hukins wrote: > > Yes, on reflection "Adjust the time zone only if the CMOS clock keeps > > local time. See adjkerntz(8) for details." seems clearer to me. > > What other time does it keep? ;) UTC obviously. > "Adjust the time zone only if local time is kept by the CMOS clock" ? This is equivalent to the one Tom suggested. It doesn't add or remove anything to the meaning. It also uses a passive form that is sometimes considered to be bad style :p If the comment needs to describe two cases, there should be two simpler sentences instead of one that doesn't quite cut it. I'd probably prefer this written as: # Adjust the time zone. See adjkerntz(8) for details. If your CMOS # clock is set to UTC instead of the local time, this does nothing. On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:40:04AM -0800, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > The following reply was made to PR misc/45493; it has been noted by GNATS. > > On 2002-11-21 05:20, Ceri Davies <ceri@FreeBSD.ORG> wrote: > > On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 05:10:05AM -0800, Tom Hukins wrote: > > > Yes, on reflection "Adjust the time zone only if the CMOS clock keeps > > > local time. See adjkerntz(8) for details." seems clearer to me. > > > > What other time does it keep? ;) > > UTC obviously. OK, you got me. > If the comment needs to describe two cases, there should be two > simpler sentences instead of one that doesn't quite cut it. I'd > probably prefer this written as: > > # Adjust the time zone. See adjkerntz(8) for details. If your CMOS > # clock is set to UTC instead of the local time, this does nothing. Good. Ceri -- The stalwart Urgrosh has come! > Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 11:42:56 +0000 > From: Tom Hukins <tom@FreeBSD.org> > > I'd appreciate your feedback on this patch which fixes the ambiguous > adjkerntz(8) statement in /etc/crontab and generally tidies up the > grammar used in comments. > > Thanks, > Tom I'd suggest one extremely minor change. If you can't spot it, I hyphenated te word "re-seed". R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 Index: crontab =================================================================== RCS file: /home/ncvs/src/etc/crontab,v retrieving revision 1.31 diff -u -r1.31 crontab --- crontab 19 Feb 2001 02:47:41 -0000 1.31 +++ crontab 21 Nov 2002 14:03:42 -0000 @@ -10,18 +10,17 @@ # */5 * * * * root /usr/libexec/atrun # -# save some entropy so that /dev/random can reseed on boot +# Save some entropy so that /dev/random can re-seed on boot. */11 * * * * operator /usr/libexec/save-entropy # -# rotate log files every hour, if necessary +# Rotate log files every hour, if necessary. 0 * * * * root newsyslog # -# do daily/weekly/monthly maintenance +# Perform daily/weekly/monthly maintenance. 1 3 * * * root periodic daily 15 4 * * 6 root periodic weekly 30 5 1 * * root periodic monthly # -# time zone change adjustment for wall cmos clock, -# does nothing, if you have UTC cmos clock. -# See adjkerntz(8) for details. +# Timezone adjustment for wall CMOS clock. Does nothing for UTC CMOS +# clock. See adjkerntz(8) for details. 1,31 0-5 * * * root adjkerntz -a State Changed From-To: open->closed I have clarified the adjkerntz(8) comment in revision 1.32 of /etc/crontab. |
