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Terms and wording

olf edited this page Aug 20, 2023 · 58 revisions

Please use the discussion thread "Problematic source strings for translations" for feedback and criticism with regard to source strings (in English) and this glossary.


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32-bit

(CPU architecture or software binary, i.e., executable)
Not spelled "32bit" or "32 bit". This distinguishes it clearly from e.g., "32 bits" (i.e., 4 bytes).

32- / 64-bit

Not spelled "32/64bit" or "32 / 64 bit", but may alternatively be spelled "32-/64-bit".

64-bit

(CPU architecture or software binary, i.e., executable)
Not spelled "64bit" or "64 bit". This distinguishes it clearly from e.g., "64 bits" (i.e., 8 bytes).

A

activate

(a Patch)
To put a Patch into active use.
Its state term is simply "active", not "activated" (even though one can argue that these two terms have a slightly different meaning).
Note that Patchmanager before v3.2.1 used the term "apply" and its state term "applied" for this, but also for "enable" / "enabled".
Also note that this is completely unrelated to "install", but related to "enable", which denotes the user interaction of marking a Patch as enabled in order to tell Patchmanager to activate it (this can be overridden by disabling the global setting "Activate enabled Patches when booting").

apply

(a Patch)
Superseded by "activate", because its antonym ("counter-term") "unapply" and its state term "unapplied" are awkward and slightly problematic in English and seriously problematic in a couple of other languages. Furthermore it was overloaded by meaning (in Patchmanager's UI) both, "enable" and "activate"; respectively the state term "applied" addressed both, "enabled" and "active".
Note that outside of the UI (user interface) the term "to apply a patch file" (but not a "Patch"!) is a common technical phrase, which might be used in technical documentation, comments in source code etc.

D

deactivate

(a Patch)
The technical process of putting a Patch out of active use.
Its state term is simply "inactive", not "deactivated" (even though one can argue that these two terms have a slightly different meaning).
Note that Patchmanager before v3.2.1 used the problematic term "unapply" and its state term "unapplied" for this, but also for "disable" / "disabled".
Also note that this is completely unrelated to "remove", but related to "disable", which denotes the user interaction of marking a Patch as disabled in order to tell Patchmanager not to activate it.

diff

Ambiguous term, to be avoided, because using it without explicitly specifying what is meant regularly results in misunderstandings.
Usually it is to be interpreted as a colloquialism among UNIX geeks for the output of the diff command, either on the screen or in a "diff file", but may as well address the diff command or a diff file proper, depending on the context.

diff

[in monospaced font]
Denotes the diff command (UNIX utility).

diff file

The output of the diff command redirected to a file. Basically synonym to "patch file", which is the more common term.
It can be utilised by the patch utility to alter one or multiple, arbitrary files.

disable

(a Patch)
Marking a Patch to be inactive.
See also "deactivate", which denotes the technical process of putting a Patch out of use, while "disable" denotes the user interaction of marking a Patch to be inactive.

E

enable

(a Patch)
Marking a Patch to be activated.
See also "activate", which denotes the technical process of putting a Patch into use, while "enable" denotes the user interaction of marking a Patch to be activated.

I

inactive

(Patch)
A Patch, which is installed, but not in use. Either because is is not enabled by the user or the global setting "Activate enabled Patches when booting" is disabled (or both).
Note that Patchmanager before v3.2.1 used the problematic term "unapplied" for this.

install

(a Patch)
Addresses the process of downloading and installing a Patch, after which it is locally deployed on the device but disabled and hence inactive.

O

OpenRepos

This is the correct spelling of the community platform for hosting package repositories at openrepos.net, according to its logo.

P

patch

Ambiguous term, to be avoided, because using it without explicitly specifying what is meant regularly results in misunderstandings: May address a Patch, the patch command or a patch file, depending on the context.

patch

[in monospaced font]
Denotes the patch command (UNIX utility).

patch file

A file in "unified diff format", which can be applied per the patch command.
Usually created by the diff command using the option switch -u. Basically synonym to "diff file".

Patch

[spelled with a capital "P"]
A patch bundle for Patchmanager, either from the Web Catalog or as an RPM.
It is always spelled with a capital "P", because it is a name, specifically conforming to this definition.
It always contains a single patch file and might contain additional files (metadata, icon etc.).

Patchmanager

The app for SailfishOS these pages are for and about.
It is always spelled with a capital "P", because it is a name.

Patch RPM

Explicitly denotes a Patch packaged as an RPM file in contrast to a Patch from the Web Catalog.
"Patch RPM" is a synonym for "RPM Patch".

Punctuation marks

[their usage and meaning in the UI (user interface)]:

  • Full sentences which include a verb shall end with a full stop ("."), except for pulley menu entries.
    It must be omitted for phrases which are not real sentences, e.g., lacking a verb or object.
  • The exclamation mark ("!") shall solely be used to conclude full sentences, which indicate that something went wrong (denoting failures, errors etc.).
    Do not use it for simply emphasising a statement.
  • The ellipsis character ("") denotes that a new window, page or view will be opened.
    Do not use it or its improper substitution by three full stop characters (". . .") for indicating "continuing" or "wait a while".

Note that outside of the UI (user interface) these punctuation marks might be used more freely, e.g., in technical documentation, comments in source code etc.

R

remove

(a Patch)
Deleting a Patch (i.e., all its locally deployed components) from a device.

rpm

[in monospaced font]
Usually addresses the rpm command, but is sometimes ambiguously used to address the whole RPM utility.

RPM

Should only be used for addressing the RPM (RedHat Package Manager) utility, which is comprised of multiple executable files, among them the rpm command.
But in practice "RPM" is very often used to denote an RPM file, aka RPM package.

RPM file

An installable file bundle for the RPM (RedHat Package Manager) utility.
Usually used for distributing executable files, but may bundle any kind of files.
In the context of Patchmanager mostly used as a way to bundle a patch file with its associated files and to distribute the resulting "RPM Patch", as an alternative to the distribution via the Web Catalog.

RPM package

Synonym for "RPM file".

RPM Patch

Explicitly denotes a Patch packaged as an RPM file in contrast to a Patch from the Web Catalog.
"RPM Patch" is a synonym for "Patch RPM".

S

SailfishOS

A Linux distribution aimed at mobile devices, created and maintained by Jolla.
For Patchmanager at GitHub and OpenRepos the original spelling without a space before the "OS" is used, although since 2015 Jolla spells it "Sailfish OS", which requires a non-breaking space between the "Sailfish" and "OS". This modern spelling is problematic, because a non-breaking space cannot be entered in all markup-languages (but works, e.g., in this wiki in HTML syntax) and is tedious to enter in a word processor or HTML (as "Sailfish OS"), but without it a line break or even a page break may occur between the "Sailfish" and the "OS".

SailfishOS:Chum

Ambiguous term, may address the SailfishOS:Chum client app, the SailfishOS:Chum infrastructure (documentation, guidance, rules and issue tracker) or the SailfishOS:Chum community repository.

SailfishOS:Chum community repository

Addresses the SailfishOS:Chum community repository at build.merproject.org/project/show/sailfishos:chum, sometimes including its staging repository "SailfishOS:Chum testing repository" at build.merproject.org/project/show/sailfishos:chum:testing.

SailfishOS:Chum infrastructure

For SailfishOS:Chum's documentation, guidance, rules and issue tracker, see github.com/sailfishos-chum/main#sailfish-os-community-repositories-documentation-and-issues.

SailfishOS:Chum GUI application

A full-featured GUI-client for utilising the SailfishOS:Chum community repository is available for easy installation via the SailfishOS:Chum GUI Installer at OpenRepos. The SailfishOS:Chum GUI application is also available for manual installation at chumrpm.netlify.app.

SailfishOS:Chum repository configuration RPM file

Colloquially called "SailfishOS:Chum repo config RPM".
It is the counterpart to the SailfishOS:Chum GUI application for those who want to utilise the SailfishOS:Chum community repository solely at the command line. It is available at OpenRepos, at chumrpm.netlify.app etc.

Sailversion

A web page, which lists all available releases of SailfishOS at coderus.openrepos.net/whitesoft/sailversion.

U

unapply

(a Patch)
Superseded by "deactivate", because "unapply" and its state term "unapplied" are awkward and slightly problematic in English and seriously problematic in a couple of other languages. Furthermore it was overloaded by meaning (in Patchmanager's UI) both, "disable" and "deactivate"; respectively the state term "unapplied" addressed both, "disabled" and "inactive".

uninstall

(a Patch)
Awkward IT-term, the proper term is "remove", which is also the term which superseded "uninstall" for Patchmanager.

W

Web Catalog

A web service, which hosts Patches and manages the upload of their contents (a patch file and associated data).
Runs at OpenRepos and is maintained by Coderus at https://coderus.openrepos.net/pm2/

Web Catalog Patch

Explicitly denotes a Patch from the Web Catalog in contrast to a Patch packaged as an RPM file.
But rather use "Patch from the Web Catalog" to express that.