linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] scsi_error: Fix language abuse.

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Date:	Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:13:33 +0200
From:	Benny Halevy <bhalevy@...asas.com>
To:	"linux-os (Dick Johnson)" <linux-os@...logic.com>
CC:	Mark Hounschell <markh@...pro.net>,
	James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@...senPartnership.com>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
	linux-scsi@...r.kernel.org,
	Linux kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] scsi_error: Fix language abuse.

Seriously, can't you just add a disclaimer to the README file?

In http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/2/9/29, Luben Tuikov made an interesting
point that in many cases "illegal" refers to a valid value that violates
the specification, so the term "invalid" may be technically incorrect.

Benny

On Feb. 11, 2008, 18:07 +0200, "linux-os (Dick Johnson)" <linux-os@...logic.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Feb 2008, Mark Hounschell wrote:
> 
>> linux-os (Dick Johnson) wrote:
>>> The correct word should be "invalid," in spite of
>>> the fact that the SCSI committee used invalid syntax.
>>>
>>> Alan is right. There is nothing illegal in the kernel
>>> and if there is, it must be removed as soon as it
>>> is discovered!
>>>
>> il·le·gal  (-lgl)
>> adj.
>> 1. Prohibited by law.
>> *2. Prohibited by official rules: an illegal pass in football.
>> *3. Unacceptable to or not performable by a computer: an illegal operation.
>>
>> Mark
> 
> Many early computer programmers including myself, while writing
> error messages in early software, did not understand that computer
> programmers do not make law so we called bad operations "illegal."
> 
> Once you are called to testify in a court of law, about some
> message your code wrote to the screen just before a factory
> burned down, you start to be much more careful about the syntax.
> 
> I advise that, regardless of the rewrite of dictionaries and,
> in fact, the rewrite of history, whenever possible we use
> the correct message syntax. Dictionaries pick up "common usage"
> in spite of the fact that it is wrong. See "irregardless" and
> other abortions which now exist in the dictionary.
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> Dick Johnson
> Penguin : Linux version 2.6.22.1 on an i686 machine (5588.28 BogoMips).
> My book : http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/
> _
> 
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