15

Bug reports and problems with the development version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues.

My first reading of this text is that it meant bugs in development versions of Ubuntu ie. bugs in Utopic Unicorn. But then I saw it being used to close bugs for 14.04 LTS, and I saw question asker getting annoyed that the bug was incorrectly closed. So perhaps it should be reworded? Something like:

"Bug reports for any version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues."

3
  • 2
    The operative word here is "and", but sadly people miss this most of the time. The close reason was meant for a "catch all" situations, but I agree that it's somewhat confusing. BTW, issues with ubuntu+1 is still off topic, so we need it somewhere.
    – Braiam
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 18:04
  • 4
    @Braiam How about: Bug reports for any version of Ubuntu as well as problems with the development version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues. It's a bit to long for my taste, but more accurate than the current statement. (The current statement infact reads like a boolean OR. and in human language is not always equal to AND in Booblean algebra.)
    – LiveWireBT
    Commented May 31, 2014 at 5:51
  • 1
    @LiveWireBT instead of asking me why don't you say that to the community in an answer.
    – Braiam
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 3:49

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
4

I think this could be made clearer by swapping the order of the two elements, thus:

Problems with the development version of Ubuntu and all bug reports for any version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues.

Or, as terdon suggested in the comments, it probably wouldn’t hurt to remove the all, thus:

Problems with the development version of Ubuntu and bug reports for any version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues.

3
  • Yes, this is indeed clearer, +1. I would also remove the all after the and though.
    – terdon
    Commented Jun 5, 2014 at 12:09
  • I think we have a winer
    – Braiam
    Commented Jun 5, 2014 at 12:21
  • 1
    Now how do we get it changed?
    – bain
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 11:41
5

I agree with you, but problems with the development version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu+1) are still out of scope for this site so it should be:

Bug reports for any version of Ubuntu as well as problems with the development version of Ubuntu should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues.

2
  • Maybe it would be clearer to write "problems with the development version of Ubuntu" as "problems with the unreleased development version of Ubuntu"? Or maybe there should just be two separate close reasons, one for bug reports, one for questions related to unreleased development Ubuntu.
    – bain
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 10:03
  • I just checked the releases page again: There are regular releases and releases with long term support. Only these are supported here. Terms like unreleased development versions would imply that there are also released[huh?] development releases, which would only lead to more confusion.
    – LiveWireBT
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 11:47
5

I actually find it quite clear but to remove all ambiguity all you need is an or:

Bug reports, or problems with the development version of Ubuntu, should be reported on Launchpad so that developers can see, track and fix these issues.

7
  • That can still be parsed as "(Bug reports or problems) with the development version of Ubuntu..."
    – bain
    Commented Jun 3, 2014 at 13:04
  • 1
    @bain not anymore. I added a comma.
    – terdon
    Commented Jun 3, 2014 at 13:10
  • 1
    And that comma makes the grammar wrong.
    – TRiG
    Commented Jun 3, 2014 at 18:27
  • @TRiG nothing ungrammatical about that whatsoever. You can argue that the comma is not needed but that does not make it ungrammatical and, since it increases clarity, I see nothing wrong with it at all.
    – terdon
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 7:59
  • That comma is distinctly ungrammatical. It makes me want to parse the following clause as a clarifying clause (and imagine a comma following it).
    – TRiG
    Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 9:09
  • @TRiG I'd be fine with a comma after Ubuntu as well. It might even be needed. That, however, doesn't make the first one ungrammatical. You have just repeated your claim twice without giving any reasons for it. I'm willing to be convinced but I'd need to see an argument that is more than your point of view.
    – terdon
    Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 12:47
  • Because, as I said, it makes me want to parse the following clause as a clarifying clause, which is not the intent. Changing the or (which can be interpreted as introducing a rewording) to an and might help, in that then the commas would be simply wrong, but not confusing.
    – TRiG
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 10:31
0

I don't find the existing phraseology at all confusing. While It's sad that someone thought their question was incorrectly closed (or at least stated that) That appears to be a failure in comprehension. I don't perceive it as broken so I see no need to fix it.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .