From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mail-wm1-f49.google.com (mail-wm1-f49.google.com [209.85.128.49]) by mx.groups.io with SMTP id smtpd.web12.4506.1626936028794268474 for ; Wed, 21 Jul 2021 23:40:29 -0700 Authentication-Results: mx.groups.io; dkim=pass header.i=@linuxfoundation.org header.s=google header.b=UhgxwC0p; spf=pass (domain: linuxfoundation.org, ip: 209.85.128.49, mailfrom: richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org) Received: by mail-wm1-f49.google.com with SMTP id f10-20020a05600c4e8ab029023e8d74d693so2295068wmq.3 for ; Wed, 21 Jul 2021 23:40:28 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=linuxfoundation.org; s=google; h=message-id:subject:from:to:date:in-reply-to:references:user-agent :mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; bh=2K2iCpVFFpCe37gRahE9LQ0GovINvn8N1L++u3HhVqc=; b=UhgxwC0pzIXrukXHlms904Xh3zU41zKWMZTOrEo+WfDIcSH+lkDPAfIwylkandGYpE QS4CeNiB2+j9hIFdprA/ACH+O31tYzxL9642DkpxR3KdZ+l3QDon6E37i9lbjaFLXKsY 7eGuQQW5Uwa1219IRMZfWgsQ/kbOPAfJoVSII= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:message-id:subject:from:to:date:in-reply-to :references:user-agent:mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; bh=2K2iCpVFFpCe37gRahE9LQ0GovINvn8N1L++u3HhVqc=; b=YeIzHKv1vzH+hSdwFGtgu3m/9W17EkdYL8/3qcaNm7jrM+IdWJoYPK/Os7UH5aBwvl ks8l/qepNEEl79xPr3sKgsK5blu9YrrU3RlExAb5ed+ZiQvcqx8ebjJrmo7b3ldhwFZc ATsKWMCHYYQfauNOD6Cxy8fNyEiQBEzu5EGeAQO9AWZJRcW0f8OzdcHAnkzjC6bJqpwA g2bsYduZ68j/nhS0N+nlastJRly6VtNJ3YYsLGcapx642x/qviQSXltcDkwH0mRSxgUw zvnPdCiK+ocnwHUYOT9Wq4ixvsu6xIFNtI/iIfrs/jvH7vSKrtSZXT3G6XV/Lkx9E21g wi2Q== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM533GuO3ZOBfyyExY9r/qhduk61orEt+RNnqOyc4mDOGyZ8SfOQB8 95UBtSIVRU7fKJeKbOXKLpo0bA== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJzYqsOt9vf0C834R3xdISMvSYze9pu1+H7u2Fo8YGMvizffSbJ9ljrzSO9scWrCfsMiFdGHfQ== X-Received: by 2002:a7b:c958:: with SMTP id i24mr7398866wml.177.1626936027042; Wed, 21 Jul 2021 23:40:27 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: Received: from ?IPv6:2001:8b0:aba:5f3c:40b3:3f27:e412:a801? ([2001:8b0:aba:5f3c:40b3:3f27:e412:a801]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id n5sm1728414wmd.4.2021.07.21.23.40.26 (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256/256); Wed, 21 Jul 2021 23:40:26 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <9aebdc2ca149587d39cd23628c392423148f22ba.camel@linuxfoundation.org> Subject: Re: [docs] "metadata": plural or singular or both? From: "Richard Purdie" To: Michael Opdenacker , YP docs mailing list Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 07:40:23 +0100 In-Reply-To: References: <8b294bc7-ab17-3dab-2cf6-ef2af316ca00@bootlin.com> User-Agent: Evolution 3.40.0-1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On Wed, 2021-07-21 at 19:04 +0200, Michael Opdenacker wrote: > Hi, > > On 7/21/21 6:20 PM, Richard Purdie wrote: > > Hi Michael, > > > > On Wed, 2021-07-21 at 18:11 +0200, Michael Opdenacker wrote: > > > I'm currently reading BitBake's documentation, and I'm always > > > uncomfortable when I read "Metadata is", while I know that in English > > > and in Latin, "data" is the plural of "datum". However, many people seem > > > to use "data" as singular. > > > > > > I also find confusing that actually "metadata" is both used: > > > > > >   * in plural form as in: "Split metadata into layers and allow layers > > >     to enhance or override other layers." > > >   * in singular form as in: "Metadata is stored in recipe (|.bb|) and > > >     related recipe “append” (|.bbappend|) files" > > > > > > How do you feel about this? I'm especially interested in the feedback > > > from native English speakers, which I'm not. > > Personally, I'd read both of those sentences above as being correct and > > they sound fine to me as a native speaker. There are other things in the > > manual that probably grate on me a bit but not that! > > Thank you for your feedback. > > Here's a more troubling sentence: > "BitBake executes tasks according to provided metadata that builds up > the tasks" > > Here, "metadata" is obviously plural because otherwise you would say "a > provided metadata", but it still conjugated as if it was singular. > Doesn't this sentence grate a bit? That one doesn't sound right. You could say it is missing a "the", as in "according to the provided metadata that builds up" but I don't really like the phrasing there even with that fix, the "that" sounds wrong. Cheers, Richard