Bug 141598

Summary:	Wrong grammar while building the database of printer drivers
Product:	kcontrol	Reporter:	Richard Hartmann <richih-kde>
Component:	kcmprintmgr	Assignee:	KDEPrint Devel Mailinglist <kde-print-devel>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	normal
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Debian testing
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:

Description Richard Hartmann 2007-02-12 16:02:19 UTC

Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.5.5)
Installed from:    Debian testing/unstable Packages

It tells you it is recreating 'a' database of drivers instead of 'the' database of drivers. As there is only one it does not really make sense to talk about 'a' database.

Comment 1 Kurt Pfeifle 2007-02-12 19:45:11 UTC

It is 'a' database of printer drivers, because...

 (a) ...it is local (and there are more databases on other Linux computers)
 (b) ...it is a snapshot of the current data (it was a different version a month ago)
 (c) ...it will change as soon as you add a new PPD into your /usr/share/cups/model/ directory


But I'm not a native English speaker, so my verdict is not qualified to be accepted as final.

Comment 2 Richard Hartmann 2007-02-12 21:12:18 UTC

> (a) ...it is local (and there are more databases on other Linux computers) 

Well, of course it is local (in most cases, anyway). It is still the only database of printer drivers KDE is aware of.

> (b) ...it is a snapshot of the current data (it was a different version a month ago) 
> (c) ...it will change as soon as you add a new PPD into your /usr/share/cups/model/ directory

Changes within a database over time do not determine the grammar of English sentences, though. And yes, in this case it is correct to speak of a database, not the database.

For the record, I am not a native speaker either, but I am certain I am right. Why you close the bug with wontfix when you say yourself that your verdict is not final is not readily apparent for me, by the way. I would appreciate it if you could reopen the bug so it is more likely that someone else will look at this.

Thanks,
Richard

Comment 3 Logan Rathbone 2007-03-15 19:48:53 UTC

I am a native speaker of English.  To me, 'the' seems to make more sense.  To have  'a database' as the object in the sentence, the verb 'rebuild' does not make sense, as the implication is that something that has already existed is being recreated.  Thus, it would have to reference something, hence the correct usage of 'the.'

However, if the verb used were 'build' rather than 'rebuild,' to have 'a' rather than 'the' would make perfect sense:  "Please wait while KDE builds a driver database."  But in my opinion, this is still more awkward than "Please wait while KDE rebuilds the driver database" would be.

Comment 4 Michael Goffioul 2007-03-16 09:37:42 UTC

I also agree that "...rebuilds the driver database..." makes more sense.