Re: capitalization of error messages and option descriptions

[Jim Meyering]

Bruno Haible wrote:
>> # Error messages should not start with a capital letter
>
> Why should error messages not start with a capital letter?
> Often error messages should be translatable, and when they are, the
> guidelines from GNU gettext [1] apply:
>   "Use entire sentences."

Many (most?) of the diagnostics in e.g., coreutils are not complete
sentences, and as such should not start with a capital or end
with a period.

I think this quote from the GCS is at the origin:

-----------------------------
     PROGRAM:SOURCE-FILE-NAME:LINENO:COLUMN: MESSAGE

...

   The string MESSAGE should not begin with a capital letter when it
follows a program name and/or file name, because that isn't the
beginning of a sentence.  (The sentence conceptually starts at the
beginning of the line.)  Also, it should not end with a period.
-----------------------------

I'm quite ambivalent about this rule, often disable it, and
would not mind removing it altogether.

> And in normal English style, sentences start with a capital letter.
>
> For instance, in GNU gettext I have error messages that consist
> of several sentences:
>
>   Input files contain messages in different encodings, %s and %s among 
> others.\n\
>   Converting the output to UTF-8.\n\
>   To select a different output encoding, use the --to-code option.\n\
>
> It's normal that these sentences start with a capital letter, no?
>
> Then I also have error messages consisting of a single sentence:
>
>   two different charsets \"%s\" and \"%s\" in input file
>
>   input file `%s' doesn't contain a header entry with a charset specification
>
> Maybe I should actually change all these error messages to start with a
> capital letter, for consistency? Or only those that are entire sentences,
> with a subject and a verb?
>
> Somewhat related: What was the point of lowercasing the sentences in the
> option descriptions of the usage message of 'bootstrap'?
>
> Bruno
>
> [1] 
> http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Preparing-Strings.html
> [2]
> http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gnulib.git;a=commitdiff;h=54c0573c2f6200b8b9c88a026c7bc8cfe44e0403