Re: Bug#888202: stretch->buster: reminder that kernel should be >= 3.2 before upgrade

Paul Gevers:
> Justin B Rye wrote:
>> The wording could be better.  I would suggest
>> 
>>          Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
>>          kernel 3.2 or later is required. The preinst for <systemitem
>>          role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a check, and if this fails
>>          then to avoid completely breaking the system it will abort the package
>>          installation, which will leave the upgrade unfinished. If the system
>>          is running a kernel older than 3.2, please update it before starting
>>          the distribution upgrade.
> 
> I had to read the second sentence multiple times. I think it is too
> long, or missing two commas. How about:

You're right, that sentence is too long and complicated.
 
> The preinst for <systemitem role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a
> check, and if this fails then, to avoid completely breaking the system,
> it will abort the package installation, which will leave the upgrade
> unfinished.

That way of punctuating it makes it too easy to misunderstood "then"
as "at that time".  We could avoid that by adding another comma before
it, but I prefer option two:
 
> or
> 
> To avoid completely breaking the system, the preinst for <systemitem
> role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a check. If this fails, it
> will abort the package installation, which will leave the upgrade
> unfinished.

So the full paragraph would be something like:

          Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
          kernel 3.2 or later is required. To avoid completely breaking the system,
          the preinst for <systemitem role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a
          check. If this fails, it will abort the package installation, which will
          leave the upgrade unfinished.  If the system is running a kernel older
          than 3.2, please update it before starting the distribution upgrade.