After someone asked on IRC, I tried to look up the package names with apt-cache search. I managed to find istanbul, but didn't find byzanz; (I searched for "session record", because I found that appropriate) Even after picking some words from the istanbul description. Maybe you could make the descriptions more similar, e.g. one uses "screencast creator" and "record ... desktop", the other says "Desktop session recorder". Maybe Byzanz could use the short description "Session recorder producing animated GIF images" and Istanbul "Session recorder producing Ogg Theora video" And both could then use the term "desktop screencast" or so in their description; maybe mention the other as an alternative?
I'm quite happy with the current description. Even wikipedia knows the term "screencast". Together with other important keywords like "desktop" or "record" I think the package provides enough information to find it. On the other side "to record a session" sounds not very familiar and at least I have never heard the term "session recorder" before. I'll close this bug for now, but I'm of course open to suggestions regarding the description. For now think screencast is the main keyword here, so there is no need to touch anything. Cheers, Bastian
clone 391860 -1
reassign -1 istanbul
reopen -1
reopen 391860
thanks
Cloning to istanbul
Reopening #391860, because it is NOT fixed. If you don't intend to fix
it, maybe tag it "wontfix" (if you're happy that I didn't find your
package...)
"screencast" is a technical term _few_ people will be used to IMHO.
Note that the "official" description of Byzanz as far as I can tell is
more like
"Byzanz is a simple tool to record a running X desktop to an animated
GIF file."
no "screencasting" involved.
Or from the original announcement:
Byzanz is a desktop recorder. Just like Istanbul. But it doesn't record
to Ogg Theora, but to GIF.
Anyway, the bug said that istanbul and byzanz should use similar
descriptions to make it easier to find the other. so the bug is NOT
fixed.
I don't really oppose using "screencast" at all, just that it's a
technical term that should maybe not be used in the first line of the
description.
"Desktop recording" or "Session recording" should be understandable by
anyone with basic english skills.
Also note that "screencast" to me would imply it's live.
I'd call VNC (vino etc.) a screencasting tool; what byzanz does is make
("static") recordings.
best regards,
Erich Schubert
I'm quite happy with the current description. Even wikipedia knows the term "screencast". Together with other important keywords like "desktop" or "record" I think the package provides enough information to find it. On the other side "to record a session" sounds not very familiar and at least I have never heard the term "session recorder" before. I'll close this bug for now, but I'm of course open to suggestions regarding the description. For now think screencast is the main keyword here, so there is no need to touch anything. Cheers, Bastian
tags 391860 wontfix -- Erich Schubert wrote: the long description of the package are appropriate. In fact, If you have a look at byzanz' homepage, the description is almost identical to upstreams: http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=1261 Cite: ---8<---8<---8<---8<---8<---8<---8<---8<---8<--- Record your desktop session to a GIF file Byzanz is a GNOME Panel applet to record your current desktop to an animated GIF file. This is especially useful for publishing on the web, since every browser understands the GIF format. Use this for your secreencasts! --->8--->8--->8--->8--->8--->8--->8--->8--->8--- Please note the last word... Like I already explained to you on IRC I think there is no solution for this problem since it's almost impossible to form a description which makes everyone happy or could guarantee that everyone will find this package with only some vague keywords in mind. The current description makes sure that most users should have no problems to find this package, since it already contains the mayor keywords "desktop, record and screencast". But as always, it's not possible to satisfy every user. This problem BTW applies to every Debian package in general and I think a better solution to fix such issues is via an alternative mechanism like debtags.
reopen 391860 thanks (reopening, because it was closed after my inital reopen command since somehow your -done mail was processed later than my control mail) Hi, "Session recorder producing animated GIF images" is essentially upstreams one-line description. Why does Debian need an entirely different one-line description? Description: Small screencast creator Yes, upstream uses screencast. But only as the very last word in the description, not in the first line. You're welcome to use it in the body of the description of the package. Note that "screencast creator" also sounds like it would allow editing. Editing for screencasts can be very useful, both for cutting out overly long delays and for adding an audio track. The term "recorder" is probably more appropriate. Please note the fourth word. And the first line in its entirety. Sure, but you could easily make _more_ people happy. How about "session"? Upstream uses session in the first line. Debtags can't address everything, and it in fact _relies_ on good package descriptions for the AI. And for many applications, debtags will never be able to replace full text search with good descriptions. It will always be just an additional way of locating software packages. Also you completely ignored the subject of the bug report: Whether you like my suggestion on how to fix it or not: this is not fixed, and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be fixed or is "wontfix". A description will never satisfy everbody, granted. However, why should the descriptions of Istanbul and Byzanz be this different, when they're basically doing the same thing? Shouldn't there be an "as good as we'll be able to do" description that fits both except for the file format? Current descriptions: --- Description: Small screencast creator Byzanz is a command-line/GNOME Panel applet allowing you to record your current desktop or parts of it to an animated GIF file. This is especially useful for publishing on the web, since every browser understands the GIF format. . Byzanz is not limited to gnome, you can use it under non-GTK environments like KDE too. . Homepage: http://people.freedesktop.org/~company/byzanz/ --- Description: Desktop session recorder Istanbul is a desktop session recorder for the Free Desktop. It records your session into an Ogg Theora video file. To start the recording, you click on its icon in the notification area. To stop you click its icon again. . It works on Gnome, KDE, XFCE and others. --- Proposal: Description: Desktop session recorder producing animated GIF images Byzanz is an application to record your desktop or parts of it (such as an applications window) to an animated GIF file (a so called "screencast"). It has a command line interface as well as a GNOME panel applet, but it can be used in non-GTK environments such as KDE as well. . While being less space efficient than other formats, the GIF file format is particularly useful for publishing on the web, since every web browser understands the GIF format. This format offers the best compatibility. . Homepage: http://people.freedesktop.org/~company/byzanz/ --- But please talk to the istanbul maintainer. He already is working on an improved description. It makes a lot of sense that these two apps show up as byzanz - ... record ... desktop ... animated GIF images istanbul - ... record ... desktop ... Ogg Theora video to make it obvious that they have essentially the same purpose. best regards, Erich Schubert
I really like Erich's proposal, and i think that at least the short description should be common, so I'd like to change to something like: istanbul -Desktop session recorder producing Ogg Theora video byzanz - Desktop session recorder producing animated GIF images Then personalize your long description and mention the term screencast if you want. If you accept it, i will make the change in my next upload. Otherwise let me know, so we can try to reach an agreement :) Cheers, Luca
Just to say that I have been using debian since ten years and I do not know what is "screencast". (But after reading the long description I understand what it means.) I suppose that many (maybe almost!) do not know what it means. cast for me means distribute to others through the network (radio, video, tv). I am not English speaker. Cheers,