Many packages in Debian have low quality descriptions. This affects the general quality of the distribution by making searching difficult.

The idea (first mentioned by Lars Wirzenius in http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/07/msg01095.html) is to make a general package descriptions review campaign

What needs to be done

All packages descriptions for packages in unstable (maybe only in main) should be reviewed. A large number of common "mistakes" can easily be spotted. Please have a look at the "Things to look for" section.

For descriptions which are identified as problematic, a patch must be elaborated and a wishlist bug filed.

Organization proposal

To ensure maximal quality, all reviews and updates should probably be made by at least two people. Native english speakers are of course appreciated.

A web-based interface has been developed and is available at http://zorglub.diwi.org/pkg-descriptions

Such an interface will (hopefully) allow easy centralization of the current reviews, and reports generation.

For work coordination, a wiki appears to be the best solution, either this one or another one...

Things to look for

In general, anything that does not help or confuse the user is probably worth fixing

Obvious stuff

Other

Controversial stuff

A consensus might be that some details are ok/needed, but that should remain reasonable.

Generally speaking, these details should rather be at the end of the descriptions, after describing what the package is/does, or at least not be too intrusive.

Volunteers

If you want to help, please register your name here and/or drop a mail to zorglub _a_t_ diwi _d_o_t_ org

Misc