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Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:24:46 -0400 (EDT) Received: by mbp.qyliss.net (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 43EE382AFF88; Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:24:45 +0200 (CEST) From: Alyssa Ross To: Valentin Gagarin Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] Documentation: reword the distinctive feature of shared state In-Reply-To: <20260622095556.170159-1-valentin@gagarin.work> References: <20260617132414.103828-1-valentin@gagarin.work> <20260622095556.170159-1-valentin@gagarin.work> Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:24:43 +0200 Message-ID: <87h5muiu78.fsf@alyssa.is> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Message-ID-Hash: VZS77LNDILUDYLLIFQVOFUZVK5PVQV6Z X-Message-ID-Hash: VZS77LNDILUDYLLIFQVOFUZVK5PVQV6Z X-MailFrom: hi@alyssa.is X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; loop; banned-address; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-0; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-1; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-2; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-3; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-4; emergency; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: devel@spectrum-os.org X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.10 Precedence: list List-Id: Patches and low-level development discussion Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Valentin Gagarin writes: > This changes front-page wording in load-bearing ways, for reasons that > may be non-obvious. > > The overarching idea is to reduce the textual surface area, for instance > by replacing arbitrary examples with subsuming terms, while > staying very specific with what is to be conveyed and where possible > making it more relatable to the intended audience. > > - Split into shorter sentences > > Each one is focused on describing a separate idea. The second idea is > more complex and warrants more words, so having a dedicated sentence > avoids losing the reader. > > - s/User data and application state/Persistent data/ > > The focus of the sentence is the central management. By being a bit > more general while technically still very specific (all persistent > data is the same from the perspective of the system) we save the > attention for the important part. > > - s/remaining isolated/applications remain isolated/ > > The data being isolated never made sense; it's the applications' > access to it that is isolated. The phrasing chosen is more compact but > still correct, and leaves room for expanding on the isolation in > a separate paragraph. > > - s/several dozen/many/ > > The particular number doesn't matter, and may be arbitrarily wrong in > practice. The point is that there's fragmentation. The snark about > any large number is unnecessary if we put the real problem in the > foreground. > > - s/mixed up in// > > It could be that entanglement is an issue, but fragmentation seems to > be the bigger issue. In any case, the original sentence was awkward > grammatically, because it tried putting together how a system is > handled with what the system is like. > > - s/managed as a whole/still treated as a whole/ > > We're already saying "managed" in the first sentence. Managing > the system is very different from managing state. We need to be > careful with using words without prior definitions, so the best we can > do here is avoid inadvertent conflation. There is enough potential > for confusion as it is. > > "still" acknowledges the traditional single-system experience that > Spectrum preserves by design. > > - s/backed up and// > > The difficulty of backing up is a specific instance of the > fragmentation problem. But this is likely only evident to Qubes > users. We can expect most readers to know about it theoretically at > best. While it's not wrong to have this sort of anchor, keeping it > risks diluting the main message. > > - "each becoming a system of its own" > > This captures the Qubes failure mode Spectrum avoids, where per-VM state > accumulation forces operators into what amounts to orchestrating > a cluster on one's desktop. > > In the original, the contrast to Qubes would not be as strong for > people only familiar with it superficially. Being more explicit about > the nature of the problem helps establishing the narrative frame and > original motivation of Spectrum early on, part of which is overcoming > Qubes limitations. > > Signed-off-by: Valentin Gagarin > --- > Documentation/index.html | 8 ++++---- > 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) > > diff --git a/Documentation/index.html b/Documentation/index.html > index a717d2c..6d4f07b 100644 > --- a/Documentation/index.html > +++ b/Documentation/index.html > @@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ lower barrier to entry and to be easier to use and ma= intain than other > such systems. >=20=20 >

> -User data and application state will be managed centrally, while > -remaining isolated, meaning that the system can be backed up and > -managed as a whole, rather than mixed up in several dozen virtual > -machines. > +Persistent data will be managed centrally, while > +applications remain isolated. This means that the system can still be > +thought of as a whole, rather than many virtual > +machines each becoming a system of its own. I'm convinced, I think. Lines are a bit ragged though so I'll rewrap when applying. --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iHUEARYKAB0WIQRV/neXydHjZma5XLJbRZGEIw/wogUCajk3mwAKCRBbRZGEIw/w oj5xAQC+fjqN0h3CVkP7qsRCMmqdIqRH5ZbO3ivhm2kX/Twi2AEAk41L4CqJjduU U+F7jbtk8iQ+NABXrHPyfrvwNleOTgs= =UWC4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--