Who is "it" in "its"

[Daniel Shahaf]

C. Michael Pilato wrote on Tue, 13 Aug 2019 18:58 +00:00:
> On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 12:40 PM Daniel Shahaf <d.s at daniel.shahaf.name> wrote:
> >  +++ appa-quickstart.xml (working copy)
> >  @@ -30,12 +30,16 @@
> >  APR—the Apache Portable Runtime library. The APR library
> >  provides all the interfaces that Subversion needs to function on
> >  different operating systems: disk access, network access, memory
> >  + management, and so on.</para>
> >  +
> >  + <para>While the APR library is part of the Apache HTTP Server (or,
> >  + <command>httpd</command>), and <command>httpd</command> can be configured
> >  + to serve Subversion repositories, <command>httpd</command> is
> >  + <emphasis>not</emphasis> a required component of a Subversion
> >  + installation.
> >  + APR is a standalone library usable by any application.
> 
> This sentence fights conceptually against the previous statement about 
> the APR library being "part of the Apache HTTP Server". (How can it a 
> part of one thing and yet independent?) I don't believe it's necessary 
> to address the nuance. We aren't here to sell the merits of APR in the 
> general case. Rather, let's remove the unnecessary sentence:
> 
> > APR is a standalone library usable by any application.

Done.

> >  + Subversion's dependency on APR does mean, however, that Subversion
> >  + clients and
> >  servers run on any operating system
> >  that <command>httpd</command> runs on: Windows, Linux, all
> >  flavors of BSD, Mac OS X, NetWare, and others.</para>
> >  ]]]
> 
> This final bit of the edit persists (and actually worsens) a false 
> correlation. It's not strictly Subversion's *dependency* on APR that 
> allows it to run anywhere httpd runs. Maybe something like the 
> following more closely expresses the desired intent?
> 
> > But because they interact with the operating system through the abstraction layer that APR provides, Subversion clients and servers are able to run on any operating system that other APR-based applications (including <command>httpd</command>) run on: Windows, Linux, all flavors of BSD, Mac OS X, NetWare, and others.

I've incorporated this paragraph with tweaks.  Do you think it's
clearer now?

[[[
Index: appa-quickstart.xml
===================================================================
--- appa-quickstart.xml	(revision 5963)
+++ appa-quickstart.xml	(working copy)
@@ -30,15 +30,19 @@
       APR—the Apache Portable Runtime library.  The APR library
       provides all the interfaces that Subversion needs to function on
       different operating systems: disk access, network access, memory
-      management, and so on.  While Subversion is able to use Apache
-      HTTP Server (or, <command>httpd</command>) as one of its network
-      server programs, its dependence on APR <emphasis>does
-      not</emphasis> mean that <command>httpd</command> is a required
-      component.  APR is a standalone library usable by any
-      application.  It does mean, however, that Subversion clients and
-      servers run on any operating system
-      that <command>httpd</command> runs on: Windows, Linux, all
-      flavors of BSD, Mac OS X, NetWare, and others.</para>
+      management, and so on.
+      The abstraction layer provided by APR enables Subversion clients and
+      servers to run on any operating system that other APR-based applications
+      run on: Windows, Linux, all flavors of BSD, Mac OS X, NetWare, and
+      others.</para>
+
+    <note>
+      <para>Although the APR library is part of the Apache HTTP Server (or,
+        <command>httpd</command>), and <command>httpd</command> can be
+        configured to serve Subversion repositories, <command>httpd</command>
+        is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a required component of a Subversion
+        installation.</para>
+    </note>
 
     <para>The easiest way to get Subversion is to download a binary
       package built for your operating system.  Subversion's web site
]]]

Thanks for the review.

Cheers,

Daniel