Fix many package descriptions

(My OCD kicked in today...)

Remove repeated package names, capitalize first word, remove trailing
periods and move overlong descriptions to longDescription.

I also simplified some descriptions as well, when they were particularly
long or technical, often based on Arch Linux' package descriptions.

I've tried to stay away from generated expressions (and I think I
succeeded).

Some specifics worth mentioning:
 * cron, has "Vixie Cron" in its description. The "Vixie" part is not
   mentioned anywhere else. I kept it in a parenthesis at the end of the
   description.

 * ctags description started with "Exuberant Ctags ...", and the
   "exuberant" part is not mentioned elsewhere. Kept it in a parenthesis
   at the end of description.

 * nix has the description "The Nix Deployment System". Since that
   doesn't really say much what it is/does (especially after removing
   the package name!), I changed that to "Powerful package manager that
   makes package management reliable and reproducible" (borrowed from
   nixos.org).

 * Tons of "GNU Foo, Foo is a [the important bits]" descriptions
   is changed to just [the important bits]. If the package name doesn't
   contain GNU I don't think it's needed to say it in the description
   either.

123 files changed, 125 insertions, 127 deletions

diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/bigloo/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/bigloo/default.nix
index 16dfa580a19..8564175d363 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/bigloo/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/bigloo/default.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   checkTarget = "test";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Bigloo, an efficient Scheme compiler";
+    description = "Efficient Scheme compiler";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Bigloo is a Scheme implementation devoted to one goal: enabling
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
index 265b08c1fbd..3d9f2596c96 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/gambit/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ rec {
   phaseNames = ["doConfigure" "doMakeInstall"];
       
   meta = {
-    description = "Gambit Scheme to C compiler";
+    description = "Scheme to C compiler";
     maintainers = [
       a.lib.maintainers.raskin
     ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/hugs/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/hugs/default.nix
index c3f14826c8a..14751799795 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/hugs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/hugs/default.nix
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} {
 
   meta = {
     license = "as-is"; # gentoo is calling it this way..
-    description = "The HUGS 98 Haskell interpreter";
+    description = "Haskell interpreter";
     homepage = http://www.haskell.org/hugs;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ikarus/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ikarus/default.nix
index 070f29e16f6..e9bf6c8bb5b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ikarus/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ikarus/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ gmp ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Ikarus - a Scheme compiler, aiming at R6RS";
+    description = "Scheme compiler, aiming at R6RS";
     homepage = http://ikarus-scheme.org/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/mercury/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/mercury/default.nix
index 21af582c594..de9b44a4414 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/mercury/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/mercury/default.nix
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Mercury is a pure logic programming language.";
+    description = "A pure logic programming language";
     longDescription = ''
       Mercury is a logic/functional programming language which combines the
       clarity and expressiveness of declarative programming with advanced
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.10.0.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.10.0.nix
index 281aa1a9de6..1d68585d93a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.10.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.10.0.nix
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml;
     license = "QPL, LGPL2 (library part)";
-    desctiption = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
+    description = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
   };
 
 })
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.11.2.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.11.2.nix
index 64cf8a9f9f7..195e83e7313 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.11.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.11.2.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml;
     license = [ "QPL" /* compiler */ "LGPLv2" /* library */ ];
-    description = "Objective Caml, the most popular variant of the Caml language";
+    description = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Objective Caml is the most popular variant of the Caml language.
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.12.1.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.12.1.nix
index f916f5a7923..16c3cb1d787 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.12.1.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/3.12.1.nix
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml;
     license = [ "QPL" /* compiler */ "LGPLv2" /* library */ ];
-    description = "OCaml, the most popular variant of the Caml language";
+    description = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
 
     longDescription =
       ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.00.1.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.00.1.nix
index 8662db70c26..5b1e69b86b0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.00.1.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.00.1.nix
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml;
     license = [ "QPL" /* compiler */ "LGPLv2" /* library */ ];
-    description = "OCaml, the most popular variant of the Caml language";
+    description = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
 
     longDescription =
       ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.01.0.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.01.0.nix
index 0f68014fad6..2876bce9caf 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.01.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/4.01.0.nix
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml;
     license = [ "QPL" /* compiler */ "LGPLv2" /* library */ ];
-    description = "OCaml, the most popular variant of the Caml language";
+    description = "Most popular variant of the Caml language";
 
     longDescription =
       ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/ber-metaocaml-003.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/ber-metaocaml-003.nix
index 9c5fa3764ba..8b86c805c61 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/ber-metaocaml-003.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ocaml/ber-metaocaml-003.nix
@@ -58,6 +58,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://okmij.org/ftp/ML/index.html#ber-metaocaml";
     license = [ "QPL" /* compiler */ "LGPLv2" /* library */ ];
-    description = "a conservative extension of OCaml with the primitive type of code values, and three basic multi-stage expression forms: Brackets, Escape, and Run";
+    description = "A conservative extension of OCaml with the primitive type of code values, and three basic multi-stage expression forms: Brackets, Escape, and Run";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/qi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/qi/default.nix
index ecb022d942a..5665fc5da6c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/qi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/qi/default.nix
@@ -31,6 +31,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 	builder = writeScript (name + "-builder")
 		(textClosure localDefs [allBuild doForceShare doPropagate]);
 	meta = {
-		description = "Qi - next generation on top of Common Lisp";
+		description = "Functional programming language, built top of Common Lisp";
 	};
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/rdmd/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/rdmd/default.nix
index 9177ad5e25b..621ace195bb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/rdmd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/rdmd/default.nix
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "rdmd wrapper for D language compiler";
+    description = "Wrapper for D language compiler";
     homepage = http://dlang.org/rdmd.html;
     license = lib.licenses.boost;
     maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ vlstill ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/scala/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/scala/default.nix
index bd81e4c055d..e299be9144e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/scala/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/scala/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Scala is a general purpose programming language";
+    description = "General purpose programming language";
     longDescription = ''
       Scala is a general purpose programming language designed to express
       common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way.
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/tinycc/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/tinycc/default.nix
index 1e82e03f16c..bd71ab7b27f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/tinycc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/tinycc/default.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   checkTarget = "test";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "TinyCC, a small, fast, and embeddable C compiler and interpreter";
+    description = "Small, fast, and embeddable C compiler and interpreter";
 
     longDescription =
       '' TinyCC (aka TCC) is a small but hyper fast C compiler.  Unlike
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/default.nix
index 6e4051ff46e..2ddad5cde67 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/default.nix
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Guile 2.0, an embeddable Scheme implementation";
+    description = "Embeddable Scheme implementation";
     homepage    = http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/;
     license     = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl3Plus;
     maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ ludo lovek323 ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/maude/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/maude/default.nix
index e112a5ae43d..e14132a8acf 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/maude/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/maude/default.nix
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://maude.cs.uiuc.edu/";
-    description = "Maude -- a high-level specification language";
+    description = "High-level specification language";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2;
 
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.3.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.3.nix
index ed5feeacf61..c1d02064fe1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.3.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.3.nix
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} ( fixed : let inherit (fixed.fixed)
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "The PHP language runtime engine";
+    description = "An HTML-embedded scripting language";
     homepage    = http://www.php.net/;
     license     = "PHP-3";
     maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ lovek323 ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
index e5069fc2ae4..e39661b224a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/5.4.nix
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} ( fixed : let inherit (fixed.fixed)
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "The PHP language runtime engine";
+    description = "An HTML-embedded scripting language";
     homepage = http://www.php.net/;
     license = "PHP-3";
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/pypy/2.3/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/pypy/2.3/default.nix
index b45805ab241..626f56ccc46 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/pypy/2.3/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/pypy/2.3/default.nix
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ let
 
     meta = with stdenv.lib; {
       homepage = "http://pypy.org/";
-      description = "PyPy is a fast, compliant alternative implementation of the Python language (2.7.3)";
+      description = "Fast, compliant alternative implementation of the Python language (2.7.3)";
       license = licenses.mit;
       platforms = platforms.linux;
       maintainers = with maintainers; [ iElectric ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.44.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.44.nix
index b188586e84f..c192acd23bd 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.44.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.44.nix
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://boost.org/";
-    description = "Boost C++ Library Collection";
+    description = "Collection of C++ libraries";
     license = "boost-license";
 
     maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.simons ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.49.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.49.nix
index fca4249e963..9e61683238f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.49.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.49.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://boost.org/";
-    description = "Boost C++ Library Collection";
+    description = "Collection of C++ libraries";
     license = "boost-license";
 
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.55.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.55.nix
index bf355f7169c..1e9d2134d12 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.55.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/boost/1.55.nix
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://boost.org/";
-    description = "Boost C++ Library Collection";
+    description = "Collection of C++ libraries";
     license = "boost-license";
 
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.unix;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ccrtp/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ccrtp/default.nix
index 2111e1b4a55..3e75cb45a73 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ccrtp/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ccrtp/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU ccRTP, an implementation of the IETF real-time transport protocol (RTP)";
+    description = "An implementation of the IETF real-time transport protocol (RTP)";
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/ccrtp/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2;
     maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ marcweber ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/celt/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/celt/default.nix
index 28e51efbc4b..ca25be90504 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/celt/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/celt/default.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ rec {
   phaseNames = ["doConfigure" "doMakeInstall"];
       
   meta = {
-    description = "CELT - low-delay audio codec";
+    description = "Low-delay audio codec";
     maintainers = with a.lib.maintainers;
     [
       raskin
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/cfitsio/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/cfitsio/default.nix
index 06f2deb3a7c..54e5988eda6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/cfitsio/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/cfitsio/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/;
 
-    description = "CFITSIO, a library for reading and writing FITS data files";
+    description = "Library for reading and writing FITS data files";
 
     longDescription =
       '' CFITSIO is a library of C and Fortran subroutines for reading and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/check/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/check/default.nix
index 4e75cda0c23..a782ff61e28 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/check/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/check/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   doCheck = false;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Check, a unit testing framework for C";
+    description = "Unit testing framework for C";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Check is a unit testing framework for C.  It features a simple
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/chipmunk/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/chipmunk/default.nix
index d148c4d829a..63c5959960a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/chipmunk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/chipmunk/default.nix
@@ -34,6 +34,6 @@ rec {
       
   name = "chipmunk-" + version;
   meta = {
-    description = "Chipmunk 2D physics engine";
+    description = "2D physics engine";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/cloog/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/cloog/default.nix
index da4501285e1..7ea7e597d40 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/cloog/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/cloog/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "CLooG, the Chunky Loop Generator";
+    description = "Library that generates loops for scanning polyhedra";
 
     longDescription = ''
       CLooG is a free software library to generate code for scanning
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter-gst/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter-gst/default.nix
index 59c64b0de9f..c73aac074e7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter-gst/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter-gst/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   postBuild = "rm -rf $out/share/gtk-doc";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Clutter-GST";
+    description = "GStreamer bindings for clutter";
 
     homepage = http://www.clutter-project.org/;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter/default.nix
index 027b90d8e11..67de04050af 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/clutter/default.nix
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   #doCheck = true; # no tests possible without a display
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Clutter, a library for creating fast, dynamic graphical user interfaces";
+    description = "Library for creating fast, dynamic graphical user interfaces";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Clutter is free software library for creating fast, compelling,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/fox/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/fox/default.nix
index 63acc14521c..6d7d7a83879 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/fox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/fox/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "FOX is a C++ based class library for building Graphical User Interfaces";
+    description = "C++ based class library for building Graphical User Interfaces";
     longDescription = ''
         FOX stands for Free Objects for X.
         It is a C++ based class library for building Graphical User Interfaces.
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
index 4d400a6ea7d..9d62472c27e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gettext/default.nix
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU gettext, a well integrated set of translation tools and documentation";
+    description = "Well integrated set of translation tools and documentation";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Usually, programs are written and documented in English, and use
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
index 4f7c6042f13..93e96bef536 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glib/default.nix
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "GLib, a C library of programming buildings blocks";
+    description = "C library of programming buildings blocks";
     homepage    = http://www.gtk.org/;
     license     = licenses.lgpl2Plus;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ lovek323 raskin urkud ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/glog/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/glog/default.nix
index 098643ae70f..d3f74f4043a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/glog/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/glog/default.nix
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://code.google.com/p/google-glog/;
     license = "BSD";
-    description = "The glog library implements application-level logging.";
+    description = "Library for application-level logging";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/4.3.2.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/4.3.2.nix
index d0559c46795..e9cfda032b1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/4.3.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/4.3.2.nix
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = false;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GMP, the GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
+    description = "GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GMP is a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.0.5.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.0.5.nix
index c96c830e2f7..5f3690f67a9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.0.5.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.0.5.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GMP, the GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
+    description = "GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GMP is a free library for arbitrary precision arithmetic, operating
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.1.x.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.1.x.nix
index 9e28334804b..14a6d34d932 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.1.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gmp/5.1.x.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = "http://gmplib.org/";
-    description = "GMP, the GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
+    description = "GNU multiple precision arithmetic library";
     license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
 
     longDescription =
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gss/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gss/default.nix
index 207b8248698..75ae4054592 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gss/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gss/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU GSS Generic Security Service";
+    description = "Generic Security Service";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GSS is an implementation of the Generic Security Service Application
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gnonlin/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gnonlin/default.nix
index ff26e727e9f..777f4a06313 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gnonlin/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gnonlin/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/modules/gnonlin.html";
-    description = "http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/modules/gnonlin.html";
+    description = "Gstreamer Non-Linear Multimedia Editing Plugins";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gstreamer/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gstreamer/default.nix
index f781c624cea..b608f891533 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gstreamer/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gstreamer/legacy/gstreamer/default.nix
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org;
 
-    description = "GStreamer, a library for constructing graphs of media-handling components";
+    description = "Library for constructing graphs of media-handling components";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GStreamer is a library for constructing graphs of media-handling
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkimageview/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkimageview/default.nix
index 6905adcd71e..b57c91c4455 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkimageview/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkimageview/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://trac.bjourne.webfactional.com/;
 
-    description = "The GtkImageView image viewer widget for GTK+";
+    description = "Image viewer widget for GTK+";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GtkImageView is a simple image viewer widget for GTK+.  Similar to
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkmathview/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkmathview/default.nix
index 2620d9cc120..8a6914cfcd3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkmathview/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gtkmathview/default.nix
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://helm.cs.unibo.it/mml-widget/;
-    description = "GtkMathView is a C++ rendering engine for MathML documents";
+    description = "C++ rendering engine for MathML documents";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl3Plus;
     maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.roconnor ];
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gupnp/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gupnp/default.nix
index bae0639a61c..e278980e1e1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gupnp/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gupnp/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gupnp.org/;
-    description = "GUPnP is an implementation of the UPnP specification.";
+    description = "An implementation of the UPnP specification";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/hwloc/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/hwloc/default.nix
index 3c5f198cea6..d4d9663441f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/hwloc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/hwloc/default.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = !stdenv.isCygwin;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "hwloc, a portable abstraction of hierarchical architectures for high-performance computing";
+    description = "Portable abstraction of hierarchical architectures for high-performance computing";
 
     longDescription = ''
        hwloc provides a portable abstraction (across OS,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/jasper/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/jasper/default.nix
index 4046c05f79e..ed51a0a2820 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/jasper/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/jasper/default.nix
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.ece.uvic.ca/~mdadams/jasper/;
-    description = "JasPer JPEG2000 Library";
+    description = "JPEG2000 Library";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/classpath/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/classpath/default.nix
index bbfc6ed38cc..eff52cc177b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/classpath/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/classpath/default.nix
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   configureFlags = "--disable-Werror --disable-plugin --with-antlr-jar=${antlr}/lib/antlr.jar";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Classpath, essential libraries for Java";
+    description = "Essential libraries for Java";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU Classpath, Essential Libraries for Java, is a GNU project to create
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/rhino/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/rhino/default.nix
index 42bdba7567c..34aaded7cb4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/rhino/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/rhino/default.nix
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Mozilla Rhino: JavaScript for Java";
+    description = "An implementation of JavaScript written in Java";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Rhino is an open-source implementation of JavaScript written
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libassuan/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libassuan/default.nix
index f5a3d92d3db..90ce4f970e3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libassuan/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libassuan/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Libassuan, the IPC library used by GnuPG and related software";
+    description = "IPC library used by GnuPG and related software";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Libassuan is a small library implementing the so-called Assuan
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcddb/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcddb/default.nix
index b9823cefd2d..9a284d8988d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libcddb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libcddb/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Libcddb is a C library to access data on a CDDB server (freedb.org)";
+    description = "C library to access data on a CDDB server (freedb.org)";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl2Plus;
     homepage = http://libcddb.sourceforge.net/;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libchamplain/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libchamplain/default.nix
index 51b7f7e181d..9cdf9d411cc 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libchamplain/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libchamplain/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = http://projects.gnome.org/libchamplain/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl2Plus;
 
-    description = "libchamplain, a C library providing a ClutterActor to display maps";
+    description = "C library providing a ClutterActor to display maps";
 
     longDescription =
       '' libchamplain is a C library providing a ClutterActor to display
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libchop/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libchop/default.nix
index f0d7fbfbeb6..37af9756724 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libchop/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libchop/default.nix
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "libchop, tools & library for data backup and distributed storage";
+    description = "Tools & library for data backup and distributed storage";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Libchop is a set of utilities and library for data backup and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdaemon/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdaemon/default.nix
index ba7e3e47ff7..cb8d07fec90 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdaemon/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdaemon/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   configureFlags = [ "--disable-lynx" ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "libdaemon, a lightweight C library that eases the writing of UNIX daemons";
+    description = "Lightweight C library that eases the writing of UNIX daemons";
 
     homepage = http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/libdaemon/;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdnet/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdnet/default.nix
index 50bdaa1c4c0..acd930ddd01 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libdnet/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libdnet/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "libdnet provides a simplified, portable interface to several low-level networking routines";
+    description = "Provides a simplified, portable interface to several low-level networking routines";
     homepage = http://code.google.com/p/libdnet/;
     license = "BSD"; # New BSD license
     maintainers = [stdenv.lib.maintainers.marcweber];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libelf/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libelf/default.nix
index d9436456d0d..407b367d6b7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libelf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libelf/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Libelf, an ELF object file access library";
+    description = "ELF object file access library";
 
     homepage = http://www.mr511.de/software/english.html;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libevent/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libevent/default.nix
index bb854139b79..57cf1738342 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libevent/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libevent/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "libevent, an event notification library";
+    description = "Event notification library";
 
     longDescription =
       '' The libevent API provides a mechanism to execute a callback function
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libextractor/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libextractor/default.nix
index 6df5ca683f1..18387c904f8 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libextractor/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libextractor/default.nix
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   #postInstall = "make check";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU libextractor, a simple library for keyword extraction";
+    description = "Simple library for keyword extraction";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GNU libextractor is a library used to extract meta-data from files
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libgcrypt/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libgcrypt/default.nix
index ba3de49ede8..f47d3a62729 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libgcrypt/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libgcrypt/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Libgcrypt, a general-pupose cryptographic library";
+    description = "General-pupose cryptographic library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU Libgcrypt is a general purpose cryptographic library based on
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix
index 7b669cd780a..3bdb85a78eb 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libiconv/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU libiconv, an iconv(3) implementation";
+    description = "An iconv(3) implementation";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Some programs, like mailers and web browsers, must be able to convert
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libidn/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libidn/default.nix
index 802ee9e3e88..37d19d10f29 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libidn/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libidn/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/;
-    description = "GNU Libidn library for internationalized domain names";
+    description = "Library for internationalized domain names";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU Libidn is a fully documented implementation of the
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libksba/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libksba/default.nix
index 5e038ad8572..dbd2516c059 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libksba/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libksba/default.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnupg.org;
-    description = "Libksba is a CMS and X.509 access library under development";
+    description = "CMS and X.509 access library under development";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmicrohttpd/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmicrohttpd/default.nix
index 959dca47573..39795267a2c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libmicrohttpd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libmicrohttpd/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = false;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU libmicrohttpd, an embeddable HTTP server library";
+    description = "Embeddable HTTP server library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU libmicrohttpd is a small C library that is supposed to make
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libofa/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libofa/default.nix
index 2e2640e8636..6ffef2140ec 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libofa/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libofa/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://code.google.com/musicip-libofa/;
-    description = "LibOFA - Library Open Fingerprint Architecture";
+    description = "Library Open Fingerprint Architecture";
     longDescription = ''
       LibOFA (Library Open Fingerprint Architecture) is an open-source audio
       fingerprint created and provided by MusicIP'';
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libsigsegv/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libsigsegv/default.nix
index ae6299286a1..b6be8d194c1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libsigsegv/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libsigsegv/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libsigsegv/;
-    description = "GNU libsigsegv, a library to handle page faults in user mode";
+    description = "Library to handle page faults in user mode";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU libsigsegv is a library for handling page faults in user mode. A
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libspectre/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libspectre/default.nix
index 7d46f9e32ce..0e5f976c122 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libspectre/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libspectre/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://libspectre.freedesktop.org/;
-    description = "libspectre, a PostScript rendering library";
+    description = "PostScript rendering library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       libspectre is a small library for rendering Postscript
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libtasn1/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libtasn1/default.nix
index bae22ef220f..5a2508a4506 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libtasn1/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libtasn1/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libtasn1/;
-    description = "GNU Libtasn1, an ASN.1 library";
+    description = "An ASN.1 library";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Libtasn1 is the ASN.1 library used by GnuTLS, GNU Shishi and some
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libunistring/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libunistring/default.nix
index b578d895c5f..2a87d7a3249 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libunistring/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libunistring/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/;
 
-    description = "GNU Libunistring, a Unicode string library";
+    description = "Unicode string library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       This library provides functions for manipulating Unicode strings
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxmi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxmi/default.nix
index 85f0dbddb0b..42c427605c4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxmi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxmi/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   preConfigure = "cp ${libtool}/share/libtool/config/config.sub .";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU libxmi, a library for rasterizing 2-D vector graphics";
+    description = "Library for rasterizing 2-D vector graphics";
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/libxmi/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.gnu;  # arbitrary choice
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/lightning/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/lightning/default.nix
index 951627c81c2..73d98023c84 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/lightning/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/lightning/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/lightning/;
-    description = "GNU lightning, a run-time code generation library";
+    description = "Run-time code generation library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU lightning is a library that generates assembly language code
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ming/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ming/default.nix
index f9632dca9d2..a470f771561 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ming/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ming/default.nix
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Ming, a library for generating Flash `.swf' files";
+    description = "Library for generating Flash `.swf' files";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Ming is a library for generating Macromedia Flash files (.swf),
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpc/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpc/default.nix
index 652227d47e8..3d05fa2e040 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpc/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU MPC, a library for multiprecision complex arithmetic with exact rounding";
+    description = "Library for multiprecision complex arithmetic with exact rounding";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GNU MPC is a C library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpfr/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpfr/default.nix
index e3fbaececb9..653481aeccd 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpfr/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpfr/default.nix
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.mpfr.org/;
-    description = "GNU MPFR, a library for multiple-precision floating-point arithmetic";
+    description = "Library for multiple-precision floating-point arithmetic";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The GNU MPFR library is a C library for multiple-precision
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpich2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpich2/default.nix
index 5fba9c56418..b80d549931c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/mpich2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/mpich2/default.nix
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "MPICH2, an implementation of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard";
+    description = "Implementation of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard";
 
     longDescription = ''
       MPICH2 is a free high-performance and portable implementation of
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
index 87953c1158d..631199bf87c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   postFixup = lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "rm $out/lib/*.so";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Ncurses, a free software emulation of curses in SVR4 and more";
+    description = "Free software emulation of curses in SVR4 and more";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The Ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/default.nix
index 57d3732fa6d..38d197c69ab 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/nettle/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
               ./cygwin.patch;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Nettle, a cryptographic library";
+    description = "Cryptographic library";
 
     longDescription = ''
         Nettle is a cryptographic library that is designed to fit
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/oniguruma/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/oniguruma/default.nix
index 47a51b68d03..08069533713 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/oniguruma/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/oniguruma/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.geocities.jp/kosako3/oniguruma/;
-    description = "Oniguruma regular expressions library";
+    description = "Regular expressions library";
     license = "BSD";
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/opal/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/opal/default.nix
index 1f59c0c24a0..c79c3cbe4d6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/opal/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/opal/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   patches = [ ./disable-samples-ftbfs.diff ./libav9.patch ./libav10.patch ];
       
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "OPAL VoIP library";
+    description = "VoIP library";
     maintainers = [ maintainers.raskin ];
     platforms = platforms.linux;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/openal/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/openal/default.nix
index b5e390eafa8..5a935691ca5 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/openal/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/openal/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ cmake ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional (!stdenv.isDarwin) alsaLib;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "OpenAL, a cross-platform 3D audio API";
+    description = "Cross-platform 3D audio API";
 
     longDescription = ''
       OpenAL is a cross-platform 3D audio API appropriate for use with
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/plib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/plib/default.nix
index 35262f797e9..4ab6fb3ad8b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/plib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/plib/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "PLIB: A Suite of Portable Game Libraries";
+    description = "A suite of portable game libraries";
 
     longDescription = ''
       PLIB includes sound effects, music, a complete 3D engine, font
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ppl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ppl/default.nix
index f93eee674ff..9edef767481 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ppl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ppl/default.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "PPL: The Parma Polyhedra Library";
+    description = "The Parma Polyhedra Library";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The Parma Polyhedra Library (PPL) provides numerical abstractions
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.3.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.3.nix
index 9f5c9f7b581..17299e5f10d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.3.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.3.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
     ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Readline, a library for interactive line editing";
+    description = "Library for interactive line editing";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.nix
index 0559113285c..d72d6566bbc 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/readline/readline6.nix
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
        import ./readline-6.2-patches.nix patch);
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Readline, a library for interactive line editing";
+    description = "Library for interactive line editing";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The GNU Readline library provides a set of functions for use by
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/biolib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/biolib/default.nix
index 0461e5ebcf5..7418bdb6dfe 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/biolib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/science/biology/biolib/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://biolib.open-bio.org/";
-    description = "BioLib";
+    description = "Shared libraries for the major Bio* languages";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2;
     longDescription = ''
       BioLib brings together a set of opensource libraries written
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/szip/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/szip/default.nix
index 17f9c973fd0..2ad2ed55d7c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/szip/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/szip/default.nix
@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "
-      Szip is a compression library that can be used with the hdf5 library.
-    ";
+    description = "Compression library that can be used with the hdf5 library";
     homepage = http://www.hdfgroup.org/doc_resource/SZIP/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.unfree;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/talloc/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/talloc/default.nix
index e04363326d0..15e89d9210a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/talloc/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/talloc/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '' else "";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "talloc is a hierarchical pool based memory allocator with destructors";
+    description = "Hierarchical pool based memory allocator with destructors";
     homepage = http://tdb.samba.org/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/tdb/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/tdb/default.nix
index d0eb8987ea0..c5331656435 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/tdb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/tdb/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ libxslt libxml2 docbook_xsl ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "TDB, the trivial database";
+    description = "The trivial database";
     longDescription =
       '' TDB is a Trivial Database. In concept, it is very much like GDBM,
          and BSD's DB except that it allows multiple simultaneous writers and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/tecla/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/tecla/default.nix
index 6cb20f4e356..f83b34e40d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/tecla/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/tecla/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mcs/tecla/";
-    description = "Tecla command-line editing library";
+    description = "Command-line editing library";
     license = "as-is";
 
     hydraPlatforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ucommon/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ucommon/default.nix
index f3ac325b5a1..0e8a95d5ac1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ucommon/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ucommon/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU uCommon C++, C++ library to facilitate using C++ design patterns";
+    description = "C++ library to facilitate using C++ design patterns";
     homepage = http://www.gnu.org/software/commoncpp/;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl3Plus;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/v8/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/v8/default.nix
index d3a2511c90c..4c86de7fb56 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/v8/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/v8/default.nix
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '' else null;
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "V8 is Google's open source JavaScript engine";
+    description = "Google's open source JavaScript engine";
     platforms = platforms.linux ++ platforms.darwin;
     license = licenses.bsd3;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
index 99837974b1d..d74a85a9162 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [ libuuid zlib ];
 
   meta = { 
-    description = "Xapian Probabilistic Information Retrieval library";
+    description = "Search engine library";
     homepage = "http://xapian.org";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
     maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.chaoflow ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xbase/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xbase/default.nix
index 81447276db7..95ba2a05ad9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xbase/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xbase/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://linux.techass.com/projects/xdb/;
-    description = "XBase compatible C++ class library formerly known as XDB";
+    description = "C++ class library formerly known as XDB";
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
     maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.urkud ];
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xylib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xylib/default.nix
index 8fff5f39338..fe9b6c5c3ca 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xylib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xylib/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   buildInputs = [boost zlib bzip2 ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "xylib is a portable library for reading files that contain x-y data from powder diffraction, spectroscopy and other experimental methods.";
+    description = "Portable library for reading files that contain x-y data from powder diffraction, spectroscopy and other experimental methods";
     license = "LGPL";
     homepage = http://xylib.sourceforge.net/;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/ecdsa/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/ecdsa/default.nix
index f668f3c6ac3..a07eceb45aa 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/ecdsa/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/ecdsa/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://github.com/warner/python-ecdsa";
-    description = "pure-python ECDSA signature/verification";
+    description = "Pure-python ECDSA signature/verification";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.mit;
   };
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/numeric/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/numeric/default.nix
index e97b2a5f1a4..0d6d5b0ffed 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/numeric/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/numeric/default.nix
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ let version = "24.2"; in
     # FIXME: Run the tests.
 
     meta = {
-      description = "Numeric, a Python module for high-performance, numeric computing";
+      description = "A Python module for high-performance, numeric computing";
 
       longDescription = ''
         Numeric is a Python module for high-performance, numeric
@@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ let version = "24.2"; in
 
       homepage = http://people.csail.mit.edu/jrennie/python/numeric/;
     };
-  }
\ No newline at end of file
+  }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/lcov/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/lcov/default.nix
index 89a17d28a1b..10cdf01103a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/lcov/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/lcov/default.nix
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "LCOV, a code coverage tool that enhances GNU gcov";
+    description = "Code coverage tool that enhances GNU gcov";
 
     longDescription =
       '' LCOV is an extension of GCOV, a GNU tool which provides information
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/sparse/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/sparse/default.nix
index 6d0e28f0ab2..6898b7eee54 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/sparse/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/sparse/default.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Sparse, a semantic parser for C";
+    description = "Semantic parser for C";
     homepage    = "https://git.kernel.org/cgit/devel/sparse/sparse.git/";
     license     = stdenv.lib.licenses.mit;
     platforms   = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/valgrind/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/valgrind/default.nix
index 5ffc287d114..aaeee026d0a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/valgrind/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/analysis/valgrind/default.nix
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://www.valgrind.org/;
-    description = "Valgrind, a debugging and profiling tool suite";
+    description = "Debugging and profiling tool suite";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Valgrind is an award-winning instrumentation framework for
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gradle/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gradle/default.nix
index b7316fc17c4..a4863d12b5c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gradle/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gradle/default.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [ unzip jdk makeWrapper ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Gradle is an enterprise-grade build system";
+    description = "Enterprise-grade build system";
     longDescription = ''
       Gradle is a build system which offers you ease, power and freedom.
       You can choose the balance for yourself. It has powerful multi-project
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/doxygen/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/doxygen/default.nix
index 54509178b1a..50f2037b271 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/doxygen/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/documentation/doxygen/default.nix
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   meta = {
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
     homepage = "http://doxygen.org/";
-    description = "Doxygen, a source code documentation generator tool";
+    description = "Source code documentation generator tool";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Doxygen is a documentation system for C++, C, Java, Objective-C,
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/java/fastjar/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/java/fastjar/default.nix
index c8bb94412ca..e5a9ca50ce9 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/java/fastjar/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/java/fastjar/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ let version = "0.94"; in
     doCheck = true;
 
     meta = {
-      description = "FastJar, a fast Java archiver written in C";
+      description = "Fast Java archiver written in C";
 
       longDescription = ''
         Fastjar is a version of Sun's `jar' utility, written entirely in C, and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
index 8d8fc5d464e..fc48a4aabad 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/binutils/default.nix
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Binutils, tools for manipulating binaries (linker, assembler, etc.)";
+    description = "Tools for manipulating binaries (linker, assembler, etc.)";
 
     longDescription = ''
       The GNU Binutils are a collection of binary tools.  The main
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cflow/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cflow/default.nix
index 53bc8ed78c8..b1322d461ee 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cflow/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cflow/default.nix
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU cflow, a tool to analyze the control flow of C programs";
+    description = "Tool to analyze the control flow of C programs";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU cflow analyzes a collection of C source files and prints a
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/coccinelle/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/coccinelle/default.nix
index 0bf5bbce692..51f5ed6091f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/coccinelle/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/coccinelle/default.nix
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   configureFlags = "--enable-release";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Coccinelle, a program to apply C code semantic patches";
+    description = "Program to apply semantic patches to C code";
 
     longDescription =
       '' Coccinelle is a program matching and transformation engine which
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/complexity/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/complexity/default.nix
index 9f1eca0fa13..a7ae4d17ab1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/complexity/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/complexity/default.nix
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Complexity, C code complexity measurement tool";
+    description = "C code complexity measurement tool";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GNU Complexity is a tool designed for analyzing the complexity of C
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cppi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cppi/default.nix
index 500129c7c9d..2942408de80 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cppi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cppi/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   meta = {
     homepage = http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/cppi/;
 
-    description = "GNU cppi, a cpp directive indenter";
+    description = "A C preprocessor directive indenter";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GNU cppi indents C preprocessor directives to reflect their nesting
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cscope/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cscope/default.nix
index 3a83b1ba325..223f1968274 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cscope/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/cscope/default.nix
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Cscope, a developer's tool for browsing source code";
+    description = "A developer's tool for browsing source code";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Cscope is a developer's tool for browsing source code.  It has
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/default.nix
index 80def733cf8..bf13a5daa66 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://ctags.sourceforge.net/";
-    description = "Exuberant Ctags, a tool for fast source code browsing";
+    description = "A tool for fast source code browsing (exuberant ctags)";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
 
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
index 2b5ced78063..5ee0f64a4e4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gdb/default.nix
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = false;
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "GDB, the GNU Project debugger";
+    description = "The GNU Project debugger";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GDB, the GNU Project debugger, allows you to see what is going
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gengetopt/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gengetopt/default.nix
index 9926dd6cd33..19e934f884f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gengetopt/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gengetopt/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Gengetopt, a command-line option parser generator";
+    description = "Command-line option parser generator";
 
     longDescription =
       '' GNU Gengetopt program generates a C function that uses getopt_long
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/global/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/global/default.nix
index d6abf8d10bd..b366feb304a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/global/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/global/default.nix
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU GLOBAL source code tag system";
+    description = "Source code tag system";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU GLOBAL is a source code tagging system that works the same way
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gperf/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gperf/default.nix
index e25998e5420..f0fd081ec5f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gperf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/gperf/default.nix
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   };
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU gperf, a perfect hash function generator";
+    description = "Perfect hash function generator";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU gperf is a perfect hash function generator.  For a given
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/help2man/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/help2man/default.nix
index 23bd35c8739..c4ba7073889 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/help2man/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/help2man/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU help2man generates man pages from `--help' output";
+    description = "Generate man pages from `--help' output";
 
     longDescription =
       '' help2man produces simple manual pages from the ‘--help’ and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtool/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtool/default.nix
index 5eee9ead5d6..262d8aad23b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtool/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/libtool/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   dontPatchShebangs = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Libtool, a generic library support script";
+    description = "Generic library support script";
 
     longDescription = ''
       GNU libtool is a generic library support script.  Libtool hides
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/sloccount/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/sloccount/default.nix
index 455305be749..1aa9a2c058d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/sloccount/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/sloccount/default.nix
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "SLOCCount, a set of tools for counting physical Source Lines of Code (SLOC)";
+    description = "Set of tools for counting physical Source Lines of Code (SLOC)";
 
     longDescription = ''
       This is the home page of "SLOCCount", a set of tools for
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/default.nix
index 09978b5ad65..66d6b65453e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/swig/default.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "--disable-ccache";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "SWIG, an interface compiler that connects C/C++ code to higher-level languages";
+    description = "Interface compiler that connects C/C++ code to higher-level languages";
 
     longDescription = ''
        SWIG is an interface compiler that connects programs written in C and
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/4.13a.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/4.13a.nix
index 5131d381412..a3155230514 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/4.13a.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/4.13a.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   #doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {
-    description = "GNU Texinfo, the GNU documentation system";
+    description = "The GNU documentation system";
 
     longDescription = ''
       Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project.
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
index 804e7a2527f..62e1ff62d1e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/texinfo/5.2.nix
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/";
-    description = "GNU Texinfo, the GNU documentation system";
+    description = "The GNU documentation system";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/omake/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/omake/default.nix
index 22e0d71af4d..300cbbc0a0c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/omake/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/ocaml/omake/default.nix
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 #  buildFlags = "world.opt";
 
   meta = {
-    description = "Omake build system";
+    description = "A build system designed for scalability and portability";
     homepage = "${webpage}";
     license = "GPL";
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
index 5bf5d7c2e8c..f89e7bca5a7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/2.x.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/";
-    description = "GNU Bison, a Yacc-compatible parser generator";
+    description = "Yacc-compatible parser generator";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
 
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/3.x.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/3.x.nix
index 5947f85343c..49602a23201 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/3.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/parsing/bison/3.x.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/";
-    description = "GNU Bison, a Yacc-compatible parser generator";
+    description = "Yacc-compatible parser generator";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
 
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/oprofile/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/oprofile/default.nix
index e301fe8431a..6c7b2a4d9ae 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/oprofile/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/oprofile/default.nix
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
-    description = "OProfile, a system-wide profiler for Linux";
+    description = "System-wide profiler for Linux";
     longDescription = ''
       OProfile is a system-wide profiler for Linux systems, capable of
       profiling all running code at low overhead.  It consists of a
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/sysprof/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/sysprof/default.nix
index 457a5d1dcaa..826ca93aa7d 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/sysprof/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/profiling/sysprof/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://sysprof.com/;
-    description = "Sysprof, a system-wide profiler for Linux";
+    description = "System-wide profiler for Linux";
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl2Plus;
 
     longDescription = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/sqsh/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/sqsh/default.nix
index a0f7922b1aa..15a6985b8bf 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/sqsh/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/sqsh/default.nix
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ];
 
   meta = {
-    description = "SQSH is command line tool for querying Sybase/MSSQL databases";
+    description = "Command line tool for querying Sybase/MSSQL databases";
     longDescription = 
       ''
       Sqsh (pronounced skwish) is short for SQshelL (pronounced s-q-shell),