Location list proposal [was: why must Debian call Taiwan a "Province of China"?]
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On Monday 05 April 2004 10:23, Christian Perrier wrote:
> If someone has a better standards organisation for this issue, please
> mention it. And, non, Microsoft is not the answer.:-)
Someone mentioned looking at leading map makers (I think he mentioned the
National Geographical Society).
But... maps are often lagging behind a bit and have of course, especially in
the past, been heavily influenced by political considerations in the past.
(I am fairly sure a Chinese map won't show 'Taiwan' (and vice versa?) ;-)
The NGS gives a list of 'COUNTRIES, U.S. STATES, CANADIAN PROVINCES AND
TERRITORIES' on:
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/countryprofiles.html
Unfortunately Taiwan is not listed (Macedonia is), but it is mentioned
separately if you click China (be it without politcal context):
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/profiles/ch.html.
I must say they are fairly up-to-date and politically correct as they mention
'muslim' as one of the religions in my country (the Netherlands, which is
originally Christian). I know a lot of people here would like to ignore
_that_ fact.
I think the end conclusion has to be that _at the moment_ Taiwan is not
internationally officially recognized as a separate country, but that of
course does _not_ mean it can not be included in a list of 'locations' for
Debian.
I we want to go that way, I guess we should abandon the wish to conform to
official naming and should go back to a somewhat arbitrary list of 'generally
accepted short names' like KDE and MS seem to do. Probably based primarily on
how important a location is to _us_ as a community and for making selections
(language, keyboard, internationalization) during the installation process.
There will probably always be people who will object to the inclusion of one
name or an other, but as long as the title of the list is neutral (like
'location') and contains no 'statements' like 'occupied' or 'province of', I
guess no one will go to war over it.
Why don't we just trust to the conscience of the Debian community as a whole
and allow the people who have been working on iso-3166 to draw up a proposal
to be reviewed on this list?
In case of disputes I would propose that the end decision should be made
primarily by people _least_ involved in the issue. (For example: let
Russians, Europeans, Africans and the people of Vanuatu decide about the
conclusion of Taiwan as a separate entry and _not_ our friends living in
China and on Taiwan).
Peace,
Frans Pop
P.S. For Vanuatu, see:
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/profiles/nh.html
P.P.S.
Another surprising list I found (although very likely to provoke a new
flamewar) that could be used for reference, is the CIA's World Fact Book:
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
This has Vanuatu ;-) :
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/nh.html
and has Taiwan tacked on to the bottom of the otherwise alphabetical list:
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tw.html
This list does not include Palestinian Territory, but both Ghaza Strip and
West Bank _are_ present; and of course again the ugly but seemingly
unavoidable "Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of".
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