(reply-to -i18n...please subscribe to this list if you intend to participate in the discussion...please do not CC posters unless they explicitely ask for it) After some heat back in December 2005, I've voluntarily left the topic of the i18n session we (Debian i18n people) plan to hold in Extremadura, Spain next September. This seems to be time to revive it now. SOME BACKGROUND --------------- Let me first summarize what are these Extremadura sessions. In the Extremadura region of Spain, the regional government, namely "Junta de Extremadura", has started a few years ago a strong movement towards the use of Free Software in its educational system and general regional information system. This is mostly based on a local work which has derived a specialized Linux distributions, named "Linex", which is strongly based on the Debian distribution. This is one of the largest Debian deplyments in the world (over 80k workstations). The Extremadura authorities and the local people involved in this work have decided to help the Debian Project by acting as "Friends of Debian" (http://wiki.debian.org/FriendsOfDebian). This lead to the proposal of holding "work sessions", funded by the Junta de Extremadura, where up to 20 people are invited to come over in Extremadura, use facilities there, and work together on some specialized topics for the Debian Project. See http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2005/12/msg00003.html for the original annoucement and http://wiki.debian.org/WorkSessionsExtremadura for the planned sessions list. Having some focus put on topics of interest for the applications in Extremadura is encouraged, though not mandatory. The first of these sessions has been held on the third week-end of January at Casar de Cacéres, near the city of Cacéres. It was focused on the work around the future Graphical Installer of the Debian distribution. Davide Viti organized it for Debian and gathered 9 people over there (a report will soon be posted). See http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstallerWorkSessionExtremadura2006jan . THE i18n SESSION PROPOSAL ------------------------ Back in December 2005, I started a talk about the possible organization of a session focused on i18n, with a more precise goal of setting up, or at least define, the infrastructure we all know we need for a more efficient i18n/l10n work. See http://lists.debian.org/debian-i18n/2005/12/msg00000.html and the following threads. The principle of having this session in September 2006 (from Sept 6th to Sept 10th) has been accepted and several participants of debian-i18n have agreed to come in Extremadura. Actually, even more than 20, which might cause funding and hosting problems..:-) (moreover, the funding is not illimited, especially if many people come from outside Europe). A wiki page has been set for this project at http://wiki.debian.org/WorkSessionExtremadura2006i18n where interested people already registered to come and participate. WHAT WILL WE DO OVER THERE? --------------------------- This mostly depends on what will happen during another event, namely the Debian Conference, May 14th-May 22th, in Mexico. Along with Javier Fernandez Sanguino-Pena, I proposed to hold there a round table about i18n topics (https://www.debconf.org/comas/general/proposals/14). I see this round table as a good start for talking together about the general needs in Debian for a more efficient i18n infrastructure. I expect this round table, and the more informal meetings that will follow, to help focusing on the general topics of interest and give us a good start. I expect us to develop a closer interaction with Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives such as Debian-Edu/Skolelinux because both projects might have common needs for these matters and we, for instance, can certainly benefit Ubuntu experience with Rosetta (yes, I know it's not free). Later, between the Debian Conference and the scheduled meeting, I expect we work in the -i18n mailing list on finalizing some realistic goals for a common i18n infrastructure. Then, in an Extremadura meeting, we will finalize these goals, talk about the existing solutions, our common experience and what has already been done for similar goals....then choose the appropriate solutions and begin assigning tasks to the project members. If we're lucky enough to have enough material and a precise enough plan, then we will start working on some parts of the infrastructure, which could be the DDTP (Debian Description Translation Project) revival. The translation of packages description is one of the most awaited features right now so it could be a good test case for a general infrastructure. WHAT WILL WE *NOT* DO OVER THERE -------------------------------- This will not be a translation sprint. This will probably *not* be a coding session unless we are already ready and know what we want to do (I doubt it except maybe for the DDTP). WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? ------------------ If interested, first of all go to the wiki page and check whether you're registered there. Please determine if your own goals fit the above and of course criticize these proposal if they don't (you'll maybe find that the proposal may sound less ambitious than you would have imagined). I'll edit this page a little bit more now to better fit these proposals. Please register only if you think you can bring and share some experience in these matters. Don't be shy and don't underestimate what you can bring. We need to have as much input as possible to be sure that the decisions made there fit the real need of translators and translation teams. If you think you can bring some added value to the planned round table at the Debian Conference, please get in touch directly with me, I'll be very glad to have you at the round table (for this you need to have registered yourself for Debconf already if you need funding: request for sponsorship for Debconf are now closed as far as I know). If you can't come to these events, don't feel desperate. Talk about your needs, do your best to summarize them, as well as any idea you might have about what is a "good" i18n infranstructure for you, and share them in the debian-i18n mailing list. See you in Extremadura! -- --
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