Re: this all this xxx-jp nonsense (was: Re: ITP: grep-ja)
Kenshi Muto <kmuto@debian.org> writes:
> blackbox-ja:
> This hasn't existed on Debian yet, so this package could rename 'blackbox'.
Do it.
> chimera2-ja: *
> This is Japanese handling patched version.
> Debian version is 2.0a17 but patch version is 2.0a15.
> ftp://ftp.tut.ac.jp/Net/www/chimera/
> Unfortunately, I can't find even patch version 2.0a15 there...
This isn't a viable excuse, IMHO. I think you can see how it would be
insane for debian to have:
chimera2-ja
chimera2-pt
chimera2-pt_BR
...
Please set a good example, not a bad example.
Other packages that should go away, sooner or later (there are more,
too, like ja-trans):
> dvi2tty-ja: *
> efax-ja: *
> I can't find patch URL... Please teach me.
?? 'apt-get source efax-ja' What do you need to be taught? You just
have to go thru the diffs between the original upstream software and
the patch -ja version and figure out what's needed and work with the
debian maintainer to get it integrated.
> fvwm2-ja: *
> fvwm95-ja: *
> gawk-ja: *
> grep-ja: *
> gs-ja: *
> ical-ja: *
> This is Japanese handling and many enhancement patched version.
> Hmm, maintainer says 'this patch might legally problem'...
Then we can't distribute it either.
> jnethack: *
> This is Japanese handling and many enhancement patched version.
> It is too different from original version.
A few things like this are acceptable I think...
> lynx-ja: *
> This is NLS handling patched version.
Then it's improperly named. Why can't standard lynx support NLS?
> lyx-ja: *
> man-db-ja: *
> JP patch has already been sent BTS.
Then you should wait for it to be accepted rather than upload a
replacement, IMHO.
> mh-ja: *
> This is Japanese handling patched version.
> I can't find patch URL... Please teach me.
MH is orphaned upstream. I would kill it. Work on nmh instead.
> netscape-base-ja: *
> This is Japanese menu wrapper and input method support version.
I think that's probably acceptable...
> tgif-ja: *
> tkdesk-ja: *
> x11amp-ja: *
> xclipboard-ja:
> xdvik-ja:
> xdvik-ja-nextaw:
> This is wrapper for xdvik-ja.
?? We have xaw-wrapper to handle this.
> xearth-ja: *
> xmms-ja: *
> xpostit-ja:
SUMMARY:
We can't affort to have every binary package with a l10n hack be a
fork in Debian. This just isn't going to work.
I know it's a pain but you have to just work with upstream (debian or
all the way upstream) to get stuff patched there. Nothing else is
acceptable, IMHO. You accepted the necessity of working with upstream
maintainers when you agreed to the social contract. And you already
have a staging area you can use (the Debian-JP unmerged archives), so
people can enjoy your work before all the stuff gets integrated.
I would hope we can eliminate all or most of the -ja package above in
the course of 6 months -- I would ask that the archive maintainer stop
accepting non-documentation l10n packages without very good cause.
Again, I'm not trying to pick on you or disrespect the work you've
done. i18n and l10n is hard and thankless. I think there's just a
process/communications breakdown here. We let this go too long
without doing anything about it.
--
.....Adam Di Carlo....adam@onShore.com.....<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>
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