Re: including translated manpages in packages

[Adam Di Carlo <adam@onshore.com>]

Rafael Caetano dos Santos <rcaetano@linux.ime.usp.br> writes:

> Marco d'Itri writes:
> > On Aug 21, Rafael Caetano dos Santos <rcaetano@linux.ime.usp.br> wrote:
> >  >Clearly, many people don't want hundreds of foreign language manpages
> >  >installed.  But unfortunately our installation system doesn't handle
> >  >thinks like "profiles" or "environment variables", which could be used to
> >  >tell each installation script which language(s) will be used on the
> >  >system. Hopefully, this kind of thing will be included in dpkgV2, or at

> > A rm -rf of the appropriate trees after upgrades is a good workaround.
> 
> I agree (but some people don't).

I agree that translated man pages should be installed.  The only way
to filter this sort of data, actually, would be to have either a dpkg
post-install hook (discussed by Manoj some time ago), or install man
pages thru an intermediary ('/usr/sbin/install-manpage') which could
be configured for language filtering.

> >  >My (unofficial) proposal is roughly: if there are translated manpages for
> >  >a package, and a developer sends them to the mantainer, he must include
> >  >them in the package. 

> > I agree, but we should really try to pass them upstream.

> Then there are problems with large release cycles.  There's a delay
> between the a new release, with new or altered manpages, and the
> translation of those manpages.  I _guess_ most upstream mantainers are
> unwilling to release new versions only to add translated manpages.

It is unacceptable to not pass changes to upstream maintainers.  This
is non-negotiable as a Debian developer, and specified in the Social
Contract.

However, there's nothing to prevent enterprising maintainers from
including the translated material in their packages.

--
.....Adam Di Carlo....adam@onShore.com.....<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>