Re: Package Descrption I18N Proposal
From: Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS <edmundo@rano.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Package Descrption I18N Proposal
Date: Fri, 04 Dec 1998 09:29:41 +0000
> > > So, I'm trying to argue that, ideally, language-specific stuff (and
> > > that ought to include English-specific stuff) shouldn't go into a
> > > package called prog_1.2.3.deb, say, at all. An <L>-speaking user should
> > > install prog_1.2.3.deb and <L>_X.Y.Z.deb to get an <L>-speaking prog.
> >
> > You can arg the same in the other way: an L-speaking user don't need
> > all the text translations for programs that they'll never installed.
>
> Unless you make "localisation packages" work differently: when you
> install them, only the stuff relevant to the (ordinary) packages that
> are already installed is extracted. (I had imagined them working like
> this, somehow - mechanism to be defined later!)
Can't this also be applied to my proposal, can it? We can extract
prefered localized description from the i18n packages, then install
them.
I'm not kidding on you, but as mentioned before, I'm focusing only on
the package description and the basic information such as package
description should go into the package themselves, IMHO.
I agree with you regarding other localized stuff.
> > I don't think we can find a general solutions for everything. I prefer
> > to see all localisations for a package in the same package until it
> > get too big. After that, the maintainer can decided to subdivide the
> > package, just like the package-doc.deb scheme.
>
> That sounds like a pragmatic, short-term solution, but I want to have a
> better idea of what the best way of doing things is, long-term, so that
> I can give myself a sense of direction. So I hope that people will
> criticise my ideas in principle rather than just reject them as not
> practicable in the short term ...
If we can get short-term (and not so bad) solution, it makes Debian
more attractive *now* and more people may choose Debian or join in the
project and help us. Is it valuable in the long term, isn't it?
> I think that a system of "localisation packages" might encourage people
> to produce localisations and encourage package developers to
> internationalise the packages. People are discouraged from produceing
> localisations by the overheads involved (understanding how to do it in
> a package-by-package way) and the delay (if you get a localisation into
> an upstream source it takes a long time for it to be available to
> ordinary users who buy a distribution - a localisation package could
> reach users much quicker).
Most problems are resolved if we have "translation coordinaotors" like
the translation project of the www.debian.org webpages. And I think
the delay issue depends on the "localization packages" maintainer. If
he is so lazy, we cannot get the latest stuff at all. OTOH, we can get
the latest stuff (even if they may be partial) from each i18n package
maintainers, if all of them aren't lazy.
----
Keita Maehara <maehara@debian.or.jp>
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