Text 220, 44 rader
Skriven 2005-06-06 17:26:50 av Tony Ingenoso (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: More gov2OSS
========================
From: "Tony Ingenoso" <admin@spamcop.net>

I got a chilly/hostile reception suggesting that the Linux kernel would profit
by being morphed so internationalization would be as simple as makefile switch
to build any language you wanted (at least for non-BIDI/oriental languages)

Wait till these countries get a firm grasp on where the Linux development
community stands WRT internationalizations and what that implies in terms of
release maintenance.

Bottom line is that Linux developers think internationalization is someone
else's problem, not theirs...which in a twisted way is true.

If you want a truly international release from the top to bottom, it is YOUR
responsibility to produce it and the kernel crowd isn not even slightly
interested in making your job easier by segregating translatable text into
seperate headers so code need not be altered for translations.  This means YOU
need to grope every source file and header and translate it.  Of course, THEN
your source tree no longer matches the standard development trees and standard
patch applications can fail.  That puts you in the unenviable position of doing
multiple (and frequent) manual maintenance to keep in synch.

Once you branch off YOUR translated tree, your maintenance effort increases
geometrically until the pain is so great you give up and cut another branch
from a more current release and retranslate.

Actually, the whole thing is pretty damn hostile and it doesn't need to be that
way other than that at its roots, there are a bunch of amateurs doing the work
who simply don't know any better or simply don't care.

App level internationalization is much easier of course, but with the kernel
and drivers all belching out english messages, you force your organization into
having an english speaker on staff to deal with any core issues.


"Adam" <mmmmm_beer_mmmm_donuts@moes> wrote in message
news:42a4673b$1@w3.nls.net...
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602325.stm
>
> ...there are hundreds of thousands of people working to improve free
software.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 * Origin: Barktopia BBS Site http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45)