Re: Administrativia

[Peter Nugent <Peter Nugent Sun COM>]

Hi Bruno
yes, you're right there's a lot of wrok involved here. That's why I have
been trying to persuade people of the merits of using ICU . There are
some additional converns I have which I would like to make you aware of :

1. you need to ensure that CLDR data has been converted faithfully from
LDML to whatever format you are proposing to use. You will probably need
to do the folliwng :
- write a tool to convert LDML -> new format
- write tool to convert new format back to LDML
- write a tool to compare the 2 LFML files to ensure no difference.

2. how are you going to implement collations ? this is no easy task.
OpenOffice has its own locale data but uses ICU for collations. There's
probably a good reason for this.

3. how long will it take to develop this idea into a stable working
library ?


ICU exist today and works just fine on solaris and is widely used.

just my 2 cents worth
Peter


Bruno Haible ha scritto:
> As a result of last week's discussions, it's becoming clear to me that
> 
>   - gettext's glocale is a good starting point for this project. The
>     LGPL license is apparently OK. There's a large overlap of functionality.
>     And the architecture (runtime + a cooker) fits as well.
> 
>   - The project - with the support for CLDR and the setter APIs - is
>     larger than what I had initially thought. As a result, I'm reconsidering
>     the infrastructure.
> 
> * Who volunteers to contribute code or documentation to the project?
> 
> * Can it be a GNU project or part of a GNU gettext?
> 
>   I would very much like it to be a GNU project, so that GNU gettext can
>   use it. (msggrep for example is hardly usable, because we don't have
>   a gl_regex function yet. glocale will fix this.)
> 
>   When it is part of GNU gettext, all contributors need to sign papers
>   giving the FSF the copyright over their contribution. If it's a separate
>   project, the contributors can keep their copyrights, but it's harder for
>   the project to play a central role in GNU.
> 
> * Should it be part of GNU gettext or separate?
> 
>   Should it have a distribution directory, a web site etc. of its own?
> 
>   The link between glocale and gettext is quite weak: just the 4 functions
>   from glocale/libintl.h. But:
> 
>   If it's part of GNU gettext, it will find its way into Linux distributions
>   rather easily. Otherwise, it will be GNOME which "drags" it into the distros.
> 
>   If it's part of GNU gettext, the sharing of some libintl files and
>   other infrastructure is easier.
> 
>   It it's part of GNU gettext, it will be easier to install on non-glibc
>   systems. If it's separate, people will need to build and install
>   1. gettext (for the tools), 2. glocale (for libglocale), 3. gettext again
>   (so that msggrep works better).
> 
>   What's your opinion?
> 
> * What shall be the name of the library? Is "glocale" OK with everyone?
> 
> Bruno
> 
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-- 
Peter Nugent,
Software Engineer,
Sun Microsystems Ireland Ltd,
Hamilton House,
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Dublin 3,
Ireland.
Tel +353.1.8199522
Email: peter nugent sun com