Re: Administrativia

[Behdad Esfahbod <behdad cs toronto edu>]

Hi Peter,

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005, Peter Nugent wrote:

> 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.

Nothing stops us from borrowing code from ICU.  For now, Bruno is
busy with the POSIX layer and he definitely is on the right
track.  Why don't you get started by isolating the CLDR handling
code from ICU?

> 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.

It's already done in glibc.  We'll borrow that.

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

To be honest, I would say at least two years.  Just looking at
the experience of hal and cairo that each took three years.

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

Yes, but you see, nobody uses ICU, and it's no easy to change.
That's the problem we want to solve, and if ICU is that good at
the code level, we definitely borrow the code.  Not?


behdad


> 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > locale-list mailing list
> > locale-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/locale-list
>
>

--behdad
http://behdad.org/