Ubuntu Translations Project
Posted by Adi | Filed under English, Planet Ubuntu
During the last Ubuntu Translations Team IRC meeting was discussed how are we going to use the Ubuntu Translations (ubuntu-translations) umbrella project from Launchpad for handling translations errors and issues. You can check the full log here.
I will try to introduce you to the Ubuntu Translations project’s goals and purpose.
Handling localization and internationalization issues
The main purpose of the new project is to help us handling localization and internationalization bugs in Ubuntu.
Right now for each Ubuntu release we have hundreds of packages containing translations and localization software. Most of them are language packs (GNOME and KDE) but we also have packages dedicated to language support (reading and writing) .
From the point of view of a person dedicating his/her time to help i18n and l10n issues in Ubuntu, subscribing to all those packages in order to receive a notification is not a practical solution.
From the point of view of a person reporting a bug it is not trivial to report the bug in the right place. Some translations are included in the language packs for each language, some are included in the same package with the applications while some issues are related to a metapackage.
This is why we recommend to report all Ubuntu localization and translation issues for the Ubuntu Translations (ubuntu-translations). From there it will be triaged and assigned to the right package and person.
We also ask people triaging bugs to add Ubuntu Translations (ubuntu-translations) project to all translations bugs from Ubuntu.
We recommend all persons who want to help with i18n/l10n issues to subscribe to bug mail of Ubuntu Translations and will receive notification only for i18n/l10n bugs and issues.
Providing support for the translation process
Right now, questions and tasks regarding the Ubuntu translations process are added in Rosetta Answers section. They include requests for adding a new Ubuntu localization team or questions about packages not available for translation in Launchpad.
As those issues are not related to Rosetta we will use Ubuntu Translations (ubuntu-translations) to handle them.
Tracking Ubuntu Translations development
We will use this new project for tracking all aspects regarding development of the Ubuntu translations process.
If you find a problem in the current way we handle translations in Ubuntu or you have a suggestion for how we can improve the Ubuntu Translations fell free to use the new Ubuntu Translations (ubuntu-translations) project to address such issues.
July 5th, 2009 at 21:11
This is all quite nice, but have you talked about using an upstream friendly tool like http://www.transifex.net/ ?
Or will inertia and politics keep you from using something other than LP?
July 5th, 2009 at 21:40
We are talking about the whole Ubuntu Localization and Internationalizat process, not only about translations. As far as I know Transiflex does not provide any meas for handling bugs, tickets and support requests.
Even if we will use Transiflex there is still a questions of comunication and collaboration. Will GNOME or KDE accept ALL translations made by Ubuntu translators? Most probably not. Just switching to Transiflex will not solve this trust mather.
In the same time, I don’t know if Transiflex is ready for handling translations. I tried to translate Gedit using Transiflex and it did not went to well as it was not integrated with the GNOME Translation Project. Also I was not able to find KDE translations.
We encourage people to join the upstream projects and work upstream for the development versions.
Also everyone is free to use the translations made in Launchpad (BSD license) and the upstream translators can review and include them in the upstream project.
In the same time for example upstream project will not accept updates/translation fixed for packages from Ubuntu Hardy.