bundlebuilder changes (was Re: Sugar on Fedora 10 Alpha - how to I run it?)

[Marco Pesenti Gritti]

Michael Stone wrote:
> Marco,
>
> I don't understand yet how,

The specific change I'm proposing is to install .mo files (translations) 
in they standard system location, /usr/share/locale.

> why,

Fedora has a script which handles translation packaging and it obviously 
expect things to be in their normal system location. Another approach 
would be to provide specific scripts for Sugar activities. But I think 
installing things where they are supposed to be when using rpm is a 
cleaner fix. And I think in general it would better to use the standard 
system paths whenever it's possible.

> where,

This is a change to bundlebuilder, the build script which is used by 
most activities. It only applies to system installation, not to .xo builds.

> and when 

Unclear. Depends on the reaction I get about the approach etc. I 
enumerated several possibilities on the ticket, there are surely more.

> you're proposing to
> change the installation patterns for activities, their translation data,
> source code,

The only way this affects source code is that the .po files are not 
shipped in the rpm.

> etc, nor what effect your proposal may have on the ability
> of OLPC to use the Fedora activity packaging guidelines to get itself
> out of impending activity-related dependency hell.

I know nothing about this plan. You should write an RFC about it. It's 
way more ambitious and complicated than what I'm proposing. The OLPC use 
cases and requirements are very different from normal Fedora/yum usage.

Without knowing more about what you are planning in concrete, I have no 
idea if this change make things worst or better than what we have now in 
this respect. Can you elaborate?

> Therefore, before committing your changes to Sugar, could you please
> more fully explain the details of your proposal so everyone has the
> opportunity to reflect on its impact? (Something PEP-ish or RFC-ish
> would be most appreciated.)

I'm happy to document it on the wiki as soon as I've got more feedback 
about the general approach. The change is very simple (I hope I managed 
to clarify what is exactly, otherwise please ask away), but it can have 
interesting consequences. I hope discussion here, on the ticket and on 
the Sugar mailing list will provide some good thoughts about it.

Marco