suggestions/wishlist - rosetta db question

[Mark Shuttleworth]

Paolo Brocco wrote:

> 2) I have a question: if I want to create my own application, do I
> need to create all the interface words and sentences from scratch, or
> can I reuse them by selecting them from a universal database of Rosetta?
> In example, it's relatively easy, for me, to write the basic interface
> words, in example "save" "open" etc. but then all these words, even if
> "easy ones" should be translated again in all the other languages for
> my program. Is it possible to reuse them, let's say, by searching the
> all the words/sentences in the Rosetta database, and refear to them by
> "ID"? So if I do like this I would already have a lot of
> sentences/words that have already been translated, and the work for
> the translators would be minor (they would need to translate only the
> new sentences that apply only to my program)... what do you think?

We've discussed a similar idea, which is to be able to identify all the
occurrences of a string that have exactly the same semantic meaning. For
example, identifying all the occurrences of the Gnome "File" menu item
would allow distros to ensure that they were all translated the same way
in any given language.

It's a very tricky problem, though, since the same exact words might
have different meanings under different circumstances.

If you'd like to write up a detailed specification, using the format of
SpecTemplate in the udu.wiki.ubuntu.com wiki, we can discuss it further
and consider an implementation.

> 3) I don't use Ubuntu Linux, I have no idea what Launchpad is and I
> don't understand why Malone has been created as there are already
> other bug reporting platforms areound...

Malone is ultimately designed to be a universal bug tracker for the open
source world. You can use it to track bugs in specific upstream projects
(like rosetta or any app like gnomebaker), as well as bugs in the
distros you use, from redhat to ubuntu and debian. Then, most
importantly, you can link bugs in those different places so the world
can see that a particular bug is, say, present upstream but fixed in
ubuntu and gentoo.

This makes it a bit more complex than your typical bug tracker, but we
think the benefit will be substantial.

> So, to the developers working on Rosetta, a BIG thank you and keep up
> the good work: this is one of the most important projects that I've seen.

Thanks. We still have a way to go. The most important goals now are to
get the basics in place for translation of an upstream project, and the
distro, and then we'll start working on a framework for merging between
them.

Cheers,
Mark