[i18n] Input Method and Fonts improvements for Gutsy

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Aug 10, 2007 at 06:35:34PM +0800, Arne Goetje wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > As with im-switch, these modules are installed by the relevant
> > language-support packages.  It would be useful for you to review their
> > dependencies and establish whether they are correct.  We can then make
> > decisions on language support simply by selecting the relevant
> > language-support package, which will conveniently keep track of which
> > packages are relevant for which languages.
> 
> Well, if I need to input Chinese and Japanese on an English system, I
> don't want to install a few dozen files from the language packs,
> especially if the translations are useless for me anyways. ;)

Please note that language-pack and language-support are currently
independent, though I'm not sure that's still necessary.

Surely if you can write these languages, you can read them as well?

> Installing all above mentioned modules with their dependencies on the
> Live CD, needs about 48MB additional space. (I selected scim-anthy here
> over scim-prime).

Given the size of the input methods, the size of the translations shouldn't
matter too much (it's just a few MB).

> If we remove some font packages and create a core-fonts package instead,
> we can save about 30 MB or more (see below).

It would be fantastic if we could reach the goal of having full CJK support
on the standard ISO.

There may be general space savings which are possible elsewhere as well.

> > scim-uim seems to be installed with Edubuntu only.  What is the trouble with
> > it?  Can it be fixed?  If not, should it be removed entirely?
> 
> scim-uim is not actively maintained. When this package is installed, the
> SCIM setup tool (GUI) always crashes with a segfault. Removing the
> package solves the issue.

I was confused; it's part of the education-standalone package, for
Debian-Edu, not Edubuntu.

So we should be able to remove it safely, and should consider doing so if
it's been abandoned.

> > Likewise for scim-chinese.  We don't seem to be using it, so if it isn't
> > needed, it should probably be removed to reduce confusion.
> 
> scim-chinese is the old version of scim-pinyin. The package got renamed
> with the SCIM API change between 1.2.x and 1.4.0. scim-chinese does not
> work with the current scim version and actually conflicts with it.
> Therefor it should be removed.

Agreed.

This is excellent analysis, thank you!

-- 
 - mdz