Strange upgrade behaviour (Gunnar Hjalmarsson)

[Fòram na Gàidhlig]

>> I have also been surprised a few times when opening Language Support and
>> noticing that Firefox translations were suddenly missing, so apparently
>> they were silently uninstalled at some point. Can't tell when or why.
>>
>> The update of missing language support packages, which is carried out
>> when you open the Language Support GUI, can be accomplished with this
>> terminal command:
>>
>> sudo apt-get install $(check-language-support)
> Yes but if we want to have any chances of 'selling' Ubuntu to normal
> users, we should try to avoid steps like that at all cost.

+1. Users shouldn't need to go to Language Support or enter any commands
at all unless they want to change something themselves (rather than the
system silently changing it under them)


>> I have played with the thought to propose that something along those
>> lines is carried out via Software Updater. Suspect that such a change
>> wouldn't be completely uncontroversial, though.
> Echoing GunChleoc here, can't see that either
>> "I only want to use British English. Why am I prompted to install
>> language support packages for South Africa?"
>>
>> The explanation is that that's how the language pack system is designed
>> currently. Either you have English - all English - installed or not. But
>> some users are (for to me unknown reasons) very picky about installing
>> only what they need.

I can get that - I was kind of bemused that I had to install all
Englishes, because my language doesn't have the coverage yet to be
included in the installer. One English would have done the job just as
nicely - I only needed it so I could pick my own language later, and
after the switch, to fill the gaps in incomplete translations, all I
really need is the basic "en" that's used as a basis for translation.


> So because some multi-country locales are lazy about the ranking of
> their preferred locales, all locales which don't (probably most which
> aren't English) have to settle for a headache? An odd argument (I know
> it's not your POV).

As explained above, I think the design for English is seriously broken,
and it's not really nice for English-speakers either - in the initial
install, they too get forced to install all Englishes, even if the
updater then drops this later. I have researched and made a
recommendation in the bug.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1294858/comments/10