Language Packs Revamp

Shaun McDonald wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> At the moment there are a number of issues with the
current language 
> packs for OpenOffice.org. Some platforms such as Mac OS
X don't have 
> language packs, instead they only have full
installsets. The language 
> packs currently have to be built on each platform
individually. This 
> means extra compilation time and extra storage on the
mirror network 
> since essentially the same localisation data is
packaged into a 
> different package for every platform.
> 
> I have a proposal for dramatically improving the
current situation.
> 
> Let's have cross-platform language packs. This will
mean that the 
> language packs will be built once, and can then be used
on ANY platform. 
> This will save build time, especially when a builder
can just use their 
> fastest machine, instead of having to do it once per
platform. This will 
> free up developer and builder time, as well as space on
the mirror network.
> 
> With this change I'm looking at implementing a simple
user installation 
> of language packs, similar to what has just been added
to OpenOffice.org 
> 2.2 for extensions. This would enable platform
integration for the 
> language pack installation. We could possibly go as far
as Firefox and 
> deploy language packs in a very similar way to
extensions. We could even 
> have the option to install language packs just for one
user or for all 
> users of the installation. If the platform supports it,
a server 
> deployed location for the language packs should be
possible.
> 
> This is just an idea, it needs more development before
implementation. 
> No implementation testing has been done yet. An initial
idea check for 
> daftness has been completed, which is why this mail is
going out. I'm 
> looking to see if there are any foreseeable problems
with this proposal, 
> and whether there is backing from the whole
OpenOffice.org community.
> 
> Shaun
> 
> P.S.
> I'm not subscribed to all the lists that Pavel Janik
suggested to send 
> this idea to.

I am thinking in similar directions lately 
(<ht
tp://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/bits2boxes>, 
<http://wiki.services.op
enoffice.org/wiki/ODF_Toolkit/Efforts/Packaging_Modularizati
on>). 
  However, both native, per-platform installation formats
and the 
platform-independent OOo extension format have their
relative merits 
compared with one another.  Anyway, I would be happy if we
could get 
ahead in this area.

We should probably converge on a single mailing list for
further 
discussions (I personally only read two of them, devextensions and 
devinstallation, of which the latter did not receive the
OP?), how 
about devextensions?

-Stephan

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