[PATCH 1/2] Add a help button to every Anaconda screen

Brian C. Lane bcl at redhat.com
Thu Aug 28 22:25:44 UTC 2014


On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 10:36:03AM -0400, Anne Mulhern wrote:
> 

[snip snip snip]

> > > Actually,
> > > 
> > > I think that, ideally, we would store all this data in an sqlite
> > > database, rather than in separate files in separate directories.
> > > We would do the same for the CLI help text, now that it
> > > has gotten so mature, and we would be able to use _exactly_ the
> > > same database schema for both, since, at least in theory, CLI
> > > help text should be available in any language.
> > > 
> > > However, we would have to handle version control of the structure
> > > of the database and also its contents.
> > > 
> > > It might be that adding an sqlite dependency to anaconda
> > > is not so attractive to some.

sqlite3 is fully supported in the core python.

> > > 
> > > Also, I don't know how translation is expected to work with the
> > > contents of databases.
> > > 
> > > So maybe this idea is a bit too ambitious. But now is as good
> > > a time to think about it as any.
> > I don't think we need such a big-hammer approach. Using directories for
> > translations is really common and not so hard.
> > 
> 
> "too ambitious" is my way of saying using a database would be
> harder but also the kind of thing you might see in a more mature application.
> I don't think there's any question that using directories for this
> problem is the path of least resistance. A lot of the hardness
> of using the database might however be due to unfamiliarity and novelty,
> rather than anything really fundamental. IMHO, we should consider
> not taking the path of least resistance occasionally, i.e., doing
> something unfamiliar and novel and hence a bit difficult for us at the time,
> especially as technologies mature and the path of least resistance turns
> inexorably into the stuff that everybody used to do before the
> clever ones learned a better way. On the other hand, I'm certainly
> willing to be persuaded that right now is not a good time to choose
> to try to break out of this particular rut.
> 
> Is it the case that the CLI help text should, at least in theory,
> be translatable?

Databases are good for structured dynamic data, especially when you want
to reduce duplication of information or need fast indexed retrieval. I
don't see the need for any of those things for translation text. And how
would you populate the database? It would have to be from help text
files that transifex users have translated. So why add extra complexity?
Just use the raw files.

-- 
Brian C. Lane | Anaconda Team | IRC: bcl #anaconda | Port Orchard, WA (PST8PDT)


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