On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 6:33 AM, Dimitris Glezos <glezos@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Are there any specific concerns the Fedora translation community has > raised about the existing, proven infrastructure which weren't > addressed? Why do we need to test a new software? (Sorry for the late replies -- I'm still subscribed to this list from my personal account, and don't check it as often as I should.) I'm not aware of any specific concerns. If anything, I'm personally very happy with Transifex. That being said, since the transition from a self-hosted version of Transifex to an Indifex-hosted version of Transifex happened in the middle of the release cycle and without very much advanced notice, I agreed when we made the transition that we'd revisit the translation infrastructure decision after the Fedora 15 release, so I'm attempting to do that now. Red Hat's Engineering Services team in Australia, in the meantime, has obviously been working hard on Zanata (I think it used to be known by another name, which is why Rudi's email didn't catch my attention the first time). There may be compelling reasons to at least look at Zanata. There may no be. I don't pretend to know enough about Zanata yet to know what the real differences are, and I don't know any other way to find out other than to have a frank and open discussion with all the interested parties involved. So, let me lay my cards and the table and share what I do and don't know: 1) As I stated above, I'm personally happy with both the Transifex system itself and with the service and assistance rendered by Dimitris and Indifex. 2) Some people have expressed concerns to me personally that they're uncomfortable having a core piece of Fedora infrastructure hosted by a third-party, even if we have a great relationship with that third party. 3) At the same time, there's always been a lack of community involvement in the day-to-day maintenance (from a infrastructure standpoint) of Fedora's translation infrastructure. If we go back to any soft of self-hosted translation system (Transifex, Zanata, or anything else), it's going to need a small team of folks from the Fedora community to step up and dedicate themselves to keeping it running, keeping it patched, and keeping it upgraded. The ongoing maintenance burden is a something that keeps folks like me awake at night, and shouldn't be taken lightly. 4) Another thing to consider is whether a self-hosted solution has been packaged for Fedora. I know that Transifex is packaged for Fedora, but I don't see Zanata in the package list. 5) I know someone is going to suggest this, so let me squash the rumor before it has a chance to start. This is *not* a case of Red Hat mandating that we change systems. It's simply an effort on my part to do what we didn't have time for in the middle of the Fedora 15 cycle -- a chance to step back, look at the bigger picture of translation and translation infrastructure, look at the advantages and disadvantages of the various options, and make sure we choose a solid, sustainable set of tools. 6) While this concept is currently being discussed here on the infrastructure list, I think it's really a subject that needs to be discussed with a wider audience. It's a topic that affects infrastructure, translation, packagers, and documentation at a minimum. My plan is to kick of some discussions in those groups, and then try to schedule a wider meeting in the next two weeks (similar to the meetings we held before the transition to tx.net). -- Jared Smith Fedora Project Leader _______________________________________________ infrastructure mailing list infrastructure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/infrastructure
