[Localization] FYI, No Māori locale or keymaps 12.1.0 XO-1.75

[Chris Leonard]

On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 12:30 AM, Nicholas
<independentcommercial at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
> Probably stating the obvious here but with 12.1.0 (build 18) on XO-1.75
>
> ..and running locale -a in the terminal, the files en_NZ.utf8 or
> mi_NZ.utf8 are missing. They are required to compile those locales and
> then use them.
>
> Also, there is no māori keymap under /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/
>
> I see freedesktop.org mentioned for the keymap and there is an outline
> of the process to submit your own keymap here:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_to_create_a_keyboard_layout
>
> I've followed trmusson's approach from his webpage with some success
> on my own gentoo thinkpad (actually I just hacked the keycodes to my
> "map" file and gzipped it) but this is only a stop-gap measure
> obviously and not a standards-based approach and it shows my own level
> of competence in this area ;p
>
> Also, this might or might not be a factor (from the 12.1.0 build page):
> "updated RPM packages that are part of Fedora, the process is a little
> complicated due to the fact we work with multiple architectures and
> ARM is not yet a primary Fedora architecture".
>
> This could all be premature I realise as discussion is ongoing
> regarding the Aotearoa (NZ) pilot but I thought it worth mentioning.
> Sorry if it has been mentioned before.
>
> All the best, Nicholas

Kia ora Nicholas,

In the past few weeks, we have begun discussions with a group from New
Zealand (and OLPC Australia) about initiating a lang-mi L10n effort,
so it is actually a little bit premature for there to be a lang-mi
locale in the "stock" OLPC build.

Given the size limitations on an XO laptop, an OLPC build can only
have have a limited number of languages included because there would
not be enough room to include all of the languages for which we have
L10n projects.  It might be best to think of a signed OLPC release as
a "technology demonstrator", sort of like the car you go to test-drive
at the dealer's showroom floor.

Not to worry though, we have a very flexible OS build toolchain:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_Builder

and a customized "point-release" that contains the necessary locales
and L10n files is easily created from the OLPC build baseline.  This
is more like the car you actually drive home, that has all of the
options you want and comes in the color you like.

We can post instructions on including additional locales after-the-
fact in an OLPC build and how to download and install language packs
created nightly as a L10n project moves forward for real-time interim
testing purposes, but when it comes time for a deployment, a custom
"point-release" image signed by OLPC will be what is actually deployed
on laptops going to the lang-mi speakers in NZ.

Please do begin work on our lang-mi L10n, which currently has no
strings completed.

http://translate.sugarlabs.org/mi/

and we will fill in more details as that language project gets rolling
(hopefully soon).  I hope that explains the current situation and the
path forward from here a little better.

Warmest Regards,

cjl
Sugar Labs Translation Team Coordinator