484863 - Add a link to the language packs

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(www.mozilla.org :: Pages & Content, enhancement)

Description

[Eduardo Trápani]

Add a link to the languages packs, maybe together with the links for the various platforms for each language.

A language pack is a smaller download and, for environments where more than one language is used the only way, as far as I know, to have Firefox speak more than one language within the same installation (coupled with preferences or command line changes or the extension Locale Switcher[1]).

Language packs are already being automatically built (and are usable) for 3.5[2] and for 3.0.x.[3]

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/es-ES/firefox/addon/356?id=356
[2] http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-1.9.1-l10n/
[3] http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla1.9.0-l10n/windows-xpi/

Comment 1

[Seth Bindernagel]

Eduardo:  I filed this bug today

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=485617

Comment 2

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

Please note that we should the updateUrl to the XPI files, which is something I think we should do also for the XPIs on the FTP. Maybe direct these to the AMO langpack?

It should also support minor updates without version bump, for cases where there is some changes required.

Comment 3

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

Oops. I wanted to add comment on Seth's bug. Please ignore my previous comment.

Comment 4

[Axel Hecht [:Pike]]

We don't need an updateUrl on AMO, as that's default, but we should probably reconsider versioning of the language pack.

Comment 5

[Eduardo Trápani]

Seth: Good idea!  AMO is the place for them.  Anyway, on top of that I think they also should be linked from the main download page, either directly or through the AMO page you mentioned in Bug 485617.

Comment 6

[Seth Bindernagel]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Seth: Good idea!  AMO is the place for them.  Anyway, on top of that I think
> they also should be linked from the main download page, either directly or
> through the AMO page you mentioned in Bug 485617.

Potentially.  But, keep in mind that the main Mozilla download page is for the binary download of Firefox and this would be an .xpi file that would have to be added on.  We may face some issues related to "officially" maintaining these .xpi files, which we are unlikely to say that we do.  There could be scenarios where users don't update old "official" language packs that they may have installed and then those cause conflicts with new versions of Firefox.

The larger point you bring up is good:  What is the best way to communicate what these language packs are, why they may be listed on AMO, and how they might be used...  Something to consider in the future when we get Bug 485617 resolved.

Comment 7

[Chris More [:cmore]]

Closing old Mozilla.org website bugs due to them not being relevant to the new Python-based Bedrock system. Re-open if this is a critical bug and should be resolved on the new system too.

Comment 8

[Samuel Sidler (:ss)]

Whether we add direct links to the language packs or simply link to AMO, Seth's comment 6 still seems relevant.

Comment 9

[Mike Alexis [:malexis]]

we've done a lot to optimize downloads recently (e.g. browser mismatch to find the right locale) and try to 
limit number of links to optimize conversion. If there's a strong argument to pursue this we can reopen and continue the discussion.