1642505 - Add ICU/tzdata care-and-feeding documentation

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: JavaScript: Internationalization API, task, P1)

Description

[Jeff Walden [:Waldo]]

I've been meaning to write something like this for at least six years, to document how ICU integrates into our build(s), how to correctly update it, (more recently) how to update tzdata, and how to regenerate locale data.

And last Thursday, for personal reasons I'm happy to explain in person but will not explain here, I needed to write some documentation -- any documentation. So I wrote some about ICU that has long needed doing.

It took a few days, but I've finished that documentation. It should be helpful into the future so ICU and related updates don't require me going off my vague memories, random Bugzilla comments, or anba's own knowledge of how to do it. Let's do this.

I don't really know where we want to keep documentation these days, or in what format, or viewable using what viewer. I wrote stuff up in Markdown because it seemed...plausibly a sensible format? And lots of imported code has README.md sorts of files in it already? Anyway. I don't care what the format is long-term, but right now I kind of want to get something landed, and we can change format after if there's reason. (Like, perhaps, more ability to not store text with massively long lines, so it's more editable and reviewable. So it goes, for now.)

Comment 1

[Jeff Walden [:Waldo]]

Attachment: Bug 1642505 - Add an ICU README file describing what ICU does, how to use it, and how to use and update Gecko's imported copy of it. r=anba!

Comment 2

[Zibi Braniecki [:zbraniecki][:gandalf]]

Thank you! This is much needed and will be useful!

It may fit in here: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/intl/index.html or maybe here: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/build/buildsystem/index.html ?

Comment 3

[Jeff Walden [:Waldo]]

That might work. I need links, lists, emphasis, bolding, inline code (ideally syntax-highlighted, but for just #ifdef MOZ_SYSTEM_ICU it's not the end of the world if it isn't), syntax-highlighted code blocks (and maybe code, can't remember), and footnotes (including ones that contain code blocks and lists). It would also be nice to be able to do internal links to different sections, which at least some Markdown flavors support but StackEdit that I used for previewing did not. At a very quick glance reStructuredText supports most or all these things?

Anyway, late in the day, I did enough docs as it is, more can wait at least to later today. :-)

Comment 4

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/192078460e82
Add an ICU README file describing what ICU does, how to use it, and how to use and update Gecko's imported copy of it.  r=anba

Comment 5

[Dorel Luca [:dluca]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/192078460e82