349193 - Request for RTL keyword

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(bugzilla.mozilla.org :: Administration, task)

Description

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

RTL bugs are subset of intl bugs, which need more specific knowledge about RTL languages like Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, and Syriac.

There are some dead tracker bugs for RTL issues, which can be closed after this request applied.

Currently we use [RTL] in bugs title, but IMO the right way to mark this bugs is to use a keyword.

Comment 1

[timeless]

personally i'd favor bidi over rtl. either way a keyword needs a description and the first line in comment 0 doesn't seem to be a useful description for a keyword. the keyword description should explain when/why to use it. especially when/why to use it instead of product=Core component=Layout: BiDi Hebrew & Arabic.

To improve my ability to review this request, could you provide an actual list of bugs (a single buglist url would work) that would get this keyword. ideally provide another list of bidi/intl bugs that would *not* get this keyword so that I can actually understand and point people to it in the future when they start misusing the keyword. or for use by us in the here and now as we try to write a description and guidelines for using it.

Comment 2

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

(In reply to comment #1)
> personally i'd favor bidi over rtl. either way a keyword needs a description
> and the first line in comment 0 doesn't seem to be a useful description for a

Oh, I didn't know that.

> keyword. the keyword description should explain when/why to use it. especially
> when/why to use it instead of product=Core component=Layout: BiDi Hebrew &
> Arabic.

Every part of code (except network and security modules) may have bidi/rtl problems; i.e. layout, widget, nsis.

In other words, bidi/rtl is *type* of a problem, not where it occurs.  Every part of the code may has bidi/rtl problems.  So I suggest a *keyword* for this.

And the usage of such keyword is, people with bidi/rtl knowledge may comment on bug and/or review patches.  Because I found out that bidi/rtl issues do need some specific knowledge, which non all module/component maintainers have it.

On the other hand, sometime I like to take a look at bidi/rtl bugs, to see if I can give a hand.  Tracker for that amount of bugs didn't work before.

> To improve my ability to review this request, could you provide an actual list
> of bugs (a single buglist url would work) that would get this keyword. ideally

Sorry, I couldn't find how to make a custom bug list, but here are a list of some bidi/rtl bugs:
bug 348712, bug 348724, bug 348728, bug 349154, bug 349176, bug  348233, bug 347981, bug 347621, bug 347514, bug 347510, bug 347505, bug 347504, bug 347502, bug 208309, bug 280936, bug 151374, bug 154625, bug 204767, bug 218823, bug 265030, bug 274152, bug 349193.

> provide another list of bidi/intl bugs that would *not* get this keyword so
> that I can actually understand and point people to it in the future when they
> start misusing the keyword. or for use by us in the here and now as we try to
> write a description and guidelines for using it.

And here are some intl non-bidi/rtl bugs:
bug 349180, bug 348221, bug 347515, bug 69230, bug 178491, bug 252039, bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug , bug ,

You can see bug 285718 (Persian Tracker bug) has many bugs in both categories.

And about the Bidi vs RTL, I prefer RTL, because that's what really we need it.  Non all Persian users need Bidi features.  They just want RTL.  And some of listed bidi/rtl bugs are not Bidi at all.  They are just about working in a right to left locale.

Comment 3

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

We have a couple of these in Camino, too, that are Camino-specific: bug 348582, bug 266846, bug 154632.

FWIW, I tend to think using 'RTL' rather than 'BiDi', but either would be fine with me.

Comment 4

[Uri Bernstein]

(In reply to comment #2)
> here are a list of some bidi/rtl bugs:

Some of the bugs in this list (e.g. bug 204767, bug 151374, bug 347981) deal with issues related to languages which happen to be RTL, but the issues themselves have nothing to do with the RTL-ness of these languages. So I feel that this keyword would not be appropriate for them.

On a different note: if we do decide to have the keyword, we should probably go over the existing bugs in the Bidi component, and assign many of them to more appropriate components, while adding the keyword.

Comment 5

[timeless]

fwiw, i'm aware of bidi, and rtl, i've dealt with both, note that you've still failed to actually provide a description.

i'd love to see the bidi component liquidated if that could be arranged. i think though that i won't personally look through your list, but thank you for providing it as smontagu and uri will benefit from being able to consider it.

i need to hunt for a certain rtl mahzor right about now, it's in some box somewhere.

Comment 6

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

(In reply to comment #1)
> personally i'd favor bidi over rtl. either way a keyword needs a description
> and the first line in comment 0 doesn't seem to be a useful description for a
> keyword. the keyword description should explain when/why to use it. especially
> when/why to use it instead of product=Core component=Layout: BiDi Hebrew &
> Arabic.

Most of those bugs don't fall into the Core Layout Bidi component; Some are theme issues, some are layout issues, and others don't fall into specific component at all. Currently I'm tagging those bugs in the Hebrew component by default and the descriptive keyword "[RTL]" in the description field, but it still don't make sense to the other locales. 

From time to time I'm mailing to the others those bugs, but it is still far from expected as Bugzilla should be internationalized bug reporting system, and should allow for similar bugs to be accessible by most of the people interested. 

Comment 7

[(no longer active)]

In support of Tomer's comments, there are three localizations teams with rtl languages: Persian, Hebrew, and Arabic.  Having such a keyword could help these teams sync on the issues with RTL support in general, which is not specific to any of those locales.  Currently, RTL-related bugs are filed in various Bugzilla components, and since not all of them include such tokens as [RTL] in the summary, finding all of them is a pain.

Having an RTL keyword could help direct the attempts in fixing these bugs, and avoid redundant work done in parallel because of the inability of the developers to discover duplicate bugs.

Comment 8

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

Can we get this now?

Smontagu, would you please give us a description for "rtl" keyword?

Comment 9

[Axel Hecht [:Pike]]

Here's my suggestion:

A bug tied to or exposed by languages with a right-to-left (RTL) writing system.

Simon?

Comment 10

[Simon Montagu :smontagu]

Sounds good to me.

Comment 11

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

Resolving fixed, I added the keyword with the description in Comment 9.

Comment 12

[Behnam Esfahbod [:zwnj]]

That's great!  Thanks all. :)

Comment 13

[(no longer active)]

Mass-assigning the new rtl keyword to RTL-related (see bug 349193).