NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/std/internat/943

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-29 | 2.7 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!sunic!corax.udac.uu.se!Riga.DoCS.UU.SE!andersa
From: [e-mail] (Anders Andersson)
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat
Subject: Meaning of 'locale' (was: Data tagging)
Date: 29 Dec 1992 01:47:09 GMT
Organization: Uppsala University, Sweden
Lines: 39
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]| <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: riga.docs.uu.se

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Andrew Hume) writes:
>     i feel obliged to give an example. locales seem to have an
> underlying model that a user doing processing is doing that processing
> in some local context (locale) with a number of conventions and rules
> governing that processing. if this was all that happened, we'd be in
> good shape. but hey, what about networking? there are two problems
> here. one is almost trivial; suddenly ``local'' is undefined.
> if i'm in berlin and rlogin to paris, which locale should i use?

While I agree completely that the 'locale' is an insufficient
solution, I don't think we even need actual networking (in the
sense of real-time connectivity) to see the effects of this.
Problems arise as soon as data from different places end up in
your machine.  As I assume you didn't create your own software
environment from scratch, you'll probably have a blend of many
ingredients; your vendor's files mixed with your own and more.

Your personally selected locale may often be the right choice,
but not always.  Should files written on a distribution medium
in Massachusetts half a year ago appear with timestamps in Eastern
Time or MET when listed on my machine in Europe?  Having more than
one user on my system is enough to introduce a lot of new problems:
These users may have different native languages, and thus pick
their locale accordingly.  In case some application they run
generate error messages that, in addition to being displayed to the
user, are sent to syslog for the record, should the centrally stored
messages be in any particular language?

So, I don't think the potential argument "non-networked computers
don't need that much L10N" is too important.  In a sense, all
computers are part of a network where humans provide the links in
the absence of TCP/IP and optical fibers.  Since the solution needs
to be invented anyway, it would be a bad idea to split the market
between 'networked' and 'non-networked' systems already at the
design stage, and only provide the L10N solution to the former.
--
Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University
Paper Mail: Box 325, S-751 05 UPPSALA, Sweden
Phone: [phone]   EMail: [e-mail]