Let me try to answer to some of the comments in this thread CC-in the perl-documentation list too.
BTW there is also a perl-i...@perl.org that is fairly relevant. I started a wiki page on http://www.perlfoundation.org/perl5/index.cgi?localization that could include details on both the translation efforts of the core Perl documentation and on how to localize Perl modules and applications. Personally I think the perldoc translation effort should be separated from the core perl development and p5p need not be involved at all. The reason I sent this mail here is because JJ wanted the official p5p standpoint and I'd rather work with JJ than against his will. Anyway: It would be nice if the various language translators could coordinate on the tools, the guidelines and the process and for that either the perl-documentation or the perl-i18n list could be good but beyond that I guess each language will have its own mailing list or whatever they need to coordinate their own efforts. I don't think we can expect any language to translate all the documentation. IMHO there is a high value in translating some of the important parts (e.g. how to use the open() function) and a lot less value in the translation of relatively esoteric functions or for that matter the perl*delta.pod files. For smaller languages it would be already nice if we had 5-10 pages translated. Giving them an opportunity to show those 5-10 pages in a nice way (such as the perldoc.perl.org look) would just further encourage them to translate. This also means I have hard time to see anyone except the most active and largest language groups to have separate versions for the various versions of perl. It would be nice and if you can solve it I am not against it, I just don't think we should require that. What I am concerned with is that of making the result of all this translation easily accessible to anyone. Having them all uploaded to CPAN under POD2::* domain would be one step. (So I hope to see POD2::JP soon). That would allow ease of distribution and we could then easily include them in various off-line tools. Heck, we could even make them available in IDEs. (hint, hint). Putting a nicely formatted version of them on a single centralized domain would allow people to find them easily and make them long lasting. Besides the enormous effort of the translators themselves I see several issues needed for that: 1) Links from perldoc.perl.org to the translated versions. (e.g. language flags on the top of each page of perldoc.perl.org to each one of the translated versions or a link on each page of perldoc.perl.org. to the main page of the "Translations" web site. 2) Using the same code to produce the site as used for perldoc.perl.org: Now we have the code JJ freed in December but I am sure JJ will improve his code while we also need to make adjustments to support the various languages. It would be nice if could cooperate on this in a single code base. 3) domain and hostname: I could setup fr.perldoc.szabgab.com or even something like fr.pod2.org but I'd like to make sure that when one day I stop caring for Perl it won't need an effort to setup an alternative place the same way the perldoc.org -> perldoc.perl.org had to happen. That's one of the reasons I wanted to use perl the fr.perldoc.perl.org name but I'd be also glad to use *.pod2.perl.org. Ppl, I really am not here to fight on such causes. I'd can volunteer my time to be productive but I'd rather not spend my time fighting over this issue. So I think the following are questions to JJ and the owners of perl.org: 3) As you really don't want the translated documentations to be under *.perldoc.perl.org would you agree for them to be under some other subdomain? e.g pod2.perl.org ? I can actually host them or we can make other arrangements to upload the static files to your server. If not I'll register a domain for myself. 2) Can we cooperate on the codebase or shall I just use your code as you released it, fork it and develop it separately ? 1) Would you agree to put links to the translation website on perldoc.perl.org ? regards Gabor
