New RFR -- Zanata instance

[Jared Smith]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 6:33 AM, Dimitris Glezos <glezos at indifex.com> wrote:
> Are there any specific concerns the Fedora translation community has
> raised about the existing, proven infrastructure which weren't
> addressed? Why do we need to test a new software?

(Sorry for the late replies -- I'm still subscribed to this list from
my personal account, and don't check it as often as I should.)

I'm not aware of any specific concerns.  If anything, I'm personally
very happy with Transifex.  That being said, since the transition from
a self-hosted version of Transifex to an Indifex-hosted version of
Transifex happened in the middle of the release cycle and without very
much advanced notice, I agreed when we made the transition that we'd
revisit the translation infrastructure decision after the Fedora 15
release, so I'm attempting to do that now.

Red Hat's Engineering Services team in Australia, in the meantime, has
obviously been working hard on Zanata (I think it used to be known by
another name, which is why Rudi's email didn't catch my attention the
first time).  There may be compelling reasons to at least look at
Zanata.  There may no be.  I don't pretend to know enough about Zanata
yet to know what the real differences are, and I don't know any other
way to find out other than to have a frank and open discussion with
all the interested parties involved.

So, let me lay my cards and the table and share what I do and don't know:

1) As I stated above, I'm personally happy with both the Transifex
system itself and with the service and assistance rendered by Dimitris
and Indifex.
2) Some people have expressed concerns to me personally that they're
uncomfortable having a core piece of Fedora infrastructure hosted by a
third-party, even if we have a great relationship with that third
party.
3) At the same time, there's always been a lack of community
involvement in the day-to-day maintenance (from a infrastructure
standpoint) of Fedora's translation infrastructure.  If we go back to
any soft of self-hosted translation system (Transifex, Zanata, or
anything else), it's going to need a small team of folks from the
Fedora community to step up and dedicate themselves to keeping it
running, keeping it patched, and keeping it upgraded.  The ongoing
maintenance burden is a something that keeps folks like me awake at
night, and shouldn't be taken lightly.
4) Another thing to consider is whether a self-hosted solution has
been packaged for Fedora.  I know that Transifex is packaged for
Fedora, but I don't see Zanata in the package list.
5) I know someone is going to suggest this, so let me squash the rumor
before it has a chance to start.  This is *not* a case of Red Hat
mandating that we change systems.  It's simply an effort on my part to
do what we didn't have time for in the middle of the Fedora 15 cycle
-- a chance to step back, look at the bigger picture of translation
and translation infrastructure, look at the advantages and
disadvantages of the various options, and make sure we choose a solid,
sustainable set of tools.
6) While this concept is currently being discussed here on the
infrastructure list, I think it's really a subject that needs to be
discussed with a wider audience.  It's a topic that affects
infrastructure, translation, packagers, and documentation at a
minimum.  My plan is to kick of some discussions in those groups, and
then try to schedule a wider meeting in the next two weeks (similar to
the meetings we held before the transition to tx.net).

--
Jared Smith
Fedora Project Leader