Bug #9950

Include English browser searchplugins for non-English

Added by anonym 2015-08-08 07:29:46 . Updated 2015-09-22 15:34:47 .

Status:
Rejected
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Internationalization
Target version:
Tails_1.6
Start date:
2015-08-08
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Code
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Browser
Deliverable for:

Description

Before the switch to Disconnect.me and the new browser localization system in tails 1.4, we had the Startpage plugin both in the locale’s language and in English. Since then both Startpage and Disconnect.me are only available in the locale’s language, which could be seen as a regression.

The following patch should fix it:

--- a/config/chroot_local-hooks/11-localize_browser
+++ b/config/chroot_local-hooks/11-localize_browser
@@ -141,11 +141,16 @@ while IFS=: read MOZILLA_LOCALE LOCATION LOCALIZED_LANG STARTPAGE_LANG STARTPAGE
     fi
 done < "${DESCRIPTIONS_FILE}"

+cp "${TBB_LOCALIZED_SEACHPLUGINS_DIR}/en-US/*.xml" \
+   "${TBB_DEFAULT_SEARCHPLUGINS_DIR}"
+
 # This directory is not needed after build time.
 rm -r "${BROWSER_LOCALIZATION_DIR}"

 # All generated files must be world-readable.
-chmod -R a+rX "${TBB_LOCALIZED_SEACHPLUGINS_DIR}" "${BRANDING_DIR}"
+chmod -R a+rX "${TBB_DEFAULT_SEARCHPLUGINS_DIR}" \
+              "${TBB_LOCALIZED_SEACHPLUGINS_DIR}" \
+              "${BRANDING_DIR}"

 # Remove unwanted browser search plugins bundled in the Tor Browser.
 rm "${TBB_DEFAULT_SEARCHPLUGINS_DIR}"/yahoo*.xml

Subtasks

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2015-08-08 09:14:02

> Before the switch to Disconnect.me and the new browser localization system in tails 1.4, we had the Startpage plugin both in the locale’s language and in English. Since then both Startpage and Disconnect.me are only available in the locale’s language, which could be seen as a regression.

Agreed.

> The following patch should fix it:

Cool. We’re way to late in the 1.5 dev cycle to risk breaking other things just for the sake of fixing this, though, IMHO (our entire search engine handling has historically been very fragile, other browsers may be affected by side-effect, etc.) => sounds like a candidate for 1.6 if you want to take it; otherwise, no big deal, it’s certainly not worse than dozens of other normal priority tickets we have.

So my take on it is: take it for 1.6, or drop the target version.

#2 Updated by anonym 2015-08-09 05:09:32

  • Target version changed from Tails_1.5 to Tails_1.6

#3 Updated by anonym 2015-08-09 05:15:04

Hrm. Actually the situation would be the same as in Bug #9931, so we’d have to localize the search plugin icons for Disconnect.me and Startpage too. Since we have the ground work for that (Feature #9955) this wouldn’t be so hard given some refactoring of that icon generation code. Still, it’s no longer trivial.

Still, I think there might be a need for a discussion here. Why do we provide English Wikipedia in non-English locales? Presumably it’s because the English Wikipedia is more complete. Does the same apply for localized web searches, i.e. are they worse than English web searches? I have no experience.

#4 Updated by kytv 2015-08-09 06:29:08

On Sun, Aug 09, 2015 at 12:15:15PM +0000, redmine@labs.riseup.net wrote:

> Hrm. Actually the situation would be the same as in Bug #9931, so we’d
> have to localize the search plugin icons for Disconnect.me and
> Startpage too. Since we have the ground work for that (Feature #9955) this
> wouldn’t be so hard given some refactoring of that icon generation
> code. Still, it’s no longer trivial.

I’m not sure this is actually needed. (More below)

> Still, I think there might be a need for a discussion here. Why do we
> provide English Wikipedia in non-English locales? Presumably it’s
> because the English Wikipedia is more complete. Does the same apply
> for localized web searches, i.e. are they worse than English web
> searches? I have no experience.

If you look up Arcturus, for example, on a Thai WP page you’ll get a stub.

With a disconnect.me search with my language set to Thai I see a wall of
English pages for both the band and the star. The localized search
engines (which aren’t Wikipedia) will prefer results in the localized
language but will additionally show results in English.

I think we’re fine with just localized versions of StartPage and
Disconnect.me searches.

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2015-08-09 09:47:12

> With a disconnect.me search with my language set to Thai I see a wall of English pages for both the band and the star. The localized search engines (which aren’t Wikipedia) will prefer results in the localized language but will additionally show results in English.

> I think we’re fine with just localized versions of StartPage and Disconnect.me searches.

This is quite convincing.

Just curious: why startpage, and not only disconnect search?

#6 Updated by kytv 2015-08-09 13:04:08

> intrigeri wrote:

> Just curious: why startpage, and not only disconnect search?

Personally I think they’re redundant and that disconnect search would be
more than sufficient.

#7 Updated by BitingBird 2015-09-22 15:34:47

  • Status changed from Confirmed to Rejected

Rejected based on discussion (confirmed by anonym on irc :))