Revision as of 09:50, 2 June 2022

Split Gettext Package

Summary

Moving the larger translation tools from the gettext base package into a separate tools sub-package.

Owner

Name: Sundeep ANAND
Email: suanand@redhat.com
Name: Jens Petersen
Email: petersen@redhat.com

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora Linux 37
Last updated: 2022-06-02
FESCo issue:
Tracker bug:
Release notes tracker:

Detailed Description

Gettext is one of the core packages. Its installed on-disk size is about ~6.1 MB. A large number of packages directly or indirectly depend on it. Extracting "tools" from main gettext package into a separate sub-package would reduce the footprint by about ~4.7 MB on most normal installations.

After the split this should look like:

gettext package
--------------------
compressed size: 172 kB
uncompressed size: 749.6 kB

gettext-tools subpackage
------------------------
compressed size: 1.0 MB
uncompressed size: 4.7 MB

As gettext depends on gettext-libs:

gettext-libs subpackage
-----------------------
compressed size: 322K
uncompressed size: 933.7 kB

Grouping of binaries:

gettext:
envsubst gettext gettext.sh ngettext

gettext-tools:
msgattrib msgcat msgcmp msgcomm msgconv msgen msgexec msgfilter msgfmt msggrep msginit msgmerge msgunfmt msguniq recode-sr-latin xgettext

Feedback

initial devel thread floating the idea (April 2022)

Benefit to Fedora

Space saving of about ~4.7 MB for typical installations.

Scope

Proposal owners:
- Update the gettext package in all Fedora branches including rawhide to add Provides: gettext-tools for forward compatibility
- Before the Mass Rebuild:
  - Change in Rawhide dist-git all packages with BuildRequires: gettext to gettext-tools (this affects about 1100+ Fedora source packages)
  - Update the Rawhide gettext package to have the new gettext-tools subpackage, which pulls in the gettext base package (PR)
- Before branching, complete updating any remaining Requires: gettext in packages, which aren't handled in time by their package maintainers.

Other developers:
- Packagers who own packages that have a direct runtime dependency on gettext (about 26-30 packages) and actually need gettext-tools have to change their Requires: gettext to the new gettext-tools subpackage in Rawhide. (This should be safe even if they really only require gettext.)

Release engineering:
- Just need to confirm that all BuildRequires changes have landed in dist-git ahead of the mass rebuild.

Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Alignment with Objectives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Both "gettext" and "gettext-tools" obsoletes earlier version of gettext.
So, on update both packages will get installed on systems having gettext. (preinstalled)

For current older Fedora releases gettext should Provides: gettext-tools for forward compatibility.

How To Test

test upgrades from F36 to F37
test minimal/default installs continue to work as expected
packages that depend on gettext continue to rebuild normally

User Experience

User will see lighter gettext package and a new gettext-tools package.
Many of the desktop/web apps/libraries use gettext-tools. They would need to update their dependency to "gettext-tools" now. This subpackaging is also the recommended packaging by upstream and corresponds to Debian's gettext-base and gettext packages.

Dependencies

Packages which explicitly have a dependency on gettext need to check if they need programs provided by gettext-tool, and if so they need to update their dependency to "gettext-tools" from gettext.

Perhaps about ~26 packages require gettext and ~1115 packages have build dependency.
Furthermore, gettext-tools has a dependency to gettext.

Contingency Plan

Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) Change owners will revert the relevant packages updated.
- (Provides: gettext-tools could also be added to gettext if necessary to simplify the reversion)
Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
Blocks release? No

Documentation

https://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=PACKAGING

Release Notes

A gettext-tools package has been added to gettext to separate out the larger gettext translation utilities that are not commonly used at runtime.

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 * Proposal owners:
 <!-- What work do the feature owners have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-** Update the gettext package in all Fedora branches to add <code>Provides: gettext-tools</code> for forward compatibility
+** Update the gettext package in all Fedora branches including rawhide to add <code>Provides: gettext-tools</code> for forward compatibility
 ** Before the Mass Rebuild:
-*** Change all Rawhide packages with <code>BuildRequires: gettext</code> to gettext-tools (this affects about 1100+ Fedora packages)
+*** Change in Rawhide dist-git all packages with <code>BuildRequires: gettext</code> to gettext-tools (this affects about 1100+ Fedora source packages)
 *** Update the Rawhide gettext package to have the new gettext-tools subpackage, which pulls in the gettext base package ([https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/gettext/pull-request/15 PR])
-** Before the Beta Freeze, complete updating any remaining <code>Requires: gettext</code> in packages, which weren't be handled in time by their package maintainers.
+** Before branching, complete updating any remaining <code>Requires: gettext</code> in packages, which aren't handled in time by their package maintainers.
 * Other developers: <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 <!-- What work do other developers have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-** Packagers who own packages that currently depend on gettext at runtime and actually need gettext-tools have to change their <code>Requires: gettext</code> to the new <code>gettext-tools</code> subpackage in Rawhide. (This would be safe even if they actually only require <code>gettext</code>.)
+** Packagers who own packages that have a direct runtime dependency on gettext (about 26-30 packages) and actually need gettext-tools have to change their <code>Requires: gettext</code> to the new <code>gettext-tools</code> subpackage in Rawhide. (This should be safe even if they really only require <code>gettext</code>.)
 * Release engineering:  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 <!-- Does this feature require coordination with release engineering (e.g. changes to installer image generation or update package delivery)?  Is a mass rebuild required?  include a link to the releng issue.
 The issue is required to be filed prior to feature submission, to ensure that someone is on board to do any process development work and testing and that all changes make it into the pipeline; a bullet point in a change is not sufficient communication -->
-** All the spec changes to packages, particularly for BuildRequires, need to land in git before the mass rebuild.
+** Just need to confirm that all BuildRequires changes have landed in dist-git ahead of the mass rebuild.
 * Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->

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