Revision as of 06:00, 26 May 2022

Split Gettext Package

Summary

Moving the heavier "tools" part of the gettext base package into a separate sub-package.

Owner

Name: Sundeep ANAND
Email: <suanand@redhat.com>

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora Linux 37
Last updated: 2022-05-26
FESCo issue:
Tracker bug:
Release notes tracker:

Detailed Description

Gettext is one of the core packages. It's 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 on most of the normal installations.

Scope

Proposal owners:
- Update the gettext package to have the new gettext-tools package, which pulls in the gettext base package.
- Updating all Fedora packages with BuildRequires: gettext to gettext-tools (this affects about 1100+ Fedora packages)

Other developers:
- Packagers who own packages that currently depend on gettext at runtime and actually need gettext-tools have to change their Requires: gettext to the new gettext-tools subpackage. (This can safely be done even if they actually only require gettext.)

Release engineering:
- All the spec changes to packages, particularly for BuildRequires, need to land in git before 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?) 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 tools which are not commonly used at runtime.

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == Owner ==
 <!--
 For change proposals to qualify as self-contained, owners of all affected packages need to be included here. Alternatively, a SIG can be listed as an owner if it owns all affected packages.
 This should link to your home wiki page so we know who you are.
 -->
 * Name: [[User:Sundeep|Sundeep ANAND]]
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 <!-- When your change proposal page is completed and ready for review and announcement -->
 <!-- remove Category:ChangePageIncomplete and change it to Category:ChangeReadyForWrangler -->
 <!-- The Wrangler announces the Change to the devel-announce list and changes the category to Category:ChangeAnnounced (no action required) -->
 <!-- After review, the Wrangler will move your page to Category:ChangeReadyForFesco... if it still needs more work it will move back to Category:ChangePageIncomplete-->
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 [[Category:SystemWideChange]]
 * Targeted release: [[Releases/37 | Fedora Linux 37 ]]
 * Last updated: <!-- this is an automatic macro — you don't need to change this line -->  {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}
 <!-- After the change proposal is accepted by FESCo, tracking bug is created in Bugzilla and linked to this page
 Bugzilla state meanings:
 ASSIGNED -> accepted by FESCo with ongoing development
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 ON_QA -> change is fully code complete
 -->
-* [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/CRMFB7JBI3HJOANYZFVL3UVW55RCZ64H/ devel thread]
+* FESCo issue:
-* FESCo issue:
+* Tracker bug:
-* Tracker bug:
+* Release notes tracker:
-* Release notes tracker:
 == Detailed Description ==
 <!-- Expand on the summary, if appropriate.  A couple sentences suffices to explain the goal, but the more details you can provide the better. -->
-Gettext is one of the core packages. It's install ''uncompressed'' size is about ~'''6.1''' MB. A large number of packages directly or indirectly depend on it. Extracting "tools" from gettext ''main'' package into a separate sub-package would reduce the footprint. Hence a saving of ~'''4.7''' MB on most normal installations.
+Gettext is one of the core packages. It's 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 split this should look like:
+After the split this should look like:
 <pre>
@@ Line 55: / Line 54: @@
 --------------------
 compressed size: 172 kB
-uncompressed size: 749.6 kB
+uncompressed size: 749.6 kB
 gettext-tools subpackage
@@ Line 67: / Line 66: @@
 -----------------------
 compressed size: 322K
-uncompressed size: 933.7 kB
+uncompressed size: 933.7 kB
 </pre>
 Grouping of binaries:
 <pre>
 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
 </pre>
@@ Line 81: / Line 80: @@
 == Feedback ==
 <!-- Summarize the feedback from the community and address why you chose not to accept proposed alternatives. This section is optional for all change proposals but is strongly suggested. Incorporating feedback here as it is raised gives FESCo a clearer view of your proposal and leaves a good record for the future. If you get no feedback, that is useful to note in this section as well. For innovative or possibly controversial ideas, consider collecting feedback before you file the change proposal. -->
+* initial [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/CRMFB7JBI3HJOANYZFVL3UVW55RCZ64H/ devel thread] floating the idea (April 2022)
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
 <!-- What is the benefit to the distribution?  Will the software we generate be improved? How will the process of creating Fedora releases be improved?
        Be sure to include the following areas if relevant:
        If this is a major capability update, what has changed?
@@ Line 99: / Line 100: @@
             For example: Gating Fedora packages on automatic QA tests will make rawhide more stable and allow changes to be implemented more smoothly.
        Is this an improvement targeted as specific contributors?
             For example: Ensuring that a minimal set of tools required for contribution to Fedora are installed by default eases the onboarding of new contributors.
       When a Change has multiple benefits, it's better to list them all.
@@ Line 115: / Line 116: @@
 * 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 to have the new gettext-tools package, which pulls in the gettext base package.
+** Updating all Fedora packages with '''BuildRequires: gettext''' to gettext-tools (this affects about 1100+ Fedora packages)
 * 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 owns packages implicitly expects '''gettext-tools''' a new sub package. May need to update the dependency from "gettext" to "gettext-tools".
+** Packagers who own packages that currently depend on gettext at runtime and actually need gettext-tools have to change their '''Requires: gettext''' to the new '''gettext-tools''' subpackage. (This can safely be done even if they actually only require '''gettext'''.)
 * 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.
 * Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change) <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 130: / Line 134: @@
 <!-- If your Change may require trademark approval (for example, if it is a new Spin), file a ticket ( https://pagure.io/Fedora-Council/tickets/issues ) requesting trademark approval from the Fedora Council. This approval will be done via the Council's consensus-based process. -->
 * Alignment with Objectives:
 <!-- Does your proposal align with the current Fedora Objectives: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/objectives/ ? It's okay if it doesn't, but it's something to consider -->
@@ Line 136: / Line 140: @@
 <!-- What happens to systems that have had a previous versions of Fedora installed and are updated to the version containing this change? Will anything require manual configuration or data migration? Will any existing functionality be no longer supported? -->
 Both "gettext" and "gettext-tools" obsoletes earlier version of gettext. <br/>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.
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 == How To Test ==
 <!-- This does not need to be a full-fledged document. Describe the dimensions of tests that this change implementation is expected to pass when it is done.  If it needs to be tested with different hardware or software configurations, indicate them.  The more specific you can be, the better the community testing can be.
 Remember that you are writing this how to for interested testers to use to check out your change implementation - documenting what you do for testing is OK, but it's much better to document what *I* can do to test your change.
@@ Line 153: / Line 159: @@
 . What are the expected results of those actions?
 -->
+* test upgrades from F36 to F37
+* test minimal/default installs continue to work as expected
+* packages that depend on gettext continue to rebuild normally
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 168: / Line 178: @@
   - Green has been scientifically proven to be the most relaxing color. The move to a default background color of green with green text will result in Fedora users being the most relaxed users of any operating system.
 -->
-User will see lighter gettext package and a new gettext-tools package. <br/>Many of the desktop/web apps/libraries use gettext-tools. They would need to update their dependency to "gettext-tools" now.
+User will see lighter gettext package and a new gettext-tools package. <br/>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 ==
@@ Line 174: / Line 184: @@
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-Packages which explicitly has a dependency to gettext are basically need to check for binary they are dependent on. And if that belongs to gettext-tool, they need to update their dependency to "gettext-tools" from gettext.
+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. <br/>Furthermore, gettext-tools has a dependency to gettext.
@@ Line 182: / Line 192: @@
 <!-- If you cannot complete your feature by the final development freeze, what is the backup plan?  This might be as simple as "Revert the shipped configuration".  Or it might not (e.g. rebuilding a number of dependent packages).  If you feature is not completed in time we want to assure others that other parts of Fedora will not be in jeopardy.  -->
 * Contingency mechanism: (What to do?  Who will do it?) Revert the relevant packages updated.  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+** ('''Provides: gettext-tools''' could also be added to gettext if necessary to simplify the reversion)
 <!-- When is the last time the contingency mechanism can be put in place?  This will typically be the beta freeze. -->
 * Contingency deadline: Beta freeze  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 189: / Line 200: @@
 == Documentation ==
 <!-- Is there upstream documentation on this change, or notes you have written yourself?  Link to that material here so other interested developers can get involved. -->
+https://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=PACKAGING
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
-None.
 == Release Notes ==
 <!-- The Fedora Release Notes inform end-users about what is new in the release.  Examples of past release notes are here: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/ -->
 <!-- The release notes also help users know how to deal with platform changes such as ABIs/APIs, configuration or data file formats, or upgrade concerns.  If there are any such changes involved in this change, indicate them here.  A link to upstream documentation will often satisfy this need.  This information forms the basis of the release notes edited by the documentation team and shipped with the release.
 Release Notes are not required for initial draft of the Change Proposal but has to be completed by the Change Freeze.
 -->
+A '''gettext-tools''' package has been added to gettext, to separate out the larger gettext tools which are not commonly used at runtime.

Search

Changes/GettextRuntimeSubpackage: Difference between revisions