More on the l10n server
Recently, the community program proposed, and members of Mozilla’s senior staff agreed that we should provide a server to the l10n community, to be housed in the new colo facility that was recently set up in Amsterdam. Here are some suggested ideas of use:
1) It’s voluntary and for those who need or want to use it. To help provide support, we will create an “l10n-server-admin” alias that will be administered by a Mozilla volunteer contributor. This will help with any server issues, requests, and ongoing management for the initial list of participants. To get an account on the server, please file a bug on bugzilla, assign a request to Reed Loden, and list Axel Hecht, Chris Hofmann, and Seth Bindernagel on the CC list.
2) File storage and sharing — this server can become a central place for contributors to store files. If something were to happen to a contributor’s work (system crash, a volunteer leaves the project, etc.), the files will be backed up on the server. In a way, this server will create institutional knowledge for the project. The community server might also allow contributors to access universal tools that will help localizers.
3) Repository for in-process translation work — The server can be used as a sandbox for work that is not ready for “prime time”, but might be ready for review and sharing. Mozilla Development Center or wikimo should still be the service use for development of planning and process documentation.
What else?? — this is a server for the community, so if new uses or tools can be provided with this server, then it is for the community to suggest and for Mozilla to help implement. Perhaps we can have l10n-labs stuff happening on this new server. Projects that involve bandwidth and some limited computing power can be evaluated here. If you want to offer a web service to other members of the l10n community, this could be the place to see how it works.
This offer of course does not affect any servers or services localization teams may already be providing. Resource intensive content will need to be evaluated on a case by case basis. Hosting user comments like forums will generally be avoided due to liability problems for Mozilla.
Hey, Seth
It’s great that this is now up and running. A few questions arise:
In which Bugzilla product and component should they file the bug requesting access?
What criteria will be used to decide whether someone can have an account or not?
The “l10n-server-admin” alias – is it an email address, a Bugzilla account to be watched, or something else? If an email address, is it l10n-server-admin@mozilla.org?
Gerv
I actually don’t even know if the server is up and running yet. I spoke to some IT guys, and they didn’t even know anything about the server.
However, I requested a component in Bugzilla be created for the server, and that has been done. People can file bugs in product “mozilla.org” with component “Localization Server”. All bugs are assigned to me by default, and the QA Contact is “l10n-server@mozilla-org.bugs”, so anybody that wants to can watch the bugs in that component.
As far as criteria goes, that will be up to Seth/Axel/Chris.
From what Seth’s post says, I would think the “l10n-server-admin” would be an e-mail address (@mozilla.org or @mozilla.com or something).
I personally would like to see the server up and running soon so I can start work on configuring it, etc.
Thanks for the comments, Gerv and Reed.
Part of the process has been spelling out the terms of usage. It’s been quite collaborative work with Chris, Axel, and all the others who helped with the decision. Now that we have some clear goals for the server, it will be put into place ASAP. I have been working with Justin in the IT department and he will help finalize everything.
Criteria for usage: I will work with Chris and Axel. We’ll likely look at each request and move from there. There is no science to this yet, it will have to start case-by-case. Once we are actually functioning, we’ll report to the community about how others are requesting usage and determine what work best.
Sorry it’s been so slow moving. We just wanted to make sure everything was spelled out correctly.