Suggestion: No more language packs for macOS as they are fundamentally broken

[Christian Lohmaier]

On Sat, May 23, 2020 at 9:32 AM Eivind Samseth <eisa01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Here’s the way you can distribute localizations on macOS
> 1. Include all localizations in the standard download (used by all Apple software, MS Office etc.)
> 2. Offer precompiled .app bundles in the language of choice (used by Firefox)
> 3. Offer language packs as a separate download and installation (used by LO)
>
> What would the standard macOS way be to distribute language packs?
>
> 1 is the standard way and with file system compression it would not use significantly more disk space than today (I’ll have to google to find out how you actually turn it on)
> 2 is also an acceptable choice with one-step install
> 3 is a quirky solution requiring multiple steps, I can’t remember any other app having a similar install option on macOS?

We all agree that the way 3 is done is a hack, not because it is a
separate thing to download, but because it modifies an existing app
bundle after-the-fact.

> As such 1 or 2 would be the preferred option if we were to design the system today, agree?

4) create a real macOS installer package (native macOS installer
program, not a runnable script like the langauge pack "installer"),
similar to the windows msi that allows to customize the installation
and pick the components you want.

ciao
Christian