From owner-freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 12 05:40:11 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-bugs@hub.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F35CF1065741 for ; Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gnats@FreeBSD.org) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::28]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ACE608FC13 for ; Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (gnats@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n8C5eB5u091616 for ; Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:11 GMT (envelope-from gnats@freefall.freebsd.org) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n8C5eBMO091615; Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:11 GMT (envelope-from gnats) Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:11 GMT Message-Id: <200909120540.n8C5eBMO091615@freefall.freebsd.org> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org From: "Hung-Te Lin (piaip)" Cc: Subject: Re: conf/138672: ISO 3166 call Taiwan a wrong name, please call Taiwan "Taiwan" as before. X-BeenThere: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: "Hung-Te Lin \(piaip\)" List-Id: Bug reports List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:40:12 -0000 The following reply was made to PR conf/138672; it has been noted by GNATS. From: "Hung-Te Lin (piaip)" To: bug-followup@FreeBSD.org, linpct@gmail.com Cc: Subject: Re: conf/138672: ISO 3166 call Taiwan a wrong name, please call Taiwan "Taiwan" as before. Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:16:06 +0800 "FreeBSD does not and will not be involved with world politics! " I totally agree with this - but I think using ISO3166 is not a proper way when it comes to "country names". As the previous reply said, ISO3166 should be only used for the country cod= e, not the names - it's just a memo from the Maintenance Agency=E2=80=8E to identify the country, not a standard of country names. In fact, even IBM is not suggesting to use the names from ISO3166 http://www-01.ibm.com/software/globalization/topics/writing/references.jsp I believe the country names listed there are supposed to help people select their own country; in this way, a common (or usual) name used by most software is more prefered than a non-official memo field Let's look at PR 68226 again: it's a request trying to change some country's name, by the name of ISO3166. However the FreeBSD commiter apparently knows the reporter's intention, so he replied "I think that's no the technical problem, it's the politics problem." Also look at PR 68495 http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=3D68495 The FreeBSD maintainers again declared to keep the name. In order to prevent getting involed with politics, I suggest following the strategy of 68226 and 68495 to keep the names instead of using ISO3166. Just like PR68495 said, "The FreeBSD installation only wants to know where you approximately live", so the names listed there should be a neutral geographic term instead of political Nationality names - which we should remove the terms like "Province of XXX". I also found some articles discussing ISO3166 in open source world: http://yllan.org/blog/archives/296 "I don=E2=80=99t think it=E2=80=99s a clever way to ease a controversial is= sue by replacing a neutral term with political term just because the political term come with a so called =E2=80=9Cstandard=E2=80=9D for OTHER thing." "A standard isn=E2=80=99t necessary to be political correct in all contexts= . eg. you may insult many people by simply adopt the definition of some terms in Webster 2nd ed. There is no reason you should blindly follow a standard if you know that=E2=80=99s problematic. There is= no reason you just blame the questioners barking up the wrong tree without correct the error in your product."