[Kindle Touch] Localization

[eureka]

Originally Posted by JustAMan

eureka,
No problem, man, just let me know if you need some tech help
BTW, when we discovered that Kindle tool cannot extract homebrew updates (I think this might be related to certificate or whatever... didn't investigate, though), would you mind sharing kbd sources so kbd can be tweaked?

Well, nope. I'd rather provide extraction program:

import array, os, sys

def dm(s):
  arr = array.array('B',s)
  for i in xrange(len(arr)):
    b = arr[i] ^ 0x7A
    arr[i] = (b >> 4 | b << 4) & 0xFF
  return arr.tostring()

def extract(binname):
    f = open(binname, "rb")
    f.seek(254)
    open(os.path.splitext(binname)[0] + ".tar.gz", "wb").write(dm(f.read()))    

extract(sys.argv[1])

It is Python program. It takes path to update bundle as first argument and produces tarball with bundle's content. I've ran it with Python 2.6, checked on localization bundle and keyboard bundle. (Offset at bundle where tarball starts should be computed, but I'm too lazy to program it, so it's hardcoded Therefore, extracting could not work with other bundles.)

Originally Posted by ixtab

This is easy to implement (en_US.utf8 would go into locale-base), and will keep localization files small. And it works

Also don't forget that space on the device is rather limited. I don't like the idea of having > 1 MB of locale stuff which concerns only the console, per language.

I have about 110 MB free on my KT rootfs and don't mind to spend some MB for Russian locale. I think, most of users will install only one localization bundle for their's native language.

But if you are sure that locale definitions affects only console (and no other aspect), then I have no objections for using of en_US.

Even if you are not sure, I have no objections at all. I understand that it will be a lot of work with unlikely noticeable effect. And I can compile and install ru_RU by myself

Also, if you are decided to refactor locale stuff in separate bundle, please don't add it to bundle with JAR that override Amazon interface. Make it really separate bundle. I understand that installing that JAR is safe but it should be optional. What if Amazon will update UI so that JAR should be uninstalled? Then I'll (as user) apply bundle for JAR uninstalling, but, oops, it will be uninstalled with locale stuff. Symlinks will be broken

[eureka]

Originally Posted by eureka

There is also user at Russian forum, which applied ru_RU localization bundle (on a 5.0.0) and came up to Kindle with only search bar (and a thin bar above it) displaying. There is no home screen content (list of books) and advertisement. And Menu button isn't reacting to presses (menu isn't showed up on pressing). But search bar is working, keyboard too. He could browse a web. But even hard reset isn't changes status quo. He really did hard reset, Kindle had been really rebooted and started from kernel booting (I've checked it by his logs) but came up to the same search bar and a blank area under it.

I've helped that user.

Deleting of /opt/amazon/ebook/lib/locale-ru_RU.jar resolves the problem with white screen and not reacting to Menu clicking.

I've used method with data.tar.gz and RUNME.sh to delete JAR. (As I've mentioned hard reset worked fine and Kindle could be seen as USB disk.)

[JustAMan]

What did you mean by "helped", returned his Kindle to en_US locale or what?..

Originally Posted by eureka

Well, nope. I'd rather provide extraction program:

Hmm, I've figured almost something myself here, but I thought offset should be 64 and I didn't get that it was .tar.gz file Thanks.
Would you also mind posting a link on where I can get tools to sign files? I mean to produce .sig files, they seem to depend on file contents (like hash or CRC or whatever)

[eureka]

Originally Posted by JustAMan

What did you mean by "helped", returned his Kindle to en_US locale or what?..

No, I've helped with the problem of blank white area under search bar and abscence of reaction to Menu button presses. Without that JAR file problem had gone away.

Originally Posted by JustAMan

Hmm, I've figured almost something myself here, but I thought offset should be 64 and I didn't get that it was .tar.gz file Thanks.
Would you also mind posting a link on where I can get tools to sign files? I mean to produce .sig files, they seem to depend on file contents (like hash or CRC or whatever)

I don't know about any such specific tool. Creating of update bundle with KindleTool works fine for me and it probably creates .sig automatically.

[JustAMan]

Hmm, took a look into locale-ru_RU.jar and locale-de.jar and found that property

com.amazon.agui.swing.resources

differs dramatically in those files!
In German it has 31 line, in Russian only 22!
I don't think it should differ that way...

E.g. in particular Russian file lacks line "action.switch_app.home.target=com.lab126.booklet. home", that seems definitely wrong to me.

Whole list of things Russian .properties file lacks:

HeaderBar.separator
action.switch_app.store.target
PendingContentItemView.stateTemplate
action.switch_app.settings.target
action.switch_app.ad.target
action.switch_app.reader.target
HeaderBar.primary.format
Header.number.template
action.switch_app.home.target

[ixtab]

@eureka: point taken. I updated the locale-base-v2.zip to include several installers/uninstallers.

@JustAMan: *missing* entries in a locale file should normally not be an issue (because they will be taken from the default entry then). However, *wrongly translated* ones are probably the cause of all this weirdness. I don't have the time to do it, but try to write a script which finds entries where
- the german "translation" is the *same* as the original en_US one
- and the russian one is *different* from the original.

These are likely to cause problems.

Update: This task will probably be much simpler if you work on the source .properties files ("tx pull -a" first, then look around the files). I'm only referring to the de translation as the "reference implementation" because it seems to be working correctly for everyone, and it's 100% complete.

[JustAMan]

Okay, I'll try doing this.
Strange though that this ru_RU update works on your device and eureka's, but not on mine...

[ixtab]

I agree that it's strange indeed, however I guess that both eureka and I have modded our devices to a degree where they hardly resemble stock Kindles anymore. In fact, I'm afraid of applying any update because I'm pretty sure that it'll break, and wondering about how to get it back into a "factory-fresh" state. I did make backups of all partitions, but only after already tampering around with some files (If anyone could provide me with as-pristine-as-possible dd dumps of mmcblk0p{1,2,3,4} for 5.0.1, I'd be more than grateful!).

That said, I thought that eureka was also experiencing the white home screen issue?

[eureka]

Originally Posted by ixtab

That said, I thought that eureka was also experiencing the white home screen issue?

Not precisely so. Right after updating I've got normal home screen. Then after some messing with hardware reset button I've got that white home screen. Then after a hard reset (holding reset button for 20 seconds) I've got normal home screen again.

It was another user (not me and not JustAMan) who (like JustAMan) got white home screen from the start and even hard reset didn't helped him.

[ixtab]

Eheee... eureka, what's the status of the JS localization part?

[eureka]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Eheee... eureka, what's the status of the JS localization part?

As usual... Do you want me to beg more time? OK, if you are sure you can't wait, then you can make .properties and upload them on Transifex. Metadata is neccessary only for compiling. And while I'll be working on implementation of metadata extracting and compiling, translators will translate... But remember, it's only emergency plan, be wise.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by eureka

As usual... Do you want me to beg more time? OK, if you are sure you can't wait, then you can make .properties and upload them on Transifex. Metadata is neccessary only for compiling. And while I'll be working on implementation of metadata extracting and compiling, translators will translate... But remember, it's only emergency plan, be wise.

Nope, I'm not uploading anything before I'm sure that the compile part works, and can be integrated into the distribution chain. I just felt like nagging you again

[JustAMan]

Originally Posted by ixtab

I agree that it's strange indeed, however I guess that both eureka and I have modded our devices to a degree where they hardly resemble stock Kindles anymore. In fact, I'm afraid of applying any update because I'm pretty sure that it'll break, and wondering about how to get it back into a "factory-fresh" state. I did make backups of all partitions, but only after already tampering around with some files (If anyone could provide me with as-pristine-as-possible dd dumps of mmcblk0p{1,2,3,4} for 5.0.1, I'd be more than grateful!).

Mine has only small amount of hacks installed, basically
* jailbreak
* launcher
* russian keyboard
* ru_RU and de localizations
* simple screensaver (by yifan)
* usb network

It's 5.0.0 btw.
Interested?

[eureka]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Nope, I'm not uploading anything before I'm sure that the compile part works, and can be integrated into the distribution chain. I just felt like nagging you again

Let us go away from this cursed topic (Until I finish the tool. Soon.). Did you thought about transferring bundling infrastructure to some web-server? I can suggest dotcloud.com. It has free plan with 2 services (say, frontend and database), many available frontend stacks (Java and Python included), SSH access, cron and much more... Well, I wanted to setup it by myself... But seems like it could take up to year or so for me...

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by eureka

Did you thought about transferring bundling infrastructure to some web-server? I can suggest dotcloud.com. It has free plan with 2 services (say, frontend and database), many available frontend stacks (Java and Python included), SSH access, cron and much more...

Just took a look at it. From the ad, I'm still left slightly confused. Would this allow for a SSH account which can run Java and python (that should do), trigger cronjobs to create bundles, say every day, or even every hour, and then make these bundles available via HTTP? If so, yes, we could think about providing a service which would continuously provide the latest (automated) builds. Then again, every translator can easily create bundles by himself, so I think this is not strictly needed. But it'd certainly be a nice-to-have thing.

Originally Posted by eureka

Well, I wanted to setup it by myself... But seems like it could take up to year or so for me...

Why so?