Mostly, we don't want the scm to head down the slippery slope of feeling it needs to compete with the tcz in terms of modularity, size, etc, therefore diluting it's main goal of being self contained. Larger downloads are just part of that concept.
Even before the decison on handling locales was taken, the basic concept of an scm means that the download size of the scm will often exceed the size of a tcz alternative. It is inherent within the design. Earlier posts seem to refer only to the compressed size of the download.
Upon installation to the file system, the app has to be uncompressed which results in RAM being used. Increasing the size by incorporating locale files will exacerbate this further. It may be particulary detrimental on older systems having smaller ammounts of RAM, or those with fixed amounts of RAM.
Might it be possible to accomodate the locale files within the scm while reducing the size used as described below. The idea is raw and unpolished and meant to outline the concept rather than represent a finished method.
The scm contains three distinct parts:
- app
- app-locale
- loading script
The loading script loads app and app-locale in separate stages:
- stage1 load app
- stage2 load app-locale
After stage1 but before stage2, the loading script checks for a marker file or variable which indicates whether to conduct stage2
The marker file or variable might be created by use of a checkbox, or similar means, in the TC scm management GUI
If the above is practical it will:
- allow the scm to contain locale files
- allow the user to choose whether to load them
- enable the system to manage the scm as a single entity
Edit: fix typo