Translations of packages descriptions disappears from one version to another

[Ricardo Pérez López]

With the latest Firefox updates in Ubuntu 11.04, I've realized that the translations of packages descriptions disappeared from the old version to the new one.

$ apt-cache show firefox=4.0+nobinonly-0ubuntu3 | grep "^Description\|^ "
Description-es: Navegador seguro y sencillo de Mozilla
 Firefox brinda seguridad, facilidad al navegar por la web. Una interfaz de
 usuario familiar, características de seguridad mejoradas incluyendo
 protección del robo de identidad en linea y búsqueda integrada que te
 permite sacarle todo le jugo a la web.

$ apt-cache show firefox=4.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.1 | grep "^Description\|^ "
Description: Safe and easy web browser from Mozilla
 Firefox delivers safe, easy web browsing. A familiar user interface,
 enhanced security features including protection from online identity theft,
 and integrated search let you get the most out of the web.

I think the problem is the lack of Translation-* files:

$ sudo apt-get update
[...]
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/main TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/multiverse TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/restricted TranslationIndex
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-security/universe TranslationIndex
Obj http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-es
Obj http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-es
Obj http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-es
Obj http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-es
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty/universe Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-es
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-es
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/multiverse Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-es
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-C
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/restricted Translation-en
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe Translation-es_ES
Ign http://archive.ubuntu.com natty-updates/universe Translation-es
[...]

(The rest are "Ign" lines.)

Checking into archive.ubuntu.com, I can see the following directories do exists:

  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/restricted/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/universe/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/multiverse/i18n/

However, the following directories doesn't exists:

  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-updates/main/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-updates/restricted/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-updates/universe/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-updates/multiverse/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-security/main/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-security/restricted/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-security/universe/i18n/
  ftp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-security/multiverse/i18n/

So it seems to be a lack of Translation-* files and /i18n/ directories in the repositories, so therefore all the packages in natty-updates and natty-security has no translations of their descriptions.

[Ricardo Pérez López (ricardo)]

A quick & dirty workaround which works, but I don't know if there could be any potential side-effect:

$ sudo cp /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty_main_i18n_Translation-es /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty-security_main_i18n_Translation-es

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

I already reported this issue, closing as a duplicate.