[Xfce-i18n] Some rules

[Daichi Kawahata]

On Mon, 1 May 2006 10:51:32 -0300
Adriano Winter Bess wrote:

> > We should do it as we do it in mail, should not we?
> 
> In some sense yes, but the right way to do it is the following:
> 
> 	1. Grab a package (e.g. xfce4-panel)
> 	2. Run `make update-po' _before_ starting translation
> 	3. Update your xx.po file with whatever editor you prefer
> 	4. Run `make update-po' _again_, it'll wrap lines appropriately
>          and you don't even have to worry about it

Yes, thanks for a detailed proceeding.

> > `Minimize the commits' means to try to... 
> > 	 a) do one commit per day/week/fortnight?
> > 	 b) commit as few files as possible?
> 
> I guess neither one. What Daichi meant is that we should commit as
> many files as possible in only one go (i.e. only one run of
> `svn commit' command). Suppose you need to update 10 packages
> translations for Xfce. First translate all of them, and then commit
> them all together:
> 
> $ svn commit {package1,package2,package3,...}/trunk/po/xx.po

And yes, if the translated files can be committed in one time
(almost/exact the same commit log).

On a side note, with the current directory structure, we can check
which PO files are updated by `$ svn diff */trunk/po/xx.po' and this
operation doesn't cause a burden against the remote repository (it
compares with files in your local disk).
 
> > So, we write in the po/Changelog file our log in all the packages?
> > I had half-forgotten this, sorry.
> 
> As far as I understand by previous posts on this list, Daichi updates
> po ChangeLogs. The commiters responsibility is to leave a reasonable
> commit log (empty logs are never reasonable). It would be good to hear
> from Daichi what he thinks is the best practice about this. I use
> "Updated pt_BR translations." when I have them updated and "Added
> pt_BR translations." when they are first added to a package.

I think if you replace `pt_BR' with Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese,
it'll be easy to know what pt_BR stands for. Otherwise, if it can be
a sensible matter e.g. `To be honest, I'd like to put simply Brazilian
however...', then you'll keep `pt_BR' in your logs.

A reason I don't much like leaving a language code as-is is that
it misleads/confuses us sometimes e.g. when I had started PO file
translations for private use, there's no files `en_CA.po', `ca.po',
so I thought `Ehh, does Quebec finally get independent from Canada
or what?' when I saw both files (I couldn't tell a language code
from a country code).

> Please Daichi correct me if I have misunderstood anything you've said.
>
> Another important thing Daichi mentioned was checking consistency of
> translations before committing. For those who like to use Emacs to edit
> PO files, I've posted long ago a patch for Emacs po-mode that helps
> the job:
> 
> http://foo-projects.org/pipermail/xfce-i18n/2005-November/003491.html

At least, I'll accept any files if they are fixable, but it'd be
appreciated sending a error-free file.

Regards,
-- 
Daichi

Language Codes: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm
Country Codes: http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/related/iso3166.txt