Translator CVS access (was Re: Intolerable CVS behaviour)

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> On top of having ACLs, I think that translators should go trough a
> Web-interface to avoid having them commit directly to the CVS.  Some
> work was attemped by Hector, but as far as I can tell, his work was
> never finished.

I think that's a *really* stupid idea. Some people might like, and
prefer, a web interface but forcing people to use such a thing is
nothing but really stupid. In fact, exactly as stupid as forcing every
single code hacker/developer/maintainer to submit their code through a
web interface.

I'm sure you can think of 100 reasons why restricting access for all
code developers to a web interface would be stupid, and if you think
about it, all those rules applies to translators too. There's really not
much difference between a translator and a coder - both need revision
control, version control, branches information, both have their favorite
editors and are really really dependant on a good editor, both may hate
to do *anything* in a form field in a crappy crashy browser, both need
to check out sources anyway, and last but not least: Both need to know
that what they commit is actually committed, and guaranteed to be
committed to 100%, and will end up in the new version of the
application.

Believe me, I have used many translation submission systems (most of
them email-based) and all of them have made translation magically
disappear, be forgotten (if there is human action required in the other
end), be wrongly committed due to some scripting error that is noticed
first a few weeks later, sending out wrong versions of pot files, all of
these errors without notifying you, and making a translation miss
deadlines and not end up in the applications. Trust me, its
*frustrating*!
The only technical solution that has ever solved this is allowing
translators access to the same cvs as developers.

Miguel, I'm not sure if you have had a wrong commit from a translator in
the past (I hope that would explain your attitude towards translators),
but I think you should get over it, and realize that translators need
exactly the same things in cvs that code hackers do.


Christian