2.18 proposed modules: i18n evaluation

[danilo gnome org (Danilo Šegan)]

Hi all,

This is my evaluation (with GTP spokesperson hat on) of the Gnome
modules which are proposed for inclusion in 2.18.  It's based only on
the perceived "localizability" of the app, usually untested, but
judging by the strings in the PO files, and how comfortable will GTP
in working with them.

I didn't evaluate anything else.  If I failed in being objective (no
doubt I did :), please point that out if you think it will affect
final 'score'.

Legend:
  - No objections: no objections whatsoever to including it
  - No strong objections: all objections can be easily addressed in
    2.18 timeframe
  - Strong objections: it's doubtful objections can be addressed in
    time for 2.18; for modules listed below, it means they use outside
    SVN and I doubt they'd be willing to switch over to Gnome CVS

Short evaluation:
  No objections: devhelp, NetworkManager
  No strong objections: Anjuta, Glade3, tracker, seahorse
  Strong objections: GnomeScan, MonoDevelop

Read below for details.


DESKTOP

= gnomescan =

Strong objection to including it.

It seems to support l10n, but it's outside of Gnome CVS.  Strings are
otherwise fine and there seem not to be any common problems with them.
The only big problem is that it's not using Gnome CVS.

My recommendation would be to NOT include it UNLESS it's moved to
Gnome CVS before the January 15th (so translators would actually have
the time to work on it aside from string freeze period).  Of course,
if it's not moved at all, I would strongly oppose to including it in
Gnome from I18N perspective.

Only 4 translations, but the module seems small enough (~100
messages).

No docs, so no gnome-doc-utils usage concerns.


= NetworkManager =

No objections.

It uses Gnome CVS, is i18n-enabled, and everything seems to work
fine.  Based on i18n-merits, it IS recommended for inclusion.

23 languages with over 95% of a total of 192 strings translated.

No docs, so no gnome-doc-utils usage concerns.


= sea-horse =

No strong objections.

It uses Gnome CVS, is i18n-enabled, and everything seems to work
fine.  Based on i18n-merits, it IS recommended for inclusion.

6 translations above 50%, total of 745 messages.
seahorse-0-8 branch is better with 16 translations of >=98%, and a
total of 527 messages (if translators would merge this into HEAD, it
would probably be much better).

Docs are using gnome-doc-utils (this is a good thing :), and they add
another 303 messages to translation.


= tracker =

No strong objections.

It uses Gnome CVS, there is some i18n support, but it hasn't been
announced for translation (so no status pages).

Only 3 translations, but the file is reasonably small (<100 messages).

Docs seem to be only available as man pages, and we don't support
localizing them easily at the moment (if they used XML as a source
format, it would be much easier).


DEVTOOLS

All of devhelp, anjuta and glade3 sit in the Gnome CVS.  MonoDevelop
is outside, so that's a big concern.  DevHelp and Anjuta have been
long-time Gnome modules, and they have reasonable translation support.

= Anjuta =

No strong objections.

Anjuta POTFILES.in hasn't been updated recently, so that might be a
concern.  Otherwise, there are ~1700 messages (pretty large module)
for translation, with 10 languages over 80%.

Docs seem not to be ported over to gnome-doc-utils, so that's another
i18n concern.

= DevHelp =

No objections.

Small module (62 messages) with 21 languages over 80%. No docs so no
concern over gnome-doc-utils usage there.

= Glade3 =

No strong objections.

Uses Gnome CVS, messages seem fine.  739 messages for translation, but
with only 4 languages over 75%.  I am hoping some of old Glade
translations can be reused (~1300 msgs, 30 languages with >=80%
translations).

It uses gnome-doc-utils for the docs, so that's another plus.

= MonoDevelop =

Strong objection.

It's i18n-enabled, and uses gettext PO files for translation, which is
a good thing.  There seems to be a placeholder documentation which is
not using gnome-doc-utils (but it doesn't matter much since it's a
placeholder, i.e. not real document).

The big problem is that it's not using Gnome CVS for development,
which is a serious barrier to GTP work (see gnomescan evaluation
above).

POTFILES.in also seems to be out of date (some 200 messages are
missing, out of 1336 messages total), and there are 12 languages with
~1000 messages translated.

This might still be a bigger problem then expected, since it's a large
module and former translation teams might use different terminology
from Gnome translation teams.


Cheers,
Danilo