Re: Would it save time for translators to fold similar lines?

["Christian Rose" <menthos gnome org>]

On 12/2/07, Thomas Thurman <tthurman gnome org> wrote:
> I note that, for example, in metacity we have lines like this:
>
> #: ../src/theme-parser.c:1540
> #, c-format
> msgid "No \"top\" attribute on element <%s>"
> msgstr ""
>
> #: ../src/theme-parser.c:1547
> #, c-format
> msgid "No \"bottom\" attribute on element <%s>"
> msgstr ""
>
> #: ../src/theme-parser.c:1554
> #, c-format
> msgid "No \"left\" attribute on element <%s>"
> msgstr ""
>
> #: ../src/theme-parser.c:1561
> #, c-format
> msgid "No \"right\" attribute on element <%s>"
> msgstr ""
>
> Now, "top", "bottom', etc. are keywords and so can't be changed. I
> could quite easily change this so that it said
>
> msgid "No \"%s\" attribute on element <%s>"
>
> thus eliminating three msgids. There are very many such cases, not
> only in metacity.
>
> So:
>
> 1) It would have saved trouble had the system been designed like this
> originally, wouldn't it?

Yes, definately.


> 2) If so, should we change existing lines so that they work this way,
> given that they will both cause existing translations to vanish but
> also reduce the msgid count in translation files?

My take on this is that if we decide that things should not be
improved because of legacy work, we walk a dangerous path. So as long
as you do this in a non-string-frozen branch, I think most translators
will appreciate the change, as it actually reduces the number of
messages to translate for new translators.


> 3) If so, should we have some kind of GNOME Goal to identify and
> eliminate such lines?

I tried to describe this once in
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/tutorials/gnome-i18n/developer.html#generic.
That document is outdated and obviously non-wiki, so all help in
making it better describe this phenomenon, and make it be located in
the wiki, is much  appreciated.


Christian