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Re: lynx-dev How to maintain sources with gettext() ?


From: Nelson Henry Eric
Subject: Re: lynx-dev How to maintain sources with gettext() ?
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 13:04:12 +0900 (JST)

> But then who *does* update the other language files?

The person using it (them).  If they're not themselves a competent
translator, then the *.po file may be obtained from the Free Software
Foundation, the owner of the copyright (theoretically).

> but still not all of them.  So I think a good rule is:
>
>   When adding a message, add it to all the catalogues, using
>   "STILL_ENGLISH rest of message" in any catalogues you can't fill in

No!  Leave the work to the tools in the gettext package.  Any `msgstr ""',
i.e., no translation, will fall back to the English default, which
is a lot better than "STILL_ENGLISH rest of message", which gives you
absolutely no idea what Lynx is doing.

It takes time, and I mean lots of time to translate.  No catalogue is
going to get done overnight.  The beauty of gettext is that you can plug
away at it string by string.

> If the message catalogues are distributed in the source, they can be
> updated in this manner, and translators can jump in at any time during

Please realize that _each_ .po file is 100Kb+.  Ten languages, and
you've got a 1Mb floppy filled up.

> ongoing development.  If only the English catalogue is distributed,
> translators need to wait until a stable release point or else maintain
> their own parallel development setups, which is a hassle.  It's much

Before any more discussion goes on on lynx-dev, I recommend that
interested parties get the gettext package and see how it works.

The "English catalogue" is the *code itself*!  Generating an "English
catalogue" in the form that gettext uses takes only a few seconds (even
on the SunOS clunker I've been doing my work on).

Translators do NOT have to wait for a stable release.  They can, as I'm
doing, start right now!  That's the whole reason for putting gettext in
there in the first place!

> easier and safer to check everything into a central repository, much

The central repository is provided by the NLS project.  Not just for
Lynx, but for the whole world of free software.

Anyway, find out what it's all about.  Then let's discuss it.

__Henry

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