Re: [bug-gettext] Bug#764483: gettext: Please support setting COPYRIGHT_HOLDER from an autoconf variable (fwd)

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Santiago,

Re <https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=764483>
   <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gettext/2014-10/msg00016.html>

> For dpkg, which uses muliple po directories, I'd like to be able to
> set the COPYRIGHT_HOLDER variable centrally, instead of having to set
> it on each po/Makevars file, and possibly having to keep it in sync.
> 
> It would be nice if gettext supported setting it from an autoconf
> variable (with AC_SUBST), in the same way MSGID_BUGS_ADDRESS falls
> back to use PACKAGE_BUGREPORT when MSGID_BUGS_ADDRESS is empty.
> 
> This might require setting something like:
> 
>   PACKAGE_COPYRIGHT_HOLDER = @PACKAGE_COPYRIGHT_HOLDER@
> 
> in Makefile.in.in, and making the code fallback to use that if
> COPYRIGHT_HOLDER is not set.

This would be a useful feature for packages with more than 10 'po'
directories.

But given that
  - Most packages have not more than 2 'po' directories,
  - Even dpkg has only 4 'po' directories [1],
  - The copyright holder typically does not change more frequently
    than once in 10 years,
this feature does not seem worth the added complexity in the
documentation. Namely, the current state [2] is that
  - customizations for the build process go in configure.ac,
  - customizations for the 'po' directories go in po/Makevars and
    po/LINGUAS and po/POTFILES.in.
The suggested feature would blur this simple rule.

So, it's declined.

Bruno

[1] git clone https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git
[2] https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Adjusting-Files.html