gettext and the release process (was: gnupg-1.0.6.id.po)

[Werner Koch]

 || On 26 Jun 2001 18:16:34 +0200
 || Karl Eichwalder <address@hidden> wrote: 

 ke> Yes, until now version 1.0.6 wasn't announced to the Translation Project
 ke> team (address@hidden = Martin, François and I).  Thus we
 ke> don't know whether the gnupg maintainers are still interested in
 ke> Translation Project services; cf.

I had some bad experience with the translation robot; e.g. it took very
long until a pot file showed up.  So I usually ask the translaters just
before a release to send me updated translations based on the latest
snapshot.  It is normally not sufficient to just look at the pot file
to translate things; IMO the entire source is needed.

For the 1.0.5 release I tried to find the information on how to send
the the pot file in but I was not able to find it on the web pages.

The whole translation and release process does not work nicely.  Maybe
this has to do with the fact that translations are to be included in
the tarball.  So what usually happens is this:

1. I make a new snapshot and declare it as no strings will change
   anymore beofre the release
2. Ask the translators to do their job and put somehow the POT file
   to the TP Robot.
3. Wait 2 weeks while a get a few translations
4. Send out a new reminder to the translators
5. Get another translation.
6. Sometimes: For whatever reasons (typo, security related) I have to
   change some strings and start over at step 4.
7. Release a version
8. Get more translations right after the release.

The upshot is that translation are always off by at least one version.
This is not that good.

The only solution to this is to remove the translations from the
package and distribute them as separate files.  This has also the
advantage that the tarball is smaller and one could fix single
translations without releasing a new version just due to a
translation bug.

Well, this needs support from gettext of course.

Comments,

  Werner


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Werner Koch        Omnis enim res, quae dando non deficit, dum habetur
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