Re: [PATCH 3/5] gettext docs: the gettext.h C interface

From: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 10, 2010, 23:03 UTC
Message-ID: <AANLkTimNvSuJ8g_Z3OuN2d-EGO99NNohe_HN+yzBaBMy@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <7veid1gqjd.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 22:52, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 26 quoted lines

> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason  <avarab@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> +   - _()
>> +
>> +    Mark and translate a string. E.g.:
>> +
>> +        printf(_("HEAD is now at %s"), hex);
>> +
>> +   - N_()
>> +
>> +    A no-op pass-through macro for marking strings inside static
>> +    initializations, e.g.:
>> +
>> +        static const char *reset_type_names[] = {
>> +            N_("mixed"), N_("soft"), N_("hard"), N_("merge"), N_("keep"), NULL
>> +        };
>> +
>> +    And then, later:
>> +
>> +        die(_("%s reset is not allowed in a bare repository"),
>> +               _(reset_type_names[reset_type]));
>
> I do not think this is a very good example.  Unless we are doing l10n of
> option names, a Portuguese won't be typing "git reset --misto", so there
> is no point in invoking _(reset_type_names[]) to begin with, and there is
> no need to mark mixed/soft/hard/... for translation.

Actually all the code that uses reset_type_names isn't referring to the option directly, but to the action currently being undertaken:

    die(_("Cannot do a %s reset in the middle of a merge."),
        _(reset_type_names[reset_type]));

    die(_("Cannot do %s reset with paths."),
        _(reset_type_names[reset_type]));

    die(_("%s reset is not allowed in a bare repository"),
        _(reset_type_names[reset_type]));

In that context translators probably want to translate them, e.g. I'd translate the first one into Icelandic as:

    "Get ekki framkvæmt %s endurstillingu í miðri sameiningu" with %s
== "blandaða" ("mixed")

> And we won't be doing l10n of option names or subcommand names, I hope ;-).

We could do that, I don't have plans for it though, and in any case I don't think this is such a case.