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Is there any interest in localizing term delimiters in git messages?

From
Alexander Shopov <ash@kambanaria.org>
Date
Oct 17, 2023, 21:09 UTC
Message-ID
<CAP6f5Mmi=f4DPcFwfvEiJMdKMa0BUyZ019mc8uFXyOufgD4NjA@mail.gmail.com>
Hello all,

Is there any interest in being able to change the delimiters of the changeable terms in git messages?

Typical example: ORIGINAL msgid " (use \"git rm --cached <file>...\" to unstage)"

TRANSLATION msgstr "" " (използвайте „git rm --cached %s ФАЙЛ…“, за да извадите ФАЙЛа от индекса)"

The important part are the `<' and `>' delimiters of the term "file"

Instead of using them - I omit them and capitalize the term. As if `<' and `>' are declared as localizable and then I translate them as `', `'

This has the following benefits:
1. The translation gets shorter
2. We skip potentially dangerous shell characters (<> redirect IN/OUT)
3. Readability improves for some strings, ex:
- git pack-objects [<options>] <base-name> [< <ref-list> | < <object-list>]
- git mailinfo [<options>] <msg> <patch> < mail >info

On the other hand - this can increase the maintenance burden of messages and tests and the shortening benefit is applicable to languages using capitalization or some other form of letter changing that preserves readability (I understand there are many languages with lots of speakers that are not like that). They might decide to convey `<' and `>' as `«', `»' to get benefits 2 and 3.

So I am asking - is there any interest from other localizers to have such a feature? Would the additional maintenance be OK for the developers?

It is possible that no one besides me is interested in this - in which
case I will rework the Bulgarian translation as:
- More and more messages containing only the term automatically add
the `<' and `>'
- I need to keep adding smudge rules to the git-po-helper tool
(https://github.com/git-l10n/git-po-helper).

Kind regards: al_shopov

Next: Junio C Hamano
Message 1 of 12 in “Is there any interest in localizing term delimiters in git messages?”
  1. Alexander ShopovOct 17, 2023
  2. Junio C HamanoOct 17, 2023
  3. Jiang XinOct 18, 2023
  4. Junio C HamanoOct 18, 2023
  5. commit: do not use cryptic "new_index" in end-user facing messagesJunio C Hamano, Oct 18, 2023
  6. Jiang XinOct 19, 2023
  7. Junio C HamanoOct 19, 2023
  8. Jeff HostetlerOct 19, 2023
  9. Junio C HamanoOct 19, 2023
  10. Torsten BögershausenOct 19, 2023
  11. Junio C HamanoOct 19, 2023
  12. Peter KreftingOct 21, 2023

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