Possible German translation bug

brian m. carlson· Nov 27, 2025, 23:28 UTC · lore

We have the following string in Git, which is translated as follows in Spanish, French, and German:

----
% git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
fatal: Needed a single revision
% LC_ALL=es_MX.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
fatal: Se necesitó una revisión singular
% LC_ALL=fr_CA.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
fatal : Une seule révision attendue
% LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
Schwerwiegend: Benötigte einen einzelnen Commit
----

In Spanish and French, we use the translation of the word "revision" because `git rev-parse --verify` can permit referring to an object of any type: blob, tree, commit, or tag. For instance, this is a blob:

---- % git rev-parse --verify v2.0.0:strbuf.c ee96dcfb816625436582833d812a7156513d5d39 ----

But in German, we use the noun "Commit". I admit my German is not very good[0] and my technical German is effectively nonexistent, but I presume "Commit" means "commit" and if so, that's simply not accurate in this case.

It looks like in other places in the translation we use "Revisionsgang" for "revision walk" and "Revisionsliste" for "revision list", so maybe "Revision" is a possible option here, but that would be better decided by someone with a much better command of German than I have. Of course, I could be wrong altogether, in which case please accept my apologies for the noise.

[0] I do hope to improve it in the new year, though.

-- 
brian m. carlson (they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

Sören Krecker· Nov 28, 2025, 05:14 UTC · re: brian m. carlson · lore

Re: Possible German translation bug

Hi,

for me as a native speeker the translation revison as "Revision" seems much better to me.

Best regards,

Sören Krecker

Am 28.11.25 um 00:28 schrieb brian m. carlson:

Show 36 quoted lines

> We have the following string in Git, which is translated as follows in
> Spanish, French, and German:
> 
> ----
> % git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
> fatal: Needed a single revision
> % LC_ALL=es_MX.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
> fatal: Se necesitó una revisión singular
> % LC_ALL=fr_CA.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
> fatal : Une seule révision attendue
> % LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 git rev-parse --verify nonexistent
> Schwerwiegend: Benötigte einen einzelnen Commit
> ----
> 
> In Spanish and French, we use the translation of the word "revision"
> because `git rev-parse --verify` can permit referring to an object of
> any type: blob, tree, commit, or tag.  For instance, this is a blob:
> 
> ----
> % git rev-parse --verify v2.0.0:strbuf.c
> ee96dcfb816625436582833d812a7156513d5d39
> ----
> 
> But in German, we use the noun "Commit".  I admit my German is not very
> good[0] and my technical German is effectively nonexistent, but I
> presume "Commit" means "commit" and if so, that's simply not accurate in
> this case.
> 
> It looks like in other places in the translation we use "Revisionsgang"
> for "revision walk" and "Revisionsliste" for "revision list", so maybe
> "Revision" is a possible option here, but that would be better decided
> by someone with a much better command of German than I have.  Of course,
> I could be wrong altogether, in which case please accept my apologies
> for the noise.
> 
> [0] I do hope to improve it in the new year, though.