Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] Localise error headers

From: Duy Nguyen <pclouds@gmail.com>
To: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Cc: Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net>,
	"git@vger.kernel.org" <git@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] Localise error headers
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2017 16:34:54 +0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CACsJy8ALXkkEnQPvpMx4nrPjD=fpGNDkbC_oqMrj3KRdRr_-eQ@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CACsJy8B0UT4_CF=qu081ep6nzdBXxnnNbma-wCYeajAuXaKg5w@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 8:25 PM, Duy Nguyen <pclouds@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 2:45 AM, Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com> wrote:
>>> In this implementation, the gettext call for the header and the body are done
>>> in different places (error function vs. caller) but this call pattern seems to
>>> be the easiest variant for the caller, because the message body has to be marked
>>> for localisation in any case, and N_() requires more letters than _(), an extra
>>> argument to die() etc. even more than the extra "_" in the function name.
>>
>> I see. We have to markup the strings to be translatable such that the .po files
>> are complete. It would be really handy if there was a way to say "anything that
>> is fed to this function (die_) needs to be marked for translation.
>>
>> Looking through
>> https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/xgettext-Invocation.html
>> such a thing doesn't seem to exist.
>
> I think --keyword is exactly for that purpose: marking more text for
> translations besides standard markers like _() or N_(). Yes we need to
> call gettext() explicitly in die_() later on. We already do that for
> parse-options. We just need to N_() the strings, without actually
> spelling it out.
>
>>
>> So in that case die_(_(...)) seems to be the easiest way forward.
>
> I still prefer changing the die_routine though since die() in many
> cases could be used in both plumbing and porcelain contexts. And we
> have tried to keep plumbing output (and behavior) as stable as
> possible. The approach has some similarity to unpack_trees() which
> shares the same porcelain/plumbing problem.

On the other hand, making die(), not die_(), translatable means the
translators will have to translate them _all_ even if only some will
end up being displayed. That's 2000+ strings according to git-grep.
And some of them, like die("BUG:..") should definitely not be
translated. So +1 to die_(), unless we decide all strings are safe to
translate.
-- 
Duy