[jbosstools-dev] Translation workflow and string freezes (was Re: Japanese translations for JBoss Tools committed to svn)

Max Rydahl Andersen wrote: Pretty much. The props from JBT trunk get converted into PO/POT for the translators to work on, and then they can be converted back into props when ready. For now, it's a manual process run once in a while. For instance: 1. Developers work on JBoss Tools, changing anything they like 2. String freeze is enacted (but I think we can get away with a soft freeze) 3. I run prop2gettext, updating jbosstools-l10n in bitbucket from JBT trunk 4. Translators translate the PO files and push to bitbucket 5. I pull from bitbucket, run gettext2prop and check *_{ja,de,es,...}.properties into JBT trunk I say bitbucket, but I'm hoping we'll get common hosting for all jboss-L10n projects [1], probably in svn form, and thus not on bitbucket. And it's only for trunk right now, but there's no reason it can't work for branches too. Perhaps a translation workflow tool/server like flies will be ready before we get that far. By "soft freeze", I mean that developers should *try* to avoid unnecessary English changes (thus avoiding wasted translation effort), but if necessary, we can handle changes without causing major problems (such as SVN conflicts). The most important thing is to have the developers avoid changing the *non-English* properties files, at least during the string freeze. Or at all, if possible. No one programmer can update all the translated properties anyway. I think it's better to go through the L10n project for all translation work, and work with the other translators. If the translators don't change the English files, and developers don't change the non-English properties files, we shouldn't get any conflicts between the two repositories. Remember: Properties files were never meant for editing translations [2]. Sean. [1] http://lists.jboss.org/pipermail/jboss-l10n/2009-May/000000.html [2] https://fedorahosted.org/tennera/wiki/PropertiesFiles -- Sean Flanigan Senior Software Engineer Engineering - Internationalisation Red Hat