[jbosstools-dev] Re: JBoss Tools .pot files checked in; careful when renaming .properties!

[Max Rydahl Andersen]

ok, I don't fully understand why it is better to use a different  
"compressed" path than what
is used in the src plugin - but if that is what the translators find best  
then ok.

Is the build capable of failing if a resource gets  moved/renamed and you  
can't find a match ?

/max

> G'day all,
>
> I finally bit the bullet and put in a somewhat kludgy workaround for the
> fact that properties files are not kept in the same directory under each
> plugin, but all over the place (src, src/main, resources, jbosscore,
> ...).  I can always take out the workaround when
> https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBIDE-2972 is resolved.
>
> With the workaround, the pot filenames should be fairly stable, so I've
> checked in the converted pot files under i18n/po.
>
> I really, really tried to avoid checking in generated files like pot
> files.  However, keeping pot files in the source tree seems to be a
> universal convention for gettext projects, and corresponding pot and po
> files are usually kept in the repository together.  This enables
> (non-programmer) translators to merge new strings for translation just
> by checking out the po directory, without having to run xgettext (or
> Ant-Gettext, in this case) against the entire codebase themselves.
>
> Based on feedback from the L10n team, I have also changed the filename
> mapping used when converting from .properties to .pot files.  The pot
> filename now eliminates segments like "src", "src/main", "resources",
> "jbosscore", etc which are very likely to change over time.  I have also
> flattened the remaining directory hierarchy.
>
> I think this retais enough of the original path to prevent name
> collisions, but shortens it enough to be more changeproof and easier for
> translators to work with.
>
> With the new mapping, the names of source directories can be refactored
> without affecting the .pots and thus invalidating translations.  For
> instance, changing myplugin/src/**/*.properties to
> myplugin/resources/**/*.properties is perfectly safe.   But changing the
> name of a module, a plugin or a .properties file (or its package) will!
>  (See the end of this email.)
>
> Thus the property file org/hibernate/console/ConsoleMessages.properties
> in the plugin org.hibernate.eclipse (module hibernatetools) is mapped to:
>
> i18n/po/hibernatetools/org.hibernate.eclipse-org.hibernate.console.ConsoleMessages/
> org.hibernate.console.ConsoleMessages.pot
>
> The po/pot files are still grouped into modules (for managability), and
> we keep track of the plugin id and the resource path (ie the path used
> at runtime to load the resource).  The resource path is used again for
> the filename within the directory, partly to make it easier to find (eg
> in Eclipse, press Ctrl-Shift-R, the enter *ConsoleMessages or other
> wildcard).
>
> In accordance with the Gettext tools' default conventions, po files will
> be kept in the same directory, but named ${locale}.po.  So the above
> directory will look like this when translated:
> i18n/po/hibernatetools/org.hibernate.eclipse-org.hibernate.console.ConsoleMessages/
>   de_DE.po
>   es_ES.po
>   fr_FR.po
>   org.hibernate.console.ConsoleMessages.pot
>   pt_BR.po
>   zh_CN.po
>
> Please be careful:
> 1. when renaming modules, plugins, .properties files, or packages which
> contain .properties files, or
> 2. when moving plugins to a different module.
>
> Any of these changes will prevent existing translations (when we have
> some) from being picked up, unless the affected po directories and files
> are manually renamed to suit.  By me, probably.  But feel free to rename
> the affected po directories/files if you feel confident to!
>
> I'm certainly not saying "don't rename things", but please try to go
> easy on me!  Thanks!
>
> Regards,
>
> Sean.
>



-- 
/max