lynx-dev Re: message catalog files (was: da.po file)

[Webmaster Jim]

On Wed, Jul 19, 2000 at 12:52:15PM -0500, Klaus Weide wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jul 2000, Webmaster Jim wrote:
> > Since I have discovered we have not just 1, but 2 Danish translation
> > files, there needs to be a placeholder in the source so that users can
> > find the translations. At least, we need this based on the general
> > distribution not containing full message catalogs; 
> Why are there placeholder PO files anyway?  I haven't yet understood
> what they are good for.

I use them to test the message catalog builds in the stripped-down
release. As the full translations are developed, I've tried to put
pointers to the full ones in the stubs.
 
> In my mind, they can easily give to the installer the impression that
> they are the real thing, so he/she will never bother to get the real
> ones.  After all, he/she has already installed lynx with message
> catalogs.

Since only about 3 messages are in the stubs, I don't think anyone
will believe a translation is working correctly, and will then try
to get the message :-).
 
> You also seem to be generating them with an ancient version of the
> gettext tools (at least, the da.po included in your mail).  They
> have incomplete (invalid) lines like
>    "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=\n"
> More up-to-date gettext tools (at least) barf on that, in my experience
> (though I didn't try to repeat it right now).

Yes, the stubs are probably cut-and-paste junk from several years of
hacking on translation files and fairly worthless. They serve as a
reminder of things-to-do...

> > the parallel full
> > distribution (at http://lynx.isc.org/gnumatic) has the catalogs.
> This is a mystery URL that I've only ever seen, as far as I recall,
> in messages from you.  If people are supposed to find it, it needs
> to be advertised.  Someone looking at either
> <http://lynx.isc.org/current/> or <http://lynx.isc.org/release/> will
> have no idea that a "gnumatic" version or page exists, there are no
> links.

See http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/domain-lynx.html
(yes, I know it has that redirect you don't like--it's not my site
or page).  It refers one to:

http://www2.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard/po/registry.cgi?domain=lynx
and thence to
http://lynx.isc.org/gnumatic/lynx-2.8.3.rel1.tar.gz

The latter is the style that the Translation Project is advertising for
users reference. I'm working on publishing the 2.8.4 URL when we have
some newer messages worth mentioning.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Marvin the Paranoid Android.

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