[Chandler-dev] Localized Text Checkpoint

[Philippe Bossut]

Hi,

Mike Taylor wrote:
> Checkpoint 20070709, created from the trunk as of revision 14974, is 
> ready for download.
>
> The significance of this Checkpoint is that it represents the state of 
> the Chandler trunk at the point of the localized text freeze.
>
>     http://downloads.osafoundation.org/chandler/checkpoints/20070709/
Great job everyone! We worked hard to get to that point and here we are: 
we are officially declaring Chandler Localization Frozen.

That means that now localizers across the planet will be able to extract 
a Chandler.pot and get on producing their language localization egg 
without fear of the strings changing underneath them and breaking their 
localization efforts. As a matter of fact, Brian Kirsch is going to lead 
such an effort no later than tomorrow during a EuroPython sprint in 
Vilnius (Lituania).

Since the Python strings are used as key in translations, that means 
that we don't want them to be modified: commits modifying localized 
strings (not all strings, only those going through the translation 
service) will be rolled back. Here's a quick list of does and don't:

- Suppressing a localized string in the code: that's OK, that simply 
means that one string won't be used in the po. That doesn't break anything.
- Adding a localized string: that's next to the limit but if we 
*absolutely* need to add such a string (e.g. warning dialog to the 
user), the Bug Council may decide to authorize such a change. That means 
though that said warning will appear in English in all languages. Not 
great but may be better than an incomprehensible traceback or something 
like that. Might be used sparingly.
- Modifying a localized string: this is a no-no and will be rolled back. 
If you need to change and existing string, you can use the en_US 
Chandler.po translation egg so that end user will get the change. As a 
rule of thumb though, it's just safer to consider that this opportunity 
is now gone.

Thanks for all of you who worked hard to get to this milestone. This is 
great!

Cheers,
- Philippe