Re: LSR project and string stability

["Christian Rose" <menthos gnome org>]

On 7/5/06, Peter Parente <parente gmail com> wrote:
> I notice translators have started adding translations for the LSR
> project. Thank you for your support!
>
> I have a question about string stability. LSR is under heavy
> development right now as we push toward our 0.3.0 release. As a
> result, the translatable strings are likely to change during this
> period.
>
> What is the proper etiquette for changing translatable strings such
> that the early work of translators isn't rendered obsolete? Is it OK
> to change strings now and then declare a string freeze a couple weeks
> before release? Should I announce string freezes on this list?

That's up to you to decide really -- as long as LSR is not part of the
official GNOME release, having string stability and string freezes for
the project is completely voluntary. For software included with the
official GNOME release, we are *very* picky about release-wide string
freezes and such, but as for now, you do what you feel is best.

As a consequence, there is no real policy or requirement for this for
non-core modules. Some non-core module maintainers announce if and
when they add a string freeze and when the release is planned to be
made, and other maintainers simply don't announce anything.

Perhaps some sort of "best practice" would be to announce a voluntary
string freeze on the gnome-i18n list when you are about to make an
important release, and let the translators know how much time they
have to do their thing. Please give the translators a time frame of a
week or at least a couple of days, though.


Thanks,
Christian