Re: How do strings get to newer versions?

["Christian Rose" <menthos gnome org>]

On 5/17/06, Raivis Dejus <orvils gmail com> wrote:
> I have heared that you use msgmerge to get strings from older versions
> to the newer ones, but how often does that happen?

The translation status pages use intltool/gettext/msgmerge to
periodically update all translations found there. This happens several
times a day, so you should always find the most current messages, give
or take a few hours, when you fetch a translation from the translation
status pages.


> and if i have translated something for gnome 2.14 should i comit that
> file to gnome 2.16? can this cause any problems? and what about
> commiting/getting gnome 2.16 translations to 2.14

This depends on if the module has branched, and to what branch of the
module that the translation was committed to.

If the module had not branched when you committed your updated
translation for it, and the commit was hence made to the (default)
HEAD branch of the module, then your most recently updated translation
will automatically be used for both 2.14 and 2.16 and any future
versions.

If the module had already branched when you committed your updated
translation for it, and you committed your translation to the
gnome-2-14 branch of the module, then your most recently updated
translation will only be used for GNOME 2.14. If you want your most
recently updated translation to be used for GNOME 2.16 and any future
versions, you must manually copy it to the (default) HEAD branch of
the module and update it there.

If the module had already branched when you committed your updated
translation for it, and you committed your translation to the
(default) HEAD branch of the module, then your most recently updated
translation will be used for GNOME 2.16 and any future versions, but
not for GNOME 2.14. If you want your most recently updated translation
to be used also for GNOME 2.14, you must manually copy it to the
gnome-2-14 branch of the module and update it there.


This may all sound confusing, but I myself think it helps if you
consider the module development process as a big tree, growing upwards
over time. The main development of the module always happens in the
trunk of the tree, which is the default HEAD branch (the branch you
get when you do not specify any branch).
At some points in time, smaller branches are created. The branches are
essentially "snapshots" of HEAD at the time the branch was created,
and they then grow independently of the HEAD branch. In GNOME, we use
branches to represent releases, so as to allow further main
development to continue in HEAD, but when the branches are created are
up to the module maintainers.

Anyway, if you think of it as a tree, the following becomes a bit clearer:
* Any change introduced only in HEAD will exist in HEAD and all
branches that are branched from HEAD in the future (i.e. any future
releases). However, the change will not automatically exist in any by
that time already existing branch.
* Any change introduced only on a branch will exist in that branch,
but not in HEAD nor in any other branch by default.


> as some parts of gnome are being translated also in launchpad.net, can
> I commit/get those translations to gnome upstream?

No. This is not possible at the moment due to limitations in Rosetta/Launchpad.
If you want to translate GNOME, we therefore recommend you do it
directly in upstream (i.e. in the GNOME Translation Project).


Christian