Re: Old msgid and msgstr

[Petr Kovar <pknbe volny cz>]

"Deniz Koçak" <lenduha gmail com>r>, Sun, 4 May 2008 20:42:52 +0300:

> 2008/5/4 Johannes Schmid <jhs jsschmid de>:
> > Hi!
> >
> >  >  In most po files there are lots of 'msgid's that no longer used. Is
> >  > there a way to cleanup these po files?
> >
> >  I am quite sure there is some way but it usually better to keep them
> >  because once a string reappears you will automaticly get a translation
> >  or at least fuzzy one.
> >
> >  Regards,
> >  Johannes
> >
> 
> If you are talking about obsolete messages ( which are commented out
> with # ) , you can look at
> http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/msgattrib-Invocation.html,
> but as Johannes stated that keeping this messages if useful because of
> the possibility of reappearing in the future. If you are not sure, it
> does not a good idea I think.

When an amount of commented-out messages at the end of a catalog exceeds a
reasonable maximum - let's say 1/4, 1/3 or 1/2 of total number of messages,
then in my opinion it's a good time to start using a more sophisticated
method of keeping used translations. There's a number of options,
depending on a piece of software translator actually uses. When using
Poedit, for example, translator can create a simple translation memory
database from his/her past translations and then take advantage of it when
he/she starts work on a new catalog.

Also when using Poedit, there's an item in the program's main menu that
enables the user to remove all the final comments (made unneeded by
using the translation memory) in one step.

Of course, more programs and thus possibilities exist.

Regards,
Petr Kovar