Re: [evolution] Clashing string in translatable text

[Alexandre Franke <afranke gnome org>]

On Wed, Feb 26, 2020 at 4:29 PM Milan Crha via gnome-i18n
<gnome-i18n gnome org> wrote:
>         Hello,

Hi,

> I've been warned about a string clash for word "Flags" in Evolution by
> one of the translators. It happened when I copied gtk+' Emoji chooser
> widget into Evolution sources (because gtk+ (3.x) doesn't provide it in
> public API). The string is already used in Evolution in a meaning
> "bit-or flags", while in the Emoji it's used like a "country flags".
>
> I need to make a change, but I'm not sure whether I can do it without
> an approval, as the code is under the string freeze.

See https://wiki.gnome.org/TranslationProject/HandlingStringFreezes
and more specifically the “What changes are not affected by the string
freeze?” section. Your case here falls under the “Change or addition
of a message that is not marked for translation” category, i.e. the
strings are already present in the code and they are just not
available for translators to translate.

> I can think of two approaches to fix this. The first is to just mark
> the clashing strings with context, but I'd say it's suboptiomal.

That is the one I would have suggested.

> The second approach is to use the translation from the gtk+ package,
> which is better, from my point of view (also because it keeps the Emoji
> chooser texts consistent). It will also avoid unnecessary translation
> strings for Evolution translators.
>
> I've prepared a very simple patch for the second approach, I only would
> like to know whether I can commit it, to not make life worse to
> anybody.

The general rule is that developers should not touch translations even
if they want to help translators. I’ll let Piotr confirm whether he
thinks it applies to your specific case.

Cheers,

-- 
Alexandre Franke
GNOME Hacker