[Koha-translate] Issues with es-ES po files (staff and opac)

[Frédéric DEMIANS]

 > Besides being very carefull about the %s's I'm also doing a check with
 > 'msgfmt -c' before running the translate script. However I've noticed
 > sometimes it doesn't yelp even when there is a mismatch and is not in
 > a fuzzy string.

Try 6464 patch and if it doesn't work for a string give me its msgid.

 > I guess I can apply that patch to my branch now and start using it
 > right away.  Did it and it doesn't cry when I feed it a bad .po, check
 > my comment in bug please.

See Frère Sébastien Marie comment on 6464 bug:

   http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=6464

When .po file installation fails, you don't have this message at the end
of the process:

   The install seems to be successful.

 > Using pootle is cumbersome for me, I find the workflow more straight
 > making my changes locally.

Take a look at this scenario:

   1. April 22nd, you grab 3.4.0 es-ES .po files from Koha git
      repository and you start translating.
   2. During April and May and June another translator works on Pootle
      Spanish files.
   4. May 10th, and June 10th, es-ES .po are updated with strings from
      current 3.4 version (my job).
   5. June 12th, you upload your files.

With this scenario, all the work done by the other translator during
(2) will be overwritten by your translation, and your translation will
not contain the last updated strings.

So if you want to work locally, which is very understandable, outside
Pootle, you have to coordinate with other translators, and you have to
regularly upload you files in sync with string freeze announcement
released by the Release Manager.

 > Also why pootle claims 100% spanish translation when there are near
 > 1000 fuzzy strings?

Because Pootle is a tool with its own shortcomings. Its interface is not
particularly intuitive. Koha .po files are very large and we're reaching
Pootle limits and so get some bugs. A complete solution would be to
redesign completely Koha translation framework in order to slim down
drastically .po files which are insanely huge, avoid misusing %s
placeholder as Template::Toolkit directives, and even improve
translatability. I have a lot of ideas and solutions but I have no time
to implement them. It would imply a deep modification of all templates
and even Perl scripts.

Concerning fuzzy strings, this issue is just popping up now! Thank you
Fernando for that. Could you open a bug on Bugzilla? I can confirm that
the problem affects ALL languages. Normally, on the Files page, Pootle
should display a link 'Quick translate' which should show all fuzzy
strings. We don't have it. I will investigate.

We should have a page on Koha wiki explaining exactly the translation
possible workflow. But I haven't enough time to write it. A page like
this one:

   http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Pootle_User_Guide

 > I'm not the only translator so I guess I'll be shouting in
 > koha-translate.

Yes.

 > But let me ask another one: why are we using this method? Cannot we
 > rely on git doing the merging? I've found some of the people working
 > on spanish translation is somewhat self cutted out from mailing list
 > and are hard to reach.

Git is for developers not for translators. My advice, if you're a solo
translator, work outside Pootle. If there is a team of translators, work
on Pootle OR design your own workflow.

In theory, we could automatically synchronize Pootle files management
with Koha git repository. But it isn't that simple. Any suggestion/patch
is welcome. The difficulty is that Pootle is designed for a standard GNU
.po files and that Koha has its own idiosyncrasies, language code naming
convention, etc. In any case, merging has to be done by Pootle not by
git which don't now how to merge .po file string entries. And it only
works in one direction: We could automatize the way translations get back
into Koha git repository; the other direction can't work.

Thanks.
-- 
Frédéric DEMIANS
http://www.tamil.fr/u/fdemians.html