Re: [Gaim-i18n] check_po.pl

[Bjoern V. <bj...@cs...>]

Richard Laager wrote:
> What is it that check_po.pl does that msgfmt -c doesn't?
>  =20
I think "msgfmt -c" only finds hard errors in .po files. In most cases,=20
the "msgfmt -c" errors prevent the compilation, if they are not fixed:

An example:

    #: ../src/ft.c:442
    #, c-format
    msgid "%s is not a valid filename.\n"
    msgstr "%s ist kein g=FCltiger Dateiname."

Because of the missing line ending ("\n") the file can not be compiled.

    $ msgfmt -c de.po
    de.po:2121: `msgid' and `msgstr' entries do not both end with '\n'
    msgfmt: found 1 fatal error

    $ make
    file=3D`echo de | sed 's,.*/,,'`.gmo  && rm -f $file &&
    /usr/bin/msgfmt -o $file de.po
    de.po:2121: `msgid' and `msgstr' entries do not both end with '\n'
    /usr/bin/msgfmt: found 1 fatal error
    *** Error code 1

check_po.pl is more a "lint" tool for gettext. It finds very much=20
possible problems in .po files (from check_po.pl):

    # Various checks on po file translations:
    # - printf-style format strings;
    # - differences in trailing newlines;
    # - empty (non-fuzzy) msgid;
    # - likely whitespace errors on joining multi-line entries
    # Ignores all fuzzy entries.
    #
    # Options:
    #  -x  Don't do standard checks above (eg, just check one of below).
    #  -n  Check newlines within strings; ie, that have equal numbers
    #      of newlines in msgstr and msgid.  (Optional because this may
    #      happen legitimately.)
    #  -w  Check leading whitespace.  Sometimes whitespace is simply
    #      spacing (eg, for widget labels etc), or punctuation difference=
s,
    #      so this may be ok.
    #  -W  Check trailing whitespace.  See -w above.
    #  -p  Check trailing punctuation.
    #  -c  Check capitalization of first non-whitespace character
    #      (only if [a-zA-Z]).
    #  -e  Check on empty (c.q. new) msgstr

I use both tools with the following options:

msgfmt:

    $ LANG=3DC msgfmt --check --check-accelerators=3D_ -c de.po

This does the standard checks (-c|--check) and also checks presence of=20
keyboard accelerators for menu items.

check_po.pl:

    ./check_po.pl -xnwWpce de.po

This does not do the standard checks (because I don't want to see all=20
the "*** Possible non-whitespace line-join problem in msgstr" warnings - =

I think this are false-positives). But it checks for other problems like =

different trailung punctuations. See above for the meanings of the other =

switches.

Dear translators: Please use both tools. Especially check_po.pl shows=20
many false-positives. But in most cases, this tools also find "real"=20
problems.

Regards, Bj=F6rn