Translation window and some ideas

[Dirk Hohndel]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2015 at 05:50:29PM +0200, Lubomir I. Ivanov wrote:
> hello,
> 
> can't do much ATM other than translating, but i would like to propose
> a couple of ideas.
> 
> 1) use a translation window
> 
> the idea of a translation windows is that between the release of the
> first beta (or the Nth beta) and the final release, no patches with
> strings changes should be accepted.

Yes. We are seriously lacking discipline on that front.
I will cheerfully (not) take the blame.

> 2) do not accept patches with typos
> 
> this is a bit optimistic...
> people should inspect the submitted patches or their own patches for
> typos and badly formatted text and only the fixed versions should be
> pushed.

Also something I should do a better job of. It's this struggle between
trying to be responsive and not to slow things down, and being
sufficiently thorough and reviewing each patch carefully enough.

The biggest problem is that there are a few people here who's patches I
generally trust and then don't look at closely enough...

> with 1) and 2) the translation work will be reduced greatly...and i'm
> pretty sure git branches can help with that.

I think our project is too small to have work going on in multiple
branches. I already struggle to get enough testing going, this would make
it far worse.

Case in point - I asked people to test the 4.3.950 binaries for the
different Linux flavors.

Look at the long list of reports I have gotten since.

:-(

> ideally there should be only one string update notification at
> trasifex per beta cycle.
> the dreams could be real... ;-)

I don't think that's the right answer, because it would mean that the vast
majority of translations would have to happen in very small windows. I
think this makes it harder on the translators.

I may be wrong, but I think pushing strings often is the better course of
action. For those who'd rather do the full translation at the very end I'd
simply suggest that you wait until we are at least at Beta 2. Everyone
else can translate as we go - yes, some times that means there will be
wasted cycles. Oh, and if you see a typo or an inconsistency, don't
translate, send a patch instead.

/D