Re: an i18n sample

[Andrew Cagney <cagney at gnu dot org>]

> > -          fprintf_unfiltered (gdb_stderr, "Type ");
> > +          fprintf_unfiltered (gdb_stderr, _("Type "));
> >           if (type == NULL)
> > -            fprintf_unfiltered (gdb_stderr, "(null)");
> > +            fprintf_unfiltered (gdb_stderr, _("(null)"));
> >           else
> >             type_print (type, "", gdb_stderr, -1);
> > -          error (" is not a structure or union type");
> > +          error (_(" is not a structure or union type"));
>
>
> This fragment should be rewritten to use full sentences, like in
> "Type (null) is not a structure or union type", instead of marking
> each part separately.  That way, a translator will be able to
> translate the entire sentence as a single entity, rather than each
> part.  (Translating sentences in parts usually leads to bad
> translations, unless the translator makes an effort to read the
> source.)

This isn't the first time we've seen an attempt to mark up GDB.  Last 
time, unfortunatly, things became bogged down by the desire to fix i18n 
code problems _before_ marking things, and that let to the process 
becomming stalled (it's scope became too large so nothing happened), and 
eventually dropped.  Lets try to avoid that mistake this time.

Looking at the work, there are two tasks here:

- mark up gdb's strings
- fix i18n breakage

Where there's a trivial tweak, perhaps commit it, but for more complex 
cases we should consider leaving them(1), comming back later.  We'll 
soon hear about it - the i18n users will soon alert us to where english 
is still showing through.

By doing this we can can limit the scope of the immediate task (so it 
can be completed), and then address the second over time.

Hmm, should we require all strings to be "marked-up", using a new macro 
``I_()'' for identity strings - ones that shouldn't be translated.  If 
we do that I can ARI this letting us catch new code not marked up.

Does that sound reasonable?

Andrew

PS: We could even mark the questionable cases up with D_() - deprecated 
- so that they are easier to find.