This afternoon I was informed that X-KDE-PluginInfo-* isn't translated in .desktop files. For most stuff that's alright because the fields are things like author names, license types (GPL, LPGL), version numbers .. generally things that don't get translated.
There is one odd duckling in there though: X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category. Given that it's not a proper noun I figured, naively it turns out, that it would get translated. No such luck. When we went looking for fields that are translated, the only viable candidate we found was the Keywords entry.
So Plasma now uses that for its categorization of applets. As an added bonus, not only does it get translated but it allows for any one component to be in multiple categories. Neat.
The turn around time on this was ~10 hours from it being reported to it being fixed. As a monolingual English speaker, I don't notice things that aren't translated until someone speaks up. When they do, I make sure it gets fixed in a timely manner. I put this on my TODO for the day, which happened to finish at nearly midnight tonight, but I still got it done as planned.
i18n is not a second class citizen in KDE, despite some premature protestations to that effect, but like any non-trivial thing it does have bugs here and there. We do take care of them as quickly as possible, and given that we have things like multiple calendar systems, broad localization for numeric and measurement systems, 80+ languages in KDE3 (and catching up in KDE4 :), etc... I think that speaks for itself.
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8 comments:
What do multiple calendar systems etc. have to do with the fact that category names ("Application Launchers", "Astronomy") in the drop down box of the "Add Widget" dialog are untranslatable?
@KAMiKAZOW: firstly, the category names are translatable now. once it was brought to my attention, it got fixed.
as to what multiple calendar systems have to do with anything:
if you read the blog entry linked to in that last paragraph you'll see someone asserting that i18n is a "second class citize in KDE" and, as one supporting point, noting that the Plasma developers were not responsive to i18n issues.
not only is that assertion patently false, but the overhwelming effort to make KDE highly localizable, such as through multiple calendar systems, shows that localization is not a "second class citizen".
it's important to keep it all in perspective: huge efforts go into localizing KDE, and yes there will be bugs we stumble over from time to time.
what point were you trying to make?
Sorry, didn't make myself clear. I had Cid's blog post and your's next to each other and somehow thought that what I meant is clear. Obviously it isn't (as I realize now even by myself).
What I meant was: The aspects mentioned in Cid's blog post about untranslatable strings have nothing to do with calendars etc.
Oh, and BTW: I don't think that i18n is a 2nd class citizen for KDE, but i18n is also not top-priority, as the half year old "Places" bug suggests.
Don't get me wrong: despite a few quirks here and there, KDE is still awesome. Can't wait for 4.3. You guys rock. :-)
hmmm we use X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category for the KWin effect categories and as I don't use an English KDE I see that they are translated.
Ah just looked it up. We use i18n when inserting the categories into the KPluginSelector.
it's quite amusing you don't reached the part where i said "These are just some examples, don't feel finger pointed if your app is here." and you had to explicitely do a blog on your own accusing me of premature protestation
i'm sincerely wondered by the fact that ANY critic you get on plasma gets the critic person on your shooting radar
I don't really understand this - what makes X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category untranslatable?
@KAMiKAZOW: "The aspects mentioned in Cid's blog post about untranslatable strings have nothing to do with calendars etc."
the reason i brought it up is that Albert chose to paint with very broad brushstrokes which simply aren't true.
as i note, there will be i18n related bugs; to expect 100% perfect on the first go is unrealistic. but it also isn't the dire situation Alberta paints.
and that was my point in bringing up the total i18n/l10n efforts within KDE.
@Martin Graesslin: i assume that's because those strings also appear elsewhere in the code, wrapped in i18n and thus marked for translation?
there's no such guarantee in plasma, however, and so we ended up with untranslated strings, which wouldn't get fixed by wrapping the strings returned from the Category entry in i18n()
@Albert Astals Cid: "i'm sincerely wondered by the fact that ANY critic you get on plasma gets the critic person on your shooting radar"
then the wonderment is mutual, because i found your negative tone and inaccurate representation of the state of things to be highly discouraging. not only does it discount the efforts in one go of all l10n work in KDE, it's perfect material for the people who troll against KDE.
if you don't get it, i'd be happy to send you a re-written version of your blog entry that says exactly the same thing without the damaging nature of your approach.
@Aneurin: "I don't really understand this - what makes X-KDE-PluginInfo-Category untranslatable?"
the i18n scripts don't pull those strings for translation, so they don't get marked for translation nor are translated versions put into the .desktop files by scripty.
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