GNU bug report logs - #69985
Untranslatable message in src/chown-core.h:95

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Message #10 received at 69985-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Frédéric Marchal <fmarchal <at> perso.be>,
 69985-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Wenbin Lv <wenbin816 <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#69985: Untranslatable message in src/chown-core.h:95
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2024 20:19:13 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 24/03/2024 16:57, Frédéric Marchal wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> In src/chown-core.h:95 (coreutils-9.5-pre1), the following message is
> impossible to translate as it is created by concatenating string fragments:
> 
> static inline void
> emit_from_option_description (bool user)
> {
>    printf (_("\
>        --from=CURRENT_OWNER:CURRENT_GROUP\n\
>                           change the %sgroup of each file only if\n\
>                           its current owner and/or group match those
> specified\n\
>                           here.  Either may be omitted, in which case a
> match\n\
>                           is not required for the omitted attribute\n\
> "), user ? "owner and/or " : "");
> }
> 
> A translatable message must *never ever* be produced by concatenating
> substrings. Even if the substrings are themselves translated, there is no
> guaranties that the order of the words is the same in every language.
> 
> There is, unfortunately, no easy solution that save keystrokes. It must be
> written like this:
> 
> if (user)
>    printf (_("\
>        --from=CURRENT_OWNER:CURRENT_GROUP\n\
>                           change the owner and/or group of each file only if\n\
>                           its current owner and/or group match those
> specified\n\
>                           here.  Either may be omitted, in which case a
> match\n\
>                           is not required for the omitted attribute\n\
> "));
> else
>    printf (_("\
>        --from=CURRENT_OWNER:CURRENT_GROUP\n\
>                           change the group of each file only if\n\
>                           its current owner and/or group match those
> specified\n\
>                           here.  Either may be omitted, in which case a
> match\n\
>                           is not required for the omitted attribute\n\
> "));
> 
> That make sense as both are distinct messages with different purposes.
> 
> I also suspect that the two messages should be even more different than they
> currently are. The message, when user is false, suspiciously contains one more
> "owner and/or" that is not removed and it says "Either may be omitted" when
> only the group is mentioned at the beginning of the message.

The composed strings are accurate, but yes not translatable.
The attached simplifies the description a little,
so there is a single string to cater for both chown and chgrp.

Marking this as done.

thanks,
Pádraig

[coreutils-chown-translation-fix.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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