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

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Frédéric Marchal <fmarchal <at> perso.be>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Untranslatable message in src/chown-core.h:95
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2024 17:57:47 +0100

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.

Frederic

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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