Re: switch to po-debconf and mod-mono

[Christian Perrier <bubulle@debian.org>]

Quoting Martin Quinson (martin.quinson@imag.fr):
> See #296049
> 
> When providing a switch patch, you should make sure that if the patch is
> applied as is, the translators can begin their work. Letting horrors such as
> 
> +Default: true
> +_Description: Activate Module
> + Would you like me to activate the mono module?
> 
> going through don't help anyone. We will have to do another round of patch
> providing and NMUing before translation can happen.


For being clear, what Martin wants to point out here is that his
template does not follow the Debconf Templates Style Guide:

-No question in the short description for a boolean template
-repeated question in the long description
-Use of first person (who is "me"?)

I'm not sure that there is a Good Way to handle this. By experience,
rewriting the templates in the same time they are switched to
po-debconf is most often likely....but this sometimes adds confusion
to the maintainer.

You then have to explain two concepts at the same time : the need for
the po-debconf swithc....and the need to adopt a common style for
debconf templates all over packages. This usually succeeds...but this
may sometimes fail, espcecially when the maintainer is not really
comfortable with the gettext stuff.

So, be very prudent and never ever tell the maintainer that his
templates are "an horror"...:-)