[I18n-sig] Re: pygettext.py extraction of docstrings

[François Pinard]

[Barry A. Warsaw]

> Then again, it doesn't say that #. comments are reserved.  It basically
> just says that #-whitespace comments are reserved for the translators.

You might consider that they are all reserved.

> I'm happy to switch it, but I'd really like to have a reference I can
> point to to short-circuit any further discussion.  Even a mailing list
> archive url would be fine.

There is no formal, fully dependable reference.  I might have written the
bits that exist in the `gettext' manual, and these things were programmed
only after they were thoroughly discussed with me.  But nowadays, even me is
not a good reference.  A few people contributed `gettext' code, pushing and
pulling a bit hard for their own ideas, and not always understanding the
overall plans.  Their code made it into `gettext' releases nevertheless.
So now, I'm not sure I understand much anymore where things are going.

If I remember well, `#.' are for textual comments written by the program
maintainer, meant to be read by translators, and derived automatically at
POT creation time.  They usually come from specially formatted comments
in the C sources.  `#-whitespace' are for textual comments also meant to
be read by various translators, but written by translators themselves.

`#,' are for programmatic flags.  The idea was to use these parsimoniously,
keeping track of possible flag definitions and consequences.  I do not know
how far these are recognized and validated by `msgfmt'.  Best would be to
coordinate with the current `gettext' maintainer before creating new ones.
Unless he declares they are now for free use?

-- 
François Pinard   http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard