[Bf-committers] i18n maintenance is on hold

[Thomas Dinges]

Hi guys :)
I have seen some commits today by Bastien, adding various code to python 
layout files, especially the "text_ctxt" parameter. (r55647).
I've seen this for the first time now, although Bastien told me in IRC 
that we have this for some weeks. He explained to me why this was added 
in IRC.

After that I asked him to please inform me when doing such bigger 
changes which affect layout files. In fact I told him before, that I do 
not like all those additions to the layout files, simply because they 
make the code more complex and less readable imho.

I wrote most of the Layout UI files back in the 2.5x days, when the UI 
had nearly no buttons and I still maintain that code and fix bugs there 
today.
Layout files were simple and nice, more or less they just consisted of 
panel declarations, prop/operator placement and some if checks to 
control the UI.
Today it has hundreds of custom declarations and stuff.

I see the problem for i18 (mainly all our custom text="" strings in the 
py ui files), but adding lots of custom checks here is not really good 
either.
Bastien said that our i18 support is at 99% with the current system (I 
hope I understood you correct here), so I think it's not worth it to get 
to 100% if this means adding more and more custom code all over.

And last but not least, I am not someone who rejects ideas or progress, 
I am always open for it. As an example, someone in the development team 
makes UI changes from time to time (GE related) and he always shows me 
the changes first. I did not like all of them, but I got asked and know 
why the changes are made. And I still give the green light. :)
On the other hand, when I say I am no fan of more and more i18 changes 
inside the layout files, and people still make changes there without 
asking me, I don't feel like doing nothing either.

So all in all, it's all about communication. We have the module owner 
list for a reason. Please respect that.

Best regards,
Thomas




Am 28.03.2013 21:48, schrieb Campbell Barton:
> On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 7:25 AM, Bastien Montagne <montagne29 at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>> Hi fellow devs and translators,
>>
>>   From now on (at least until the situation has be clarified in one way
>> or the other), I won't be doing any i18n maintenance anymore, as I was
>> clearly asked by bl_ui (python ui code) owner to not touch this code
>> anymore for i18n topics. I do not understand this reaction, but this
>> obviously makes all further work in this matter worthless (you can't
>> keep enhancing something by being only able to work on half of the
>> stuff), py ui code is a nest for ambiguous and problematic messages (as
>> they are usually very short).
>>
>> I will obviously keep doing the weekly updates of translation files
>> (po's), and finish the development of the new py tools, as this at least
>> won't crush anyone's toes (and yes, I'm aware related docs are outdated,
>> so have to dedicate some time to those as well).
>>
>> Now the core question behind this is: if I have to ask permission to
>> module owners each time I have to touch their code to fix a translation
>> issue, I clearly consider this not OK. Chasing those issues already
>> takes time, if I additionally have to always explain why I do this, and
>> wait for the answer… just not worth the effort. Put in other words, I
>> consider i18n a module on its own, for which I think I can claim some
>> experience after one year and a half and hundreds of hours spent on it.
>> If it is rather considered as a subset of ui module, I would rather see
>> its ownership taken back by ui owner, that's all.
>>
>> I hope I made my point of view clear, without offending anyone. I just
>> want the status of i18n to be clarified, so that I can decide whether I
>> keep working on it, or if I switch to some other, less frustrating and
>> more funny area of code.
>>
>> With best regards,
>> Bastien Montagne (aka mont29)
> Who asked you not to touch `bl_ui` python module and why?
>
> Seems like we're only hearing one side the the discussion here.
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-- 
Thomas Dinges
Blender Developer, Artist and Musician

www.dingto.org