[Gambas-user] "Export" the translation template to a user-defined location

[Benoît Minisini]

> Hi there, Gambas developers,
> 
> We are using Gambas to develop BaShare
> (https://launchpad.net/bashare/), and we recently switched to
> Launchpad from Google Code.
> In the process of setting up the translations in Launchpad (where we
> could get the application translated by more people than if we
> required our translators to do it from Gambas, which means grabbing a
> copy of the trunk code etc...), we were faced with a semi-problem:
> Launchpad has the ability to automatically update the lists of
> translatable strings if the translation template (.pot file) is under
> version control. That way, when a change is made in the template, the
> new strings are immediately available to all translators.
> 
> However, Gambas by default "hides" the template in a hidden file
> inside a hidden folder: it is located at ".lang/.pot".
> 
> Our guess was that Gambas tries to hide the file that are used by the
> IDE, but that does not make our work easier if we don't want to use
> Gambas' integrated translation feature. We tried creating hard links,
> symbolic links, but that failed when you try to version those files...
> 
> We faced a first refusal to import our .lang/.pot template from the
> Launchpad team when we tried to get our doubly-hidden ".lang/.pot"
> translation template imported, because using this type of file name is
> not something that would be recommended in the Linux world.
> 
> My question is the following: Is there (or would there be) an option
> to tell Gambas to automatically export (for instance copying the file,
> if necessary leaving the .lang/.pot file) the translation template to
> a file that is specifiable by the user? That way, Gambas would have
> it's copy to do internal translations, but other users could just have
> a simple access to the standard template file.
> 
> As an example, the translation template could be saved by default at
> the root of the project in a file called "messages.pot" (this name is
> commonly used in open source projects that use translations with
> gettext, but there are also other possibilities).
> 
> Anyway, I'd appreciate if someone would take the time to think about
> this idea (or tell me if this feature is already present ;) )
> 

So the problem just comes from Launchpad that does not want to import a file 
because its name begins with a dot?

Nobody told that using files or directories that begin with a dot is 
forbidden. Where did the Launchpad team see that? I prefer Launchpad to be 
fixed instead of having to add a dirty hack to Gambas.

If it is not possible, I can use your solution. But dot files are used by 
Gambas so that it knows what should not go inside the executable. And the .pot 
file is in that case. 

So, even if I use your solution, I will use a dot file too. But there is no 
problem with putting a dot file under version control, so I don't understand 
where the problem is that case.

> Concerning the version: I am using the latest available in Ubuntu
> repos (so I guess 2.8.2, but I'm not at my dev machine right now), but
> Guido uses the latest from the Ubuntu PPA, which should be the actual
> latest release?
> 
> Thanks!
> Emilien Klein
> 

Ubuntu official packages of Gambas seem to be always out of date, and to not 
work very well. I can't say more, as I use Mandriva, where I have no problem 
about them. If I have time, I will look at the Ubuntu Gambas package problems.

Regards,

-- 
Benoît Minisini