[bug #61249] Depracate xgettext's -s/--sort-output

[Lauri Nurmi]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?61249>

                 Summary: Depracate xgettext's -s/--sort-output
                 Project: GNU gettext
            Submitted by: lanurmi
            Submitted on: Thu 30 Sep 2021 04:00:22 PM UTC
                Category: Programmer tools
                Severity: 3 - Normal
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any

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Details:

xgettext has the argument -s with the following description:


-s, --sort-output           generate sorted output


The official Gettext documentation itself points out about --sort-output that
"using this option makes it much harder for the translator to understand each
message’s context".

I propose deprecating the --sort-output switch, as in my experience some
real-world projects use the switch for no reason, and without understanding
its consequences. As the output of "--help" just states "generate sorted
output", without a word of warning, surely that sounds nice and elegant.

When should sorted output actually be used anyway? To me it seems sorting
msgids of a POT file only has one huge disadvantage and no advantages.
Messages related to each other are often placed far away from each other in
the .po files translators work on. 

Deprecating, in practice, could mean:
* at least adding a warning to the --help output, something like "(not
recommended)" or "(use with caution)" or "(depracated").
* removing the switch from the --help output, but still accepting it.
* issuing a warning when xgettext is invoked with the switch.





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