bug#65424: Guix doesn't use positional arguments in translated formatted messages

[Julien Lepiller]

Le 21 août 2023 14:09:14 GMT+02:00, Maxime Devos <maximedevos@telenet.be> a 
écrit :
>Consider, e.g.,
>
>(format #t (G_ "~0@*~a should be set to ~1@*~a instead of ~2@*~a~%") "CC" 
>"(cc-for-target)" "gcc")
>->
>CC should be set to (cc-for-target) instead of gcc
>
>By using positional arguments like this, translators can reorder the sentence 
>to:
>
>(format #t (G_ "It's not ~2@*~a that ~0@*~a should be set to, but ~1@*~a~%") 
>"CC" (cc-for-target) "gcc"))
>
>~0@*~a should be set to ~1@*~a instead of ~2@*~a~%") "CC" "(cc-for-target)" 
>"gcc")
>->
>It's not gcc that CC should be set to, but (cc-for-target).
>
>CC should be set to (cc-for-target) instead of gcc
>
>Such reorderings are occasionally useful, yet AFAIK nowhere (except 
>po/guix/ta.po, the mcron service and de.po) is this used.
>
>Sure, you could as translator add these ~N@* afterwards, but you need to know 
>that's possible in the first place (and if you know it's possible, you still 
>need to remember or rediscover what exactly to write), and it would be much 
>simpler and more discoverable if they were included from the start.  Also, 
>IIRC, Weblate complains if you add these.
>
>p.s.: I'm writing a new linter, this particular example doesn't occur yet in 
>Guix.

That sounds reasonnabe. The very least we could do is document this syntax in 
the manual. Weblate would complain indeed, sirce it won't find the same formats 
in the source and target strings. It might complain about the order too, but 
that's something we could contribute upstseam if it happens.