[xliff-tools] Translator Comments

[Asgeir Frimannsson]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 02:24, Tim Foster wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-02-16 at 15:03, Bruno Haible wrote:
> > 1.4.1.1. Translator Comments
> >
> > I think from="translator" would make more sense than from="po-file".
> > The PO file is not an entity which can write comments on its own :-)
>
> In a sense, it is - in that the po file has comments in it before you
> convert to that format. For what it's worth, we're taking the comments
> from .po files and storing them as bits of <context> information,
> attached to each trans-unit.

Ok, what you're doing in your filter is:

# This is a comment about this file
msgid "this is text"
msgstr ""

becomes:

<trans-unit id="a1">
       <source>this is text</source>
       <count-group name="word count">
          <count count-type="word count" unit="word">3</count>
       </count-group>
      <context-group name="message id">
          <context context-type="record">this is text</context>
      </context-group>
     <context-group name="context info">
          <context context-type="record">
# This is a comment about this file
</context>
      </context-group>
</trans-unit>

What are the benefits of using this approach? Why is a general '# ' style 
comment context-information in your implementation? 

For what it's worth, I think PO comments and auto-comments are important for 
translators to be able to view. Many XLIFF editors hide most 
context-information from developers, but most editors have support for 
display of <note> elements. 

> Of course, I've also seen a few po files that are close to achieving
> self-awareness : I could swear I've seen a few of them making their
> own comments from time to time, but maybe I just drank too much
> coffee that day ;-)

I don't drink coffee, and haven't seen self-awareness in PO files. Make your 
own conclusions :)

cheers,
asgeir