Re: [Bug-gnulib] 4-gary-version-etc-full-author-string.patch

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> The translator can insert newlines in his translations where he wants to.

Do you mean the translations of names, or the translations of the
_("Written by %s, %s, and %s.\n") msgids?

Names need to be translated in some cases (e.g., "F. Pinard" ->
"François Pinard").  I suppose you could translate this name to
"François\nPinard" instead if you know that's a good place to break
the line.  But this would be undesirable, as the translation of
somebody's name shouldn't have a gratuitous newline like that;
otherwise, what will you do if you need the same name translated
somewhere else?

If you meant that translators should insert newlines in their
translations of _("Written by %s, %s, and %s.\n"), then I don't see
how that can work well either.  One program might have three authors
with long names, so newlines need to be inserted, while a different
program might have three authors with short names, so no newlines
should be inserted.

If we stick to strings like _("Written by Mike Haertel and Paul
Eggert."), we avoid all these issues, and save ourselves work.