[bug-gettext] [bug #49654] msgfmt and build determinism

[Bruno Haible]

Update of bug #49654 (project gettext):

                 Summary: xgettext and build determinism => msgfmt and build
determinism

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Follow-up Comment #1:

The flow of this timestamp is as follows:
(1) xgettext puts it in, when it creates the .pot file.
(2) msgmerge preserves it, when it merges with a translator's .po file.
(3) msgfmt preserves it, when it compiles a .po file to a .mo file.

The POT-Creation-Date is important information for a translator, so that she
knows whether to review the entire file or not.

Therefore IMO it's not in the steps (1) or (2) that we should change
something, but in step (3): msgfmt should eliminate the POT-Creation-Date from
the binary output that it produces (regardless whether it is .mo or other).

This would be work in
  write-mo.c
  write-java.c
  write-csharp.c
  write-resources.c
  write-tcl.c
  write-qt.c
  write-desktop.c
  write-xml.c

Use of msgunfmt on a given .mo file would then not be able to restore the lost
POT-Creation-Date of course; the test suite of msgunfmt will have to be
adjusted.

Note: A first step towards reproducible builds was already taken in version
0.19.8 (see NEWS):
  - msgfmt now produces little-endian .mo files by default.


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