Feedback-ID: ie3de48e3:Fastmail
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:47:49 +0100
From: =?utf-8?Q?=C3=81lvaro?= Herrera <alvherre@kurilemu.de>
To: pgsql-translators@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: requiring all .po files be UTF8-encoded
Message-ID: <202512101549.tx3ejz5cr77v@alvherre.pgsql>
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Hello,

There's an ongoing project to add a regression test to ensure all
platforms are correctly handling translations. [1]

[1] https://postgr.es/m/b292844.1765315339@sss.pgh.pa.us

The conversation there is leading to requiring all translation files use
UTF-8 encoding.  In practice all live files already are UTF8 [2], so
there's no new requirement; but I think we should add some enforcing
mechanism (maybe a git hook and/or the website-building script refusing
to use a nonconformant file) to ensure we don't break things going
forward.

We can trivially convert all existing files with this oneliner:

for i in $(git grep 'Content-Type:' | grep -v UTF-8 | cut -d: -f1); do msgconv -t UTF-8 $i | sponge $i; done


[2] Actually there is one exception -- nb/pg_config.po.  However, this
file is under the 80% translation requirement, so it should be removed;
moreover the Norwegian translation seems abandoned, having been done for
7.4, with a single update for 8.1 (pg_config.po) and never again touched.
Maybe we should remove all these files.

We have a few more dead languages: af fa fe fr fy id nl sk sl ta ro.
I guess we display those in our translation table out of a stubborn
expectation that translators will magically show up.  I think I would
rather hide those and not take up screen space -- maybe write two pages,
the normal main one without those languages, and a separate one that
includes them.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera        Breisgau, Deutschland  —  https://www.EnterpriseDB.com/