[Po4a-devel] Length of messages

[D. Barbier]

On 2012/9/24 Hannie Dumoleyn wrote:
> Hi developers,
> As a member of the Ubuntu Manual Project, http://ubuntu-manual.org/, I have
> a question on how po4a splits text in separate messages.
> Our manual can be translated on Launchpad, but the problem is that many of
> the individual messages (msgid) are too long.
> Here is an example of a long string:
> https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu-manual/precise/+pots/ubuntu-manual/nl/+translate?field.alternative_language=&field.alternative_language-empty-marker=1&show=untranslated&memo=10&start=10
> \advanced{A \acronym{MAC} address is a hardware address for your computer's
> network card. Entering this information is sometimes important when using a
> cable modem connection. If you know the \acronym{MAC} address of your
> network card, this can be entered in the appropriate text field in the
> \button{Wired} tab of the editing window. To find the MAC addresses for all
> installed networking devices, open a terminal window, and at the command
> line prompt, type \userinput{ifconfig}. This will display a lot of
> information about each of the network devices installed on the computer. The
> wired devices will be labeled as \textfield{LAN0}, \textfield{LAN1}, etc.
> The wireless devices will appear as \textfield{WLAN0}, \textfield{WLAN1},
> etc.}
>
> My question is this:
> Is it possible to split text after every . (dot)?

Hello,

This is not possible.  We believe that splitting into sentences may
sometimes introduce duplicated msgids which need different
translations.  In French, we also often split sentences differently to
make them look more natural.  When looking at your URL, I am not
redirected to your paragraph but to this one:

  To connect to a wireless network, select the desired network by
clicking on its name within the list. This will be the name that was
used during the installation of the wireless router or access point.
Most \acronym{ISP}s (Internet service providers) provide
pre-configured routers with a sticker on them detailing the current
wireless network name and password. Most publicly accessible wireless
networks will be easily identifiable by the name used for the wireless
network \dash for example ``Starbucks-Wireless.''

Here you do not want to split after the last dot.  There are surely
many other occurences, when printing IP addresses, etc.  So this is
not as simple as "split after every dot".  I am afraid that this will
introduce many strings which could hardly be translated.

Denis