Tamil pages proof of concept

[arunisaac]

This is a proof of concept for Tamil pages as discussed in #2339

• The page (if new), does not already exist in the repo.

• The page (if new), has been added to the correct platform folder:
  common/ if it's common to all platforms, linux/ if it's Linux-specific, and so on.

• The page has 8 or fewer examples.

• The PR is appropriately titled:
  <command name>: add page for new pages, or <command name>: <description of changes> for pages being edited.

• The page follows the contributing guidelines.

[sbrl]

Great work, @arunisaac!

The next step is client support. The official node client is over here - which looks like a good place to start. We should probably define a common 'specification' for how it's going to be implemented in clients - I think we had an issue for that somewhere.

Is there an environment variable that we could use to auto-detect?

[arunisaac]

Great work, @arunisaac!

Thanks! :-)

We should probably define a common 'specification' for how it's going to be implemented in clients - I think we had an issue for that somewhere. Is there an environment variable that we could use to auto-detect?

How about using gettext's conventions? https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Locale-Environment-Variables.html gettext also has means to specify a priority list of languages. See https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/The-LANGUAGE-variable.html

[agnivade]

This is the issue. Please comment on it so that we have everything at one place.

[waldyrious]

Shall this PR be blocked on having at least one client support the translated pages, or the other way around?

[agnivade]

I this it is the other way around. Clients cannot support translated pages, if this PR is blocked.

[arunisaac]

If everything is fine, can this PR be merged? It would be easier to work on client support if this PR is merged.

[sbrl]

Merged! I agree that client support is much easier to deal with if we merge this PR - we can always revert it if need be :P

Also, I've guessed a standard PR / commit message format:

cp,ls,mkdir,mv,rm,rmdir: add translations [Tamil] (#2512)

[waldyrious]

I've guessed a standard PR / commit message format

Actually @arunisaac specifically asked if the pattern he had used for individual commits (<command>: add Tamil page) was a good idea, and the agreement was that it was. I do agree your guess is a good counterproposal. Perhaps we could go with something like cp: add Tamil translation? What do you think @arunisaac @agnivade @sbrl?

[waldyrious]

On a separate note, I'm sad that @arunisaac's care with separating the commits was not reflected in the final merge into the master branch. The maintainers' guide suggests that:

If [...] the PR author took the time to craft individual, informative messages for each commit, then use the Rebase and merge method, to honor that work and preserve the history of the changes.

But I guess all these guides and documentation are becoming too verbose and more of a burden than helpful cheatsheets for day-to-day operation of the project. Or maybe it was my fault to propose them and not stick around for long enough to ensure they get assimilated into the maintainer culture (as other principles did). In any case, I hope @arunisaac does not get discouraged from making atomically separated commits in the future :)

[sbrl]

Oops! I think I missed both those points. On second thought, it would have been a better choice to rebase here rather than squash - I haven't rebased in ages on here! I'll try and consider this more in the future. I can revert & re-merge here if you like?

This conversation has gotten rather long here and in #2339, so I think I missed the bit on the commit message standardisation too.

[sbrl]

In terms of guides & documentation:

1. Especially the client spec, I think a CLIENTS.md document is needed that details the spec there.
2. Regarding the multi-language stuff, adding it to the maintainers guide (which was an interesting re-read, actually) sounds like a good idea. Maybe in a new sub-heading?

[agnivade]

I haven't rebased in ages on here!

Yes it's rare. But I rebase from time to time, when I see good commits.

Regarding, commit message, I think we should update the PR template too. Since that mentions how a commit message should be.

[arunisaac]

In any case, I hope @arunisaac does not get discouraged from making atomically separated commits in the future :)

No, since you mentioned it, I won't be discouraged. :-) Regarding the commit message format, I have no strong opinions. Perhaps, I slightly prefer `cp: add Tamil page` to `cp: add Tamil translation` since the former is slightly shorter.

[waldyrious]

I can revert & re-merge here if you like?

That would make the history even messier IMO. The only way to fix it would be to force-push to the master branch, but that's a pretty huge hammer that I don't think is justified in this case.

Perhaps, I slightly prefer cp: add Tamil page to cp: add Tamil translation since the former is slightly shorter.

That's a fair point, but IMO the 5 characters that we save are worth less than the extra clarity (not everyone knows the name of all languages in the world). So my preference still remains cp: add Tamil translation. Thoughts, @agnivade and @sbrl?

Regarding the multi-language stuff, adding it to the maintainers guide (which was an interesting re-read, actually) sounds like a good idea. Maybe in a new sub-heading?

I'm not sure the maintainers guide is the best place for that. Or do you mean the commit message format? Though even then, I think the general CONTRIBUTING.md guide would be a better place, don't you agree?

Regarding, commit message, I think we should update the PR template too. Since that mentions how a commit message should be.

Good point. Once we decide on the format, let's update that too.

[agnivade]

So my preference still remains cp: add Tamil translation. Thoughts, @agnivade and @sbrl?

Sure.

[sbrl]

Yep, cp: add Tamil translation looks good to me. On a related note, could we add a link to the maintainer's guide in CONTRIBUTING.md please?

[waldyrious]

I've made the discussed changes to CONTRIBUTING.md and the PR template at #2575.

I've added a link to the maintainer's guide in more places at #2576.

[gowthamgts]

@arunisaac - thanks for this. It's really great to see tamil translations to oss projects.

[arunisaac]

Thank you! :-) It would be nice to have many more translated pages, though. I haven't worked on this in a long time. Do contribute translations if you find time.