# HG changeset patch
# User diego
# Date 1080827590 0
# Node ID c67c28e4992e624563ce645dd815843e8ffd4cb9
# Parent  837485aef2eb67cfb1d46d97cc60e63a49f48a19
How to handle incomplete translations of message files.

diff -r 837485aef2eb -r c67c28e4992e DOCS/tech/translations.txt
--- a/DOCS/tech/translations.txt	Thu Apr 01 13:38:17 2004 +0000
+++ b/DOCS/tech/translations.txt	Thu Apr 01 13:53:10 2004 +0000
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@
 language code. Additionally, please make sure that your translated messages fit
 on an 80 character wide display to avoid overflowing output.
 
+If you do not translate all messages at once, please do not leave untranslated
+messages in your translated file, just leave them out instead. The MPlayer
+build system automatically checks for missing messages and uses the English
+ones instead. This has the added advantage of providing the latest versions of
+the English messages, since English messages in translations may be outdated.
+Furthermore, running help_diff.sh on your translated file will immediately show
+missing messages, which eases further translation.
+
 Translations are for documentation what porting is for code. Many more eyes
 see it and get to find mistakes. If you stumble over mistakes, inaccuracies,
 clumsy wording, spelling/grammar errors or if you notice that something is