-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Alexander Sigachov wrote: | By the way, Russian language file at | http://meta.wikipedia.org/LanguageRu.php recently was updated to rev. | 1.423 of Language.php | | But in CVS we can not update it MORE THEN YEAR!!!
Updating the language files is a big pain in the butt. The vast majority of submitted updates have not been valid PHP source and do not even _compile_ as provided, and further are generally do not correctly take account of differences between the open release and development branches. Very frequently, submitted language files contain outright incorrect code such as cut-and-pastes of code from Language.php which should not be duplicated in child classes.
Checking for validity, fixing the errors, testing basic functioning, glancing through to make sure there's not a security hole slipped in or other oddities takes time and isn't particularly fun. 'Language files' written in pages on meta are particularly likely to be ignored due to this past history, and will probably *never* be imported into the code base if simply left up there.
So, don't be surprised if there is not speedy (or much of any) progress on getting submissions integrated. Sorry if it's annoying; that's the primary reason we set up the MediaWiki: namespace system.
Updates to any file in MediaWiki should be submitted as a unified diff against the files in CVS (cvs diff -u) FOR EACH AFFECTED BRANCH (the REL1_4 release branch is not the same as the current development work in HEAD), posted as a file attachment to a bug report in Bugzilla. Assurances that it's been tested are helpful.
- -- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)