I recently fixed a bug (14901) and attached some patches to the bug ticket. Included were some changes to languages/messages/MessagesEn.php. Following the directions given at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/ Localisation#Changing_existing_messages, I contacted #mediawiki-i18n and asked them for instructions how to proceed with the internationalization part of the work.
After looking over my changes, they pointed out that my new message text violated some requirements, specifically:
+ I had used "/n" rather than literal newlines in the text + I had put newlines in front of some messages + I had put trailing whitespace in some messages
Since I was (and am) unfamiliar with MW internationalization workflow and since this text is destined for email messages, not display on a wiki page, I was puzzled by these requirements. However, it was explained to me that internationalization occurs by display of the text on translate.net, which means the text must conform to web page display rules. Consequently, the problems specified above interfere with the translation work.
I understand I need to fix these problems. However, before proceeding I wonder if there are other constraints that I must observe. I have read the material at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Localisation, but did not find the above constraints mentioned there. Is there another place where they are specified?