Use the builtin engine translator instead of intllib?

[kilbith]

What are the pros and cons to using the former versus intllib? Is the engine translator mature enough?

@Wuzzy2 @Ekdohibs

[Wuzzy2]

I love your pessimism, because it's justified.

OK, now for the facts:

Pros:

• Part of the Lua API, no more dependency hell!
• Part of the engine, therefore by default available for all players
• Unlike intllib, does not force a single language on all users, making it work properly on servers

Contras:

• There's real no toolchain for basic tasks like “updating strings”. We would have to write one ourselves. There are some unfinished scripts flying around somewhere, I would have to dig them out first …
• Uses its own weird translation file format instead of Gettext PO files (OF COURSE!)
• Because of weird translation file format, we can forget uploading to Weblate. You didn't use it so far anyway, but still!
• Does not support numerus, unlike PO (irrelevant for craftguide)
• The core devs did not adopt it in MTG after 1.5 years of its introduction. But screw MTG, am I right?

My recommendation: Adopt engine translator, despite its flaws. The fact that it can be used properly on servers is still a major improvement over intllib. Devs agree that it sucks its not PO.

[Ekdohibs]

I'll just add that making the engine support po files is planned - but I don't know yet when I will have the time and energy to implement it.

[kilbith]

Bye-bye intllib. The translation files need to be renewed though.