[xwiki-devs] [BackwardCompatibility] Breakage in translations for Copy/Rename/Move

Hi devs, The story ======== 1) We introduced some new translations keys in https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/5c50e2e88bb7cf592c1ecedcf0f3… That was done in XWIKI-12431 (Adapt the "rename" action for nested documents), i.e. in 7.2M3 2) We modified the keys in https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/12ec17d1c486935162581d47bbf1… That was done in XWIKI-13067 ("Rename: Change the label to make it clear that both links and backlinks are updated or have 2 separate options”), i.e. in XWiki 8.0-rc-1, 7.4.3 3) The consequence is that all translations got broken, resulting in problems such as http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XINFRA-219. However this issue reports the issue only for French but it’s likely that it broke the translations for other languages. The learnings =========== 1) We must never change the format of existing translation keys. This is the equivalent of breaking an API. Instead we need to go through deprecation of existing keys and introduction of new keys, even though it’s a pain. http://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Community/DevelopmentPractices#HTransla… would probably benefit from additional explanations too. 2) We would need a tool in the quality profile of our build/CI that would break the build if someone changes the format of a translation.Easiest would be a tool that compares the English translations on master vs the last released version and breaks if there’s a difference in parameter (i.e. {N} syntax). 3) We need to decide if A) we keep the current change done in XWIKI-13067 or B) revert them and revert/adapt the changes already brought to some translations keys (as it was done for FR). For this we need to evaluate the extent of the damage. Any volunteer for 3)? :) Thanks -Vincent