Suggested translation for "Stale file handle" in the GNU C Library project.

["Carlos O'Donell" <carlos at redhat dot com>]

Dear Spanish translation team,

I'm one of the FSF stewards for the GNU C Library project (glibc),
and I'm sending this email to talk about a particular Spanish
translation for the ESTALE error code.

Technically accurate and clear translations of errno codes are
very important to the GNU C Library project. As a core library the
error messages returned by strerror must be technically correct
and clear enough for users to understand.

Recently the error message for ESTALE was change from
"Stale NFS file handle" to "Stale file handle" to indicate that
the error code is not NFS specific but may be returned by any
filesystem under which a handle may become stale (see the various
uses in Linux under fs/*).

In the upcoming glibc 2.18 release the Translation Project will
be asked to help translate the new error string.

The original po/es.po file has this to say:
~~~
# ?? sugerencias ?
# Habrá que traducir el "handle" de alguna forma... sv
# No veo porqué. em
# ¿No puede un fichero tener varios `handles'
# y que unos estén bloqueados y otros no? sv
#  En efecto la traducción es incorrecta, el uso de file handle
#  en vez de file descriptor, debe ser porque nos referimos a ficheros
#  compartidos con NFS. Al igual que no se bloquean, sino que se stalan :)
#
# Suggestion: stale->vencido.  No me gusta "bloqueado" porque el
# remedio necesita una acción, y "bloqueado" sugiere esperar.
# No me gusta "fichero" simplemente, pues el fichero estará perfectamente
# bien; lo que se venció es el "handle" o sea el número o nombre que
# nos da acceso al fichero.  Habrá que traducir el "handle", como dijo sv.
#  -jtobey
#
# Muy bien, he buscado "stale" y por lo que parece es algo que "caduca"
# o que "vence", como las letras comerciales. Me he decidido por "en desuso".
#
#. TRANS Stale NFS file handle.  This indicates an internal confusion in the NFS
#. TRANS system which is due to file system rearrangements on the server host.
#. TRANS Repairing this condition usually requires unmounting and remounting
#. TRANS the NFS file system on the local host.
#: sysdeps/gnu/errlist.c:787
msgid "Stale NFS file handle"
msgstr "`handle' de fichero NFS en desuso"
~~~

I'm a native Spanish speaker from Argentina, and given that
the translation asks for suggestions here is my suggestion and 
rationale:

`Stale file handle' => `El identificador de fichero esta vencido'

* The use of `vencido' is probably the best translation for `stale'
  from a technical perspective. A stale handle is one that was at
  one point valid, and is no longer. It conveys the fact that the
  handle should not be used, and that a new one should be acquired.

* The use of `fichero' is a consistent translation for `file' and
  matches all of the other error codes. I've seen suggestions for
  `archivo', but that's inconsistent and doesn't correctly translate
  to `file.'

* The existing use of `desuso' is not accurate in that it implies
  the handle may once again be valid and that's never true from a
  technical perspective. Once the NFS file handle generation counter
  is incremented the handle will never again be valid.

* The word `handle' is not translated, and that is because a translation
  is difficult. Translating this to `descriptor' is an inaccurate
  translation of the original English. A file descriptor is used by the 
  OS to identify an inode/path reference. A file handle is used by the 
  OS to identify an inode/mount/generation counter when talking between
  the NFS client and server. The best word for `handle' is probably
  `identificador.'

Thus my suggested translation of `Stale file handle' for Spanish is
`El identificador de fichero esta vencido."

Please understand that I respect the autonomy of the translation
teams, and that as a package maintainer I do not wish to influence
this process. Were it not for the request for suggestions in this
translation PO file, and the recent change in the original English
wording, I would not have stepped in to make a suggestion. I abide 
by any translation that the Spanish translation team wishes to chose.

Once glibc 2.19 goes out I will suggest that the text be changed
to `Stale file descriptor' (since handle is an NFS concept and the file
descriptor is actually what is stale from the userspace perspective) with
the suggested translation being `El descriptor de fichero esta vencido."

Cheers,
Carlos.