Should enclosed words in the joplin.pot file like <note> or [notebook] be translated into other languages or not?
Example:
#: packages/app-cli/app/command-mv.js:14
msgid "Moves the notes matching to [notebook]."
msgstr ""
Just as an info: The pot file should not be touched at all. You create a .po file from the .pot file.
But to answer your question. It depends. Most of the time, they shouldn't be translated, because they are hardcoded commands in the application.
I'd approach it like this: don't translate them. When you then use Joplin with the language you've translated, you might find out that you actually can translate certain ones.
At one point we wanted to add notes/descriptions for such cases, but I think we ran into a problem. They were not retained when running gettext. I can't recall exactly what the issue was. But I agree, some could certainly need an explanation.
Technically they could be translated but they shouldn't because they are referred to in the command itself (which is not translatable).
For example:
rmnote <note-pattern>
Deletes the notes matching <note-pattern>.
The first line is the command spec and cannot be translated. The second one is the description and can be translated. But if you translate "note-pattern", it will be less clear that it refers to the same "note-pattern" as in the command.
Thank you for your answers ...
So I'll keep strings like <note> untranslated.
What should I do with strings in square brackets like [notebook]?
Same for the strings in square brackets. Angled brackets mean the argument is required, while in square brackets it's optional.