[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #34114: Remove the requirement to call load_plugin_textdomain() or load_theme_textdomain()

[WordPress Trac]

#34114: Remove the requirement to call load_plugin_textdomain() or
load_theme_textdomain()
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 Reporter:  johnbillion                          |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Future
Component:  I18N                                 |  Release
 Severity:  normal                               |     Version:
 Keywords:  dev-feedback has-patch has-unit-     |  Resolution:
  tests                                          |     Focuses:
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Comment (by nacin):

 > The first time core encounters a localised string with a textdomain that
 has not already been loaded, it should look for a corresponding MO file
 first in the WP_LANG_DIR/plugins directory and then in the
 WP_LANG_DIR/themes directory, and load it if it's found.

 Very smart approach, @johnbillion. And @swissspidy, a very elegant patch
 with some solid tests.

 The main problem here is we'll double the number of `file_exists()`
 checks, as at the time of call, we don't know whether to look in `plugins`
 or `themes`. I think there's a decent way out of this one.

 There's only ever going to be one or two themes, so maybe we can do that
 one a bit differently — perhaps by always calling it and eating the 2 or 4
 `file_exists()` checks — and then using `load_plugin_textdomain()` inside
 `get_translations_for_domain()`. Thus `2p + 2t + 2c` (where c is child
 theme and can be 0), rather than `4(p + t + c)`. That's still a change
 from what we have now, which is `2( p + t + c)`.

 That's still not great, as there's a good chance a plugin is
 internationalized but not translated, which means we're burning
 `file_exists()` checks on those sites. This includes en_US sites, by the
 way.

 The underlying `stat()` call isn't going to be terribly expensive in most
 situations, but we should still seek to avoid unnecessary calls with
 whatever is reasonable.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34114#comment:3>
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