'''In progress''', see http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Development_Specs
= Message Standardization =

== How should Errors/Warnings/Messages be formatted ==

 * Only user derived variables should be bracketed, not GRASS derived variables. for example:
{{{
 Yes: Creating raster map <%s>.  Pass 1 of 7 ...
 No:  Creating <raster> map <%s>.  Pass [1] of [7] ...
}}}

 * strings '''< >''' - raster, vector maps, group names, etc., e.g.
  * Raster map <%s> not found
 * strings ''' ' ' ''' - paths, SQL queries, etc., e.g.
  * File '%s' not found
  * Unable to create table: '%s'

=== Discussion ===

 * The [bracketed] parenthetical disrupts the flow of the phrase and doesn't help enhance clarity of meaning. IMHO, this reads better without [] brackets: "''Line %d deleted.''" [] Brackets should be used when value is outside of the phrase: ''"Unknown line [%d]"''. --HB

=== Statistics ===

|| symbol || number of code lines (2007-04-11) || 2008-02-14 (6.3svn) || 2009-08-02 (7.0svn)
|| <%s> || 637 || 1406 || 1935
|| [%s] || 690 || 427 || 222
||'%s'  || 354 || 370 || 537
|| <%d> || 12  || 7 || 11
|| [%d] || 207 || 13 || 137
||'%d'  || 3   || 1 || 1

{{{
TYPES="<%s> \[%s\] '%s' <%d> \[%d\] '%d'"

for TYPE in $TYPES ; do
  NUM_HITS=`grep -rI "$TYPE" * | grep -v '/.svn/\|^dist.i686-\|locale/po/' | wc -l`
  echo "$TYPE  $NUM_HITS"
done
}}}