Unclear behavior when serializing XLIFF with xml:space="preserve"

[flodolo]

I haven't been able to figure out Pontoon's behavior when it comes to serializing XLIFF files for the VPN Client project, and I would like to avoid a constant fight in automation.

The source locales (en) has multiple files, only 2 of them use xml:space="preserve:

• extras.xliff
• addons/strings.xml

I've been going back and forth, removing and adding that attribute to all files, trying to understand what Pontoon prefers.

Right now, it seems to be adding it, but not consistently across locales
mozilla-l10n/mozilla-vpn-client-l10n@1ce9024

A side question is if we can stop updating other locales with the new sync prod. Will an update to the English file trigger changes across the board (adding missing strings to all localized files, and missing files)?

[flodolo]

Here's an example of this morning of the back and forth (automation is removing the attribute that Pontoon added, but only for some locales): https://github.com/mozilla-l10n/mozilla-vpn-client-l10n/pull/511/files