Regarding:
This was more annoying, since there is some script there in s.g.o’s guts that rejects any commit if the repo has an executable.
This is a simplification. Executable files are allowed. There is a pre-commit hook to disallow executable .po files, but that check is only done for .po files added/changed by the commit. It does not check for other .po files. If you see otherwise, please contact svnmaster@gnome.org. Normally developers shouldn’t hit this check btw (only when you’re changing the .po file).