]>
Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
8c411768 BC |
1 | 1 Notes on the Free Translation Project |
2 | *************************************** | |
3 | ||
4 | Free software is going international! The Free Translation Project is | |
5 | a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all | |
6 | together, so that free software will gradually become able to speak many | |
7 | languages. A few packages already provide translations for their | |
8 | messages. | |
9 | ||
10 | If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may | |
11 | assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally, | |
12 | itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do _not_ | |
13 | need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using | |
14 | this package with messages translated. | |
15 | ||
16 | Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also | |
17 | explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the | |
18 | available translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and | |
19 | work on translations can contact the appropriate team. | |
20 | ||
21 | When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be | |
22 | related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of | |
23 | `gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the | |
24 | `intl/VERSION' file, in internationalized packages. | |
25 | ||
26 | 1.1 Quick configuration advice | |
27 | ============================== | |
28 | ||
29 | If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you | |
30 | should configure it using | |
31 | ||
32 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
33 | ||
34 | to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this | |
35 | package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the | |
36 | operating system where this package is being installed. So far, only | |
37 | the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as | |
38 | many features (such as locale alias, message inheritance, automatic | |
39 | charset conversion or plural form handling) as the implementation here. | |
40 | It is also not possible to offer this additional functionality on top | |
41 | of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of GNU `gettext' will | |
42 | very likely convey even more functionality. So it might be a good idea | |
43 | to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible. | |
44 | ||
45 | So you need _not_ provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or | |
46 | you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the | |
47 | included `libintl'. | |
48 | ||
49 | 1.2 INSTALL Matters | |
50 | =================== | |
51 | ||
52 | Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the programs | |
53 | they contain can be made to speak your own native language. Most such | |
54 | packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own ways to | |
55 | internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'. | |
56 | ||
57 | By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of | |
58 | messages. It will automatically detect whether the system already | |
59 | provides the GNU `gettext' functions. If not, the included GNU | |
60 | `gettext' library will be used. This library is wholly contained | |
61 | within this package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior | |
62 | installation of the GNU `gettext' package is _not_ required. | |
63 | Installers may use special options at configuration time for changing | |
64 | the default behaviour. The commands: | |
65 | ||
66 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
67 | ./configure --disable-nls | |
68 | ||
69 | will, respectively, bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the | |
70 | internationalizing routines provided within this package, or else, | |
71 | _totally_ disable translation of messages. | |
72 | ||
73 | When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run | |
74 | configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will | |
75 | probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and | |
76 | will decide to use this. This might not be desirable. You should use | |
77 | the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e. if the file | |
78 | `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this package is | |
79 | more recent, you should use | |
80 | ||
81 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
82 | ||
83 | to prevent auto-detection. | |
84 | ||
85 | The configuration process will not test for the `catgets' function | |
86 | and therefore it will not be used. The reason is that even an | |
87 | emulation of `gettext' on top of `catgets' could not provide all the | |
88 | extensions of the GNU `gettext' library. | |
89 | ||
90 | Internationalized packages usually have many `po/LL.po' files, where | |
91 | LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless | |
92 | translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the | |
93 | `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed | |
94 | together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS' | |
95 | may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set. | |
96 | `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter | |
97 | codes, stating which languages are allowed. | |
98 | ||
99 | 1.3 Using This Package | |
100 | ====================== | |
101 | ||
102 | As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you | |
103 | only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate | |
104 | `LL_CC' combination. Here `LL' is an ISO 639 two-letter language code, | |
105 | and `CC' is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code. For example, let's | |
106 | suppose that you speak German and live in Germany. At the shell | |
107 | prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de_DE' (in `csh'), | |
108 | `export LANG; LANG=de_DE' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de_DE' (in `bash'). | |
109 | This can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for | |
110 | all. | |
111 | ||
112 | You might think that the country code specification is redundant. | |
113 | But in fact, some languages have dialects in different countries. For | |
114 | example, `de_AT' is used for Austria, and `pt_BR' for Brazil. The | |
115 | country code serves to distinguish the dialects. | |
116 | ||
117 | The locale naming convention of `LL_CC', with `LL' denoting the | |
118 | language and `CC' denoting the country, is the one use on systems based | |
119 | on GNU libc. On other systems, some variations of this scheme are | |
120 | used, such as `LL' or `LL_CC.ENCODING'. You can get the list of | |
121 | locales supported by your system for your language by running the | |
122 | command `locale -a | grep '^LL''. | |
123 | ||
124 | Not all programs have translations for all languages. By default, an | |
125 | English message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation. If you | |
126 | understand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages. | |
127 | This is done through a different environment variable, called | |
128 | `LANGUAGE'. GNU `gettext' gives preference to `LANGUAGE' over `LANG' | |
129 | for the purpose of message handling, but you still need to have `LANG' | |
130 | set to the primary language; this is required by other parts of the | |
131 | system libraries. For example, some Swedish users who would rather | |
132 | read translations in German than English for when Swedish is not | |
133 | available, set `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv_SE'. | |
134 | ||
135 | Special advice for Norwegian users: The language code for Norwegian | |
136 | bokma*l changed from `no' to `nb' recently (in 2003). During the | |
137 | transition period, while some message catalogs for this language are | |
138 | installed under `nb' and some older ones under `no', it's recommended | |
139 | for Norwegian users to set `LANGUAGE' to `nb:no' so that both newer and | |
140 | older translations are used. | |
141 | ||
142 | In the `LANGUAGE' environment variable, but not in the `LANG' | |
143 | environment variable, `LL_CC' combinations can be abbreviated as `LL' | |
144 | to denote the language's main dialect. For example, `de' is equivalent | |
145 | to `de_DE' (German as spoken in Germany), and `pt' to `pt_PT' | |
146 | (Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) in this context. | |
147 | ||
148 | 1.4 Translating Teams | |
149 | ===================== | |
150 | ||
151 | For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested | |
152 | people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also | |
153 | able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language. | |
154 | Each translation team has its own mailing list. The up-to-date list of | |
155 | teams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage, | |
156 | `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/', in the "National teams" | |
157 | area. | |
158 | ||
159 | If you'd like to volunteer to _work_ at translating messages, you | |
160 | should become a member of the translating team for your own language. | |
161 | The subscribing address is _not_ the same as the list itself, it has | |
162 | `-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a | |
163 | message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body: | |
164 | ||
165 | subscribe | |
166 | ||
167 | Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate | |
168 | _actively_ in translations, or at solving translational difficulties, | |
169 | rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and | |
170 | you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to | |
171 | get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the | |
172 | coordinator for all translator teams. | |
173 | ||
174 | The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing | |
175 | the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skills are praised more than | |
176 | programming skills, here. | |
177 | ||
178 | 1.5 Available Packages | |
179 | ====================== | |
180 | ||
181 | Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following | |
182 | matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of October | |
183 | 2006. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages | |
184 | PO files have been submitted to translation coordination, with a | |
185 | translation percentage of at least 50%. | |
186 | ||
187 | # Matrix here is removed! | |
188 | ||
189 | Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of | |
190 | visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are | |
191 | used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language | |
192 | dialects. | |
193 | ||
194 | For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to | |
195 | which it applies should also have been internationalized and | |
196 | distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable | |
197 | lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a | |
198 | distribution. | |
199 | ||
200 | If October 2006 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of | |
201 | this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. The most up-to-date | |
202 | matrix with full percentage details can be found at | |
203 | `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/matrix.html'. | |
204 | ||
205 | 1.6 Using `gettext' in new packages | |
206 | =================================== | |
207 | ||
208 | If you are writing a freely available program and want to | |
209 | internationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your | |
210 | package. Of course you have to respect the GNU Library General Public | |
211 | License which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library. This means | |
212 | in particular that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared | |
213 | library, whereas only free software can use `libintl' as a static | |
214 | library or use modified versions of `libintl'. | |
215 | ||
216 | Once the sources are changed appropriately and the setup can handle | |
217 | the use of `gettext' the only thing missing are the translations. The | |
218 | Free Translation Project is also available for packages which are not | |
219 | developed inside the GNU project. Therefore the information given above | |
220 | applies also for every other Free Software Project. Contact | |
221 | `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to make the `.pot' files available to | |
222 | the translation teams. | |
223 |