| blob | 866b904ec82e83b70d15aeb5d8dd069769b89333 |
1 1 Notes on the Free Translation Project
2 ***************************************
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.
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.
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.
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.
26 1.1 Quick configuration advice
27 ==============================
29 If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
30 should configure it using
32 ./configure --with-included-gettext
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.
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'.
49 1.2 INSTALL Matters
50 ===================
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'.
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:
66 ./configure --with-included-gettext
67 ./configure --disable-nls
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.
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
81 ./configure --with-included-gettext
83 to prevent auto-detection.
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.
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.
99 1.3 Using This Package
100 ======================
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.
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.
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''.
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'.
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.
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.
148 1.4 Translating Teams
149 =====================
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.
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:
165 subscribe
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.
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.
178 1.5 Available Packages
179 ======================
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%.
187 # Matrix here is removed!
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.
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.
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'.
205 1.6 Using `gettext' in new packages
206 ===================================
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'.
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.