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1 Notes on the GNU Translation Project
2 ************************************
4 GNU is going international! The GNU Translation Project is a way to
5 get maintainers, translators, and users all together, so that GNU will
6 gradually become able to speak many languages. A few packages already
7 provide translations for their messages.
9 If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a GNU distribution, you
10 may assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext'
11 internally, itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you
12 do *not* need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing
13 or using this package with messages translated.
15 Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also
16 explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
17 available translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and
18 work at translations should contact the appropriate team.
20 When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be
21 related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
22 `gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the
23 `intl/VERSION' file, in internationalized packages.
25 One advise in advance
26 =====================
28 If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
29 should configure it using
31 ./configure --with-gnu-gettext
33 to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
34 package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in
35 the operating system where this package is being installed. So far, no
36 prior implementation provides as many useful features (such as locale
37 alias or message inheritance). It is also not possible to offer this
38 additional functionality on top of a `catgets' implementation. Future
39 versions of GNU `gettext' will very likely convey even more
40 functionality. So it might be a good idea to change to GNU `gettext'
41 as soon as possible.
43 INSTALL Matters
44 ===============
46 Some GNU packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
47 programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
48 Most such packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own
49 ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
51 By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
52 messages. It will automatically detect whether the system provides
53 usable `catgets' (if using this is selected by the installer) or
54 `gettext' functions. If neither is available, the GNU `gettext' own
55 library will be used. This library is wholly contained within this
56 package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior installation of
57 the GNU `gettext' package is *not* required. Installers may use
58 special options at configuration time for changing the default
59 behaviour. The commands:
61 ./configure --with-gnu-gettext
62 ./configure --with-catgets
63 ./configure --disable-nls
65 will respectively bypass any pre-existing `catgets' or `gettext' to use
66 the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable
67 the use of the `catgets' functions (if found on the locale system), or
68 else, *totally* disable translation of messages.
70 When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
71 configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
72 probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
73 will decide to use this. This might be not what is desirable. You
74 should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e.
75 if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
76 package is more recent, you should use
78 ./configure --with-gnu-gettext
80 to prevent auto-detection.
82 By default the configuration process will not test for the `catgets'
83 function and therefore they will not be used. The reasons are already
84 given above: the emulation on top of `catgets' cannot provide all the
85 extensions provided by the GNU `gettext' library. If you nevertheless
86 want to use the `catgets' functions use
88 ./configure --with-catgets
90 to enable the test for `catgets' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is
91 not available on your system). If you really select this option we
92 would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any
93 good one ourself.
95 Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
96 LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless
97 translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
98 `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
99 together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
100 may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
101 `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
102 codes, stating which languages are allowed.
104 Using This Package
105 ==================
107 As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
108 only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
109 ISO 639 `LL' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the
110 package. For example, let's suppose that you speak German. At the
111 shell prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de' (in `csh'),
112 `export LANG; LANG=de' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de' (in `bash'). This
113 can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for all.
115 An operating system might already offer message localization for
116 many of its programs, while other programs (whether GNU or not) have
117 been installed locally with the full capabilities of GNU `gettext'.
118 Just using `gettext' extended syntax for `LANG' would break proper
119 localization of already available operating system programs. In this
120 case, users should set both `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' variables in their
121 environment, as programs using GNU `gettext' give preference to
122 `LANGUAGE'. For example, some Swedish users would rather read
123 translations in German than English for when Swedish is not available.
124 This is easily accomplished by setting `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while
125 leaving `LANG' to `sv'.
127 Translating Teams
128 =================
130 For the GNU Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
131 people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
132 able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
133 Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux
134 International. You may reach your translation team at the address
135 `LL@li.org', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your
136 language. Language codes are *not* the same as the country codes given
137 in ISO 3166. The following translation teams exist, as of May 1996:
139 Arabic `ar', Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl',
140 English `en', Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German
141 `de', Greek `el', Hebrew `he', Hungarian `hu', Irish `ga', Italian
142 `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja', Korean `ko', Latin `la',
143 Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish `pl', Portuguese `pt',
144 Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es', Swedish `sv', Telugu
145 `te', Turkish `tr' and Ukrainian `uk'.
147 For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to
148 `zh@li.org'.
150 If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you
151 should become a member of the translating team for your own language.
152 The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has
153 `-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
154 message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
156 subscribe
158 Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
159 *actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
160 rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and
161 you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
162 get started, please write to `gnu-translation@gnu.ai.mit.edu' to reach
163 the GNU coordinator for all translator teams.
165 The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing
166 the terminology used in GNU. Proven linguistic skill are praised more
167 than programming skill, here. For the time being, please avoid
168 subscribing to the English team unless explicitly invited to do so.
170 Available Packages
171 ==================
173 Languages are not equally supported in all GNU packages. The
174 following matrix shows the current state of GNU internationalization,
175 as of May 1996. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which
176 languages PO files have been submitted to translation coordination.
178 cs de en es fi fr ja ko no pl pt sl sv
179 .----------------------------------------.
180 bash | [] | 1
181 bison | | 0
182 clisp | [] [] [] | 3
183 cpio | [] | 1
184 diffutils | [] [] | 2
185 enscript | [] [] [] [] | 4
186 fileutils | [] [] [] [] | 4
187 findutils | [] [] | 2
188 flex | [] | 1
189 gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
190 glibc | [] [] [] | 3
191 grep | [] [] [] [] | 4
192 hello | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
193 m4 | [] [] [] [] | 4
194 make | | 0
195 mkid | [] [] | 2
196 music | [] | 1
197 ptx | [] [] [] | 3
198 recode | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
199 sh-utils | [] [] | 2
200 sharutils | [] [] [] | 3
201 tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7
202 textutils | [] [] [] | 3
203 wdiff | [] [] [] [] | 4
204 `----------------------------------------'
205 cs de en es fi fr ja ko no pl pt sl sv
206 1 16 1 3 1 21 1 6 3 1 3 6 9
208 For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
209 which it applies should also have been internationalized and distributed
210 as such by its maintainer. There is often a lag between the mere
211 existence a PO file and its wide availability in a GNU distribution.
213 If May 1996 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of
214 this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites.