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1 | Notes on the Free Translation Project |
2 | ************************************* | |
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4 | Free software is going international! The Free Translation Project |
5 | is a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all | |
6 | together, so that will gradually become able to speak many languages. | |
7 | A few packages already provide translations for their messages. | |
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9 | If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may |
10 | assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally, | |
11 | itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do *not* | |
12 | need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using | |
13 | this package with messages translated. | |
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14 | |
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. | |
19 | ||
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. | |
24 | ||
25 | One advise in advance | |
26 | ===================== | |
27 | ||
28 | If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you | |
29 | should configure it using | |
30 | ||
31 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
32 | ||
33 | to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this | |
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34 | package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the |
35 | operating system where this package is being installed. So far, only | |
36 | the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as | |
37 | many features (such as locale alias or message inheritance) as the | |
38 | implementation here. It is also not possible to offer this additional | |
39 | functionality on top of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of | |
40 | GNU `gettext' will very likely convey even more functionality. So it | |
41 | might be a good idea to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible. | |
42 | ||
43 | So you need not provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or | |
44 | you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the | |
45 | included `libintl'. | |
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46 | |
47 | INSTALL Matters | |
48 | =============== | |
49 | ||
d275726b | 50 | Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the |
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51 | programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language. |
52 | Most such packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own | |
53 | ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'. | |
54 | ||
55 | By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of | |
56 | messages. It will automatically detect whether the system provides | |
57 | usable `catgets' (if using this is selected by the installer) or | |
58 | `gettext' functions. If neither is available, the GNU `gettext' own | |
59 | library will be used. This library is wholly contained within this | |
60 | package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior installation of | |
61 | the GNU `gettext' package is *not* required. Installers may use | |
62 | special options at configuration time for changing the default | |
63 | behaviour. The commands: | |
64 | ||
65 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
66 | ./configure --with-catgets | |
67 | ./configure --disable-nls | |
68 | ||
69 | will respectively bypass any pre-existing `catgets' or `gettext' to use | |
70 | the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable | |
71 | the use of the `catgets' functions (if found on the locale system), or | |
72 | else, *totally* disable translation of messages. | |
73 | ||
74 | When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run | |
75 | configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will | |
76 | probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and | |
77 | will decide to use this. This might be not what is desirable. You | |
78 | should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e. | |
79 | if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this | |
80 | package is more recent, you should use | |
81 | ||
82 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
83 | ||
84 | to prevent auto-detection. | |
85 | ||
86 | By default the configuration process will not test for the `catgets' | |
87 | function and therefore they will not be used. The reasons are already | |
88 | given above: the emulation on top of `catgets' cannot provide all the | |
89 | extensions provided by the GNU `gettext' library. If you nevertheless | |
90 | want to use the `catgets' functions use | |
91 | ||
92 | ./configure --with-catgets | |
93 | ||
94 | to enable the test for `catgets' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is | |
95 | not available on your system). If you really select this option we | |
96 | would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any | |
97 | good one ourself. | |
98 | ||
99 | Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where | |
100 | LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless | |
101 | translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the | |
102 | `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed | |
103 | together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS' | |
104 | may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set. | |
105 | `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter | |
106 | codes, stating which languages are allowed. | |
107 | ||
108 | Using This Package | |
109 | ================== | |
110 | ||
111 | As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you | |
112 | only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate | |
113 | ISO 639 `LL' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the | |
114 | package. For example, let's suppose that you speak German. At the | |
115 | shell prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de' (in `csh'), | |
116 | `export LANG; LANG=de' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de' (in `bash'). This | |
117 | can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for all. | |
118 | ||
119 | An operating system might already offer message localization for | |
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120 | many of its programs, while other programs have been installed locally |
121 | with the full capabilities of GNU `gettext'. Just using `gettext' | |
122 | extended syntax for `LANG' would break proper localization of already | |
123 | available operating system programs. In this case, users should set | |
124 | both `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' variables in their environment, as programs | |
125 | using GNU `gettext' give preference to `LANGUAGE'. For example, some | |
126 | Swedish users would rather read translations in German than English for | |
127 | when Swedish is not available. This is easily accomplished by setting | |
128 | `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv'. | |
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129 | |
130 | Translating Teams | |
131 | ================= | |
132 | ||
d275726b | 133 | For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested |
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134 | people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also |
135 | able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language. | |
136 | Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux | |
137 | International. You may reach your translation team at the address | |
138 | `LL@li.org', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your | |
139 | language. Language codes are *not* the same as the country codes given | |
d275726b | 140 | in ISO 3166. The following translation teams exist, as of August 1997: |
1eb3e844 | 141 | |
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142 | Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl', English `en', |
143 | Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German `de', Hungarian | |
144 | `hu', Irish `ga', Italian `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja', | |
145 | Korean `ko', Latin `la', Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish | |
146 | `pl', Portuguese `pt', Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es', | |
147 | Swedish `sv', and Turkish `tr'. | |
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148 | |
149 | For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to | |
150 | `zh@li.org'. | |
151 | ||
152 | If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you | |
153 | should become a member of the translating team for your own language. | |
154 | The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has | |
155 | `-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a | |
156 | message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body: | |
157 | ||
158 | subscribe | |
159 | ||
160 | Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate | |
161 | *actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties, | |
162 | rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and | |
163 | you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to | |
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164 | get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the |
165 | coordinator for all translator teams. | |
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166 | |
167 | The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing | |
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168 | the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skill are praised more than |
169 | programming skill, here. | |
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170 | |
171 | Available Packages | |
172 | ================== | |
173 | ||
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174 | Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following |
175 | matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of August | |
176 | 1997. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages | |
177 | PO files have been submitted to translation coordination. | |
178 | ||
179 | Ready PO files cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv | |
180 | .-------------------------------------------------. | |
181 | bash | [] [] [] | 3 | |
182 | bison | [] [] [] | 3 | |
183 | clisp | [] [] [] [] | 4 | |
184 | cpio | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
185 | diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
186 | enscript | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6 | |
187 | fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10 | |
188 | findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
189 | flex | [] [] [] [] | 4 | |
190 | gcal | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
191 | gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11 | |
192 | grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9 | |
193 | hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10 | |
194 | id-utils | [] [] [] | 3 | |
195 | indent | [] [] [] [] | 4 | |
196 | libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7 | |
197 | m4 | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
198 | make | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6 | |
199 | music | [] [] | 2 | |
200 | ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
201 | recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9 | |
202 | sh-utils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7 | |
203 | sharutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
204 | tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10 | |
205 | texinfo | [] | 1 | |
206 | textutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9 | |
207 | wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
208 | `-------------------------------------------------' | |
209 | 16 languages cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv | |
210 | 27 packages 3 2 24 1 17 1 26 2 1 11 20 9 19 7 7 17 167 | |
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211 | |
212 | Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of | |
213 | visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are | |
214 | used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language | |
215 | dialects. | |
216 | ||
217 | For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to | |
218 | which it applies should also have been internationalized and | |
219 | distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable | |
220 | lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a | |
d275726b | 221 | distribution. |
1eb3e844 | 222 | |
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223 | If August 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of |
224 | this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. | |
1eb3e844 | 225 |