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1 | Notes on the GNU Translation Project |
2 | ************************************ | |
3 | ||
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. | |
8 | ||
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. | |
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 | |
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. | |
42 | ||
43 | INSTALL Matters | |
44 | =============== | |
45 | ||
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'. | |
50 | ||
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: | |
60 | ||
61 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
62 | ./configure --with-catgets | |
63 | ./configure --disable-nls | |
64 | ||
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. | |
69 | ||
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 | |
77 | ||
78 | ./configure --with-included-gettext | |
79 | ||
80 | to prevent auto-detection. | |
81 | ||
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 | |
87 | ||
88 | ./configure --with-catgets | |
89 | ||
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. | |
94 | ||
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. | |
103 | ||
104 | Using This Package | |
105 | ================== | |
106 | ||
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. | |
114 | ||
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'. | |
126 | ||
127 | Translating Teams | |
128 | ================= | |
129 | ||
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 February | |
138 | 1997: | |
139 | ||
140 | Arabic `ar', Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl', | |
141 | English `en', Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German | |
142 | `de', Greek `el', Hebrew `he', Hungarian `hu', Irish `ga', Italian | |
143 | `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja', Korean `ko', Latin `la', | |
144 | Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish `pl', Portuguese `pt', | |
145 | Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es', Swedish `sv', Telugu | |
146 | `te', Turkish `tr' and Ukrainian `uk'. | |
147 | ||
148 | For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to | |
149 | `zh@li.org'. | |
150 | ||
151 | If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you | |
152 | should become a member of the translating team for your own language. | |
153 | The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has | |
154 | `-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a | |
155 | message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body: | |
156 | ||
157 | subscribe | |
158 | ||
159 | Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate | |
160 | *actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties, | |
161 | rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and | |
162 | you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to | |
163 | get started, please write to `gnu-translation@gnu.ai.mit.edu' to reach | |
164 | the GNU coordinator for all translator teams. | |
165 | ||
166 | The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing | |
167 | the terminology used in GNU. Proven linguistic skill are praised more | |
168 | than programming skill, here. For the time being, please avoid | |
169 | subscribing to the English team unless explicitly invited to do so. | |
170 | ||
171 | Available Packages | |
172 | ================== | |
173 | ||
174 | Languages are not equally supported in all GNU packages. The | |
175 | following matrix shows the current state of GNU internationalization, | |
176 | as of February 1997. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for | |
177 | which languages PO files have been submitted to translation | |
178 | coordination. | |
179 | ||
180 | Ready PO files cs de en es fi fr ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv | |
181 | .-------------------------------------------. | |
182 | bash | [] [] [] | 3 | |
183 | bison | [] [] [] | 3 | |
184 | clisp | [] [] [] | 3 | |
185 | cpio | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
186 | diffutils | [] [] [] [] | 4 | |
187 | enscript | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
188 | fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
189 | findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7 | |
190 | flex | [] [] [] | 3 | |
191 | gcal | [] [] [] | 3 | |
192 | gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11 | |
193 | grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
194 | hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10 | |
195 | id-utils | [] [] | 2 | |
196 | indent | [] [] | 2 | |
197 | libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7 | |
198 | m4 | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
199 | make | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6 | |
200 | music | [] | 1 | |
201 | ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
202 | recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
203 | sh-utils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
204 | sharutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5 | |
205 | tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9 | |
206 | texinfo | | 0 | |
207 | textutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6 | |
208 | wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8 | |
209 | `-------------------------------------------' | |
210 | 14 languages cs de en es fi fr ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv | |
211 | 27 packages 1 22 1 14 1 25 1 10 20 7 14 7 7 15 145 | |
212 | ||
213 | Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of | |
214 | visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are | |
215 | used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language | |
216 | dialects. | |
217 | ||
218 | For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to | |
219 | which it applies should also have been internationalized and | |
220 | distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable | |
221 | lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a | |
222 | GNU distribution. | |
223 | ||
224 | If February 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy | |
225 | of this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. | |
226 |