2N/A1 Notes on the Free Translation Project
2N/A***************************************
2N/AFree software is going international! The Free Translation Project is
2N/Aa way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all
2N/Atogether, so that free software will gradually become able to speak many
2N/Alanguages. A few packages already provide translations for their
2N/A If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may
2N/Aassume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally,
2N/Aitself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do _not_
2N/Aneed to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using
2N/Athis package with messages translated.
2N/A Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also
2N/Aexplain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
2N/Aavailable translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and
2N/Awork on translations can contact the appropriate team.
2N/A When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be
2N/Arelated to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
2N/A`gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the
2N/A1.1 Quick configuration advice
2N/A==============================
2N/AIf you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
2N/Ashould configure it using
2N/A ./configure --with-included-gettext
2N/Ato force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
2N/Apackage, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the
2N/Aoperating system where this package is being installed. So far, only
2N/Athe `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as
2N/Amany features (such as locale alias, message inheritance, automatic
2N/Acharset conversion or plural form handling) as the implementation here.
2N/AIt is also not possible to offer this additional functionality on top
2N/Aof a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of GNU `gettext' will
2N/Avery likely convey even more functionality. So it might be a good idea
2N/Ato change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
2N/A So you need _not_ provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
2N/Ayou have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
2N/ASome packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the programs
2N/Athey contain can be made to speak your own native language. Most such
2N/Apackages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own ways to
2N/Ainternationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
2N/A By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
2N/Amessages. It will automatically detect whether the system already
2N/Aprovides the GNU `gettext' functions. If not, the included GNU
2N/A`gettext' library will be used. This library is wholly contained
2N/Awithin this package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior
2N/Ainstallation of the GNU `gettext' package is _not_ required.
2N/AInstallers may use special options at configuration time for changing
2N/Athe default behaviour. The commands:
2N/A ./configure --with-included-gettext
2N/A ./configure --disable-nls
2N/Awill, respectively, bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the
2N/Ainternationalizing routines provided within this package, or else,
2N/A_totally_ disable translation of messages.
2N/A When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
2N/Aconfigure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
2N/Aprobably detect the previously built and installed `
libintl.a' file and
2N/Awill decide to use this. This might not be desirable. You should use
2N/Athe more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library.
I.e. if the file
2N/Amore recent, you should use
2N/A ./configure --with-included-gettext
2N/Ato prevent auto-detection.
2N/A The configuration process will not test for the `catgets' function
2N/Aand therefore it will not be used. The reason is that even an
2N/Aemulation of `gettext' on top of `catgets' could not provide all the
2N/Aextensions of the GNU `gettext' library.
2N/A Internationalized packages usually have many `
po/LL.po' files, where
2N/ALL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless
2N/Atranslations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
2N/A`--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
2N/Atogether with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
2N/Amay be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
2N/A`LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
2N/Acodes, stating which languages are allowed.
2N/A1.3 Using This Package
2N/A======================
2N/AAs a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
2N/Aonly have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
2N/A`LL_CC' combination. Here `LL' is an ISO 639 two-letter language code,
2N/Aand `CC' is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code. For example, let's
2N/Asuppose that you speak German and live in Germany. At the shell
2N/Aprompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de_DE' (in `csh'),
2N/A`export LANG; LANG=de_DE' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de_DE' (in `bash').
2N/AThis can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for
2N/A You might think that the country code specification is redundant.
2N/ABut in fact, some languages have dialects in different countries. For
2N/Aexample, `de_AT' is used for Austria, and `pt_BR' for Brazil. The
2N/Acountry code serves to distinguish the dialects.
2N/A The locale naming convention of `LL_CC', with `LL' denoting the
2N/Alanguage and `CC' denoting the country, is the one use on systems based
2N/Aon GNU libc. On other systems, some variations of this scheme are
2N/Alocales supported by your system for your language by running the
2N/Acommand `locale -a | grep '^LL''.
2N/A Not all programs have translations for all languages. By default, an
2N/AEnglish message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation. If you
2N/Aunderstand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages.
2N/AThis is done through a different environment variable, called
2N/A`LANGUAGE'. GNU `gettext' gives preference to `LANGUAGE' over `LANG'
2N/Afor the purpose of message handling, but you still need to have `LANG'
2N/Aset to the primary language; this is required by other parts of the
2N/Asystem libraries. For example, some Swedish users who would rather
2N/Aread translations in German than English for when Swedish is not
2N/Aavailable, set `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv_SE'.
2N/A Special advice for Norwegian users: The language code for Norwegian
2N/Abokma*l changed from `no' to `nb' recently (in 2003). During the
2N/Atransition period, while some message catalogs for this language are
2N/Ainstalled under `nb' and some older ones under `no', it's recommended
2N/Afor Norwegian users to set `LANGUAGE' to `nb:no' so that both newer and
2N/Aolder translations are used.
2N/A In the `LANGUAGE' environment variable, but not in the `LANG'
2N/Aenvironment variable, `LL_CC' combinations can be abbreviated as `LL'
2N/Ato denote the language's main dialect. For example, `de' is equivalent
2N/Ato `de_DE' (German as spoken in Germany), and `pt' to `pt_PT'
2N/A(Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) in this context.
2N/A1.4 Translating Teams
2N/A=====================
2N/AFor the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
2N/Apeople who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
2N/Aable to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
2N/AEach translation team has its own mailing list. The up-to-date list of
2N/Ateams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage,
2N/A If you'd like to volunteer to _work_ at translating messages, you
2N/Ashould become a member of the translating team for your own language.
2N/AThe subscribing address is _not_ the same as the list itself, it has
2N/A`-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
2N/Amessage to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
2N/A Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
2N/A_actively_ in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
2N/Arather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and
2N/Ayou want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
2N/Aget started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
2N/Acoordinator for all translator teams.
2N/A The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing
2N/Athe terminology in use. Proven linguistic skills are praised more than
2N/Aprogramming skills, here.
2N/A1.5 Available Packages
2N/A======================
2N/ALanguages are not equally supported in all packages. The following
2N/Amatrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of October
2N/A2006. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages
2N/APO files have been submitted to translation coordination, with a
2N/Atranslation percentage of at least 50%.
2N/A# Matrix here is removed!
2N/A Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
2N/Avisible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are
2N/Aused for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
2N/A For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
2N/Awhich it applies should also have been internationalized and
2N/Adistributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable
2N/Alag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
2N/A If October 2006 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of
2N/Athis `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. The most up-to-date
2N/Amatrix with full percentage details can be found at
2N/A1.6 Using `gettext' in new packages
2N/A===================================
2N/AIf you are writing a freely available program and want to
2N/Ainternationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your
2N/Apackage. Of course you have to respect the GNU Library General Public
2N/ALicense which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library. This means
2N/Ain particular that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared
2N/Alibrary, whereas only free software can use `libintl' as a static
2N/Alibrary or use modified versions of `libintl'.
2N/A Once the sources are changed appropriately and the setup can handle
2N/Athe use of `gettext' the only thing missing are the translations. The
2N/AFree Translation Project is also available for packages which are not
2N/Adeveloped inside the GNU project. Therefore the information given above
2N/Aapplies also for every other Free Software Project. Contact
2N/A`translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to make the `.pot' files available to
2N/Athe translation teams.