1 Notes on the Free Translation Project
2 *************************************
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.
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.
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 Quick configuration advice
26 ==========================
28 If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
29 should configure it using
31 ./configure --with-included-gettext
33 to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
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, message inheritance, automatic
38 charset conversion or plural form handling) as the implementation here.
39 It is also not possible to offer this additional functionality on top
40 of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of GNU `gettext' will
41 very likely convey even more functionality. So it might be a good idea
42 to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
44 So you need _not_ provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
45 you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
51 Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
52 programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
53 Most such packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own
54 ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
56 By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
57 messages. It will automatically detect whether the system already
58 provides the GNU `gettext' functions. If not, 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:
65 ./configure --with-included-gettext
66 ./configure --disable-nls
68 will respectively bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the
69 internationalizing routines provided within this package, or else,
70 _totally_ disable translation of messages.
72 When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
73 configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
74 probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
75 will decide to use this. This might be not what is desirable. You
76 should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e.
77 if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
78 package is more recent, you should use
80 ./configure --with-included-gettext
82 to prevent auto-detection.
84 The configuration process will not test for the `catgets' function
85 and therefore it will not be used. The reason is that even an
86 emulation of `gettext' on top of `catgets' could not provide all the
87 extensions of the GNU `gettext' library.
89 Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
90 LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless
91 translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
92 `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
93 together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
94 may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
95 `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
96 codes, stating which languages are allowed.
101 As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
102 only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
103 `LL_CC' combination. Here `LL' is an ISO 639 two-letter language code,
104 and `CC' is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code. For example, let's
105 suppose that you speak German and live in Germany. At the shell
106 prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de_DE' (in `csh'),
107 `export LANG; LANG=de_DE' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de_DE' (in `bash').
108 This can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for
111 You might think that the country code specification is redundant.
112 But in fact, some languages have dialects in different countries. For
113 example, `de_AT' is used for Austria, and `pt_BR' for Brazil. The
114 country code serves to distinguish the dialects.
116 The locale naming convention of `LL_CC', with `LL' denoting the
117 language and `CC' denoting the country, is the one use on systems based
118 on GNU libc. On other systems, some variations of this scheme are
119 used, such as `LL' or `LL_CC.ENCODING'. You can get the list of
120 locales supported by your system for your country by running the command
121 `locale -a | grep '^LL''.
123 Not all programs have translations for all languages. By default, an
124 English message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation. If you
125 understand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages.
126 This is done through a different environment variable, called
127 `LANGUAGE'. GNU `gettext' gives preference to `LANGUAGE' over `LANG'
128 for the purpose of message handling, but you still need to have `LANG'
129 set to the primary language; this is required by other parts of the
130 system libraries. For example, some Swedish users who would rather
131 read translations in German than English for when Swedish is not
132 available, set `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv_SE'.
134 In the `LANGUAGE' environment variable, but not in the `LANG'
135 environment variable, `LL_CC' combinations can be abbreviated as `LL'
136 to denote the language's main dialect. For example, `de' is equivalent
137 to `de_DE' (German as spoken in Germany), and `pt' to `pt_PT'
138 (Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) in this context.
143 For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
144 people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
145 able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
146 Each translation team has its own mailing list. The up-to-date list of
147 teams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage,
148 `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/', in the "National teams"
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:
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 `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
164 coordinator for all translator teams.
166 The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing
167 the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
168 programming skill, here.
173 Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following
174 matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of August
175 2002. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages
176 PO files have been submitted to translation coordination, with a
177 translation percentage of at least 50%.
179 Ready PO files be bg ca cs da de el en eo es et fi fr
180 +----------------------------------------+
186 bison | [] [] [] [] |
188 clisp | [] [] [] [] |
192 diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
195 fetchmail | [] () [] [] [] () |
196 fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] |
197 findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
198 flex | [] [] [] [] [] |
203 gettext | [] [] [] [] [] |
204 gnupg | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
206 gpsdrive | () () () () () |
207 grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
210 hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
211 id-utils | [] [] [] |
212 indent | [] [] [] [] [] |
213 jpilot | () [] [] [] |
217 libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
218 libiconv | [] [] [] [] |
222 lingoteach_lessons| () () |
223 lynx | [] [] [] [] [] |
224 m4 | [] [] [] [] [] |
226 man-db | [] () () [] () () |
227 mysecretdiary | [] [] [] |
228 nano | [] () [] [] [] [] |
229 nano_1_0 | [] () [] [] [] [] |
231 parted | [] [] [] [] [] |
232 ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
234 recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
235 sed | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
236 sh-utils | [] [] [] [] |
237 sharutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
239 soundtracker | [] [] [] |
241 tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
242 texinfo | [] [] [] [] [] |
243 textutils | [] [] [] [] [] |
244 util-linux | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
247 wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
248 wget | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
249 +----------------------------------------+
250 be bg ca cs da de el en eo es et fi fr
251 0 2 19 10 30 44 9 1 12 44 17 6 53
253 gl he hr hu id it ja ko lv nb nl nn
254 +-------------------------------------+
260 bison | [] [] [] [] |
266 diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] |
270 fileutils | [] [] [] |
271 findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
278 gnupg | [] [] [] [] |
280 gpsdrive | [] () () |
281 grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
284 hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
286 indent | [] [] [] [] |
292 libiconv | [] [] [] |
296 lingoteach_lessons| |
299 make | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
303 nano_1_0 | [] [] [] [] [] |
306 ptx | [] [] [] [] [] |
309 sed | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] |
310 sh-utils | [] [] [] |
311 sharutils | [] [] [] |
313 soundtracker | [] [] |
315 tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
317 textutils | [] [] [] [] |
322 wget | [] [] [] [] [] [] |
323 +-------------------------------------+
324 gl he hr hu id it ja ko lv nb nl nn
325 23 9 12 19 16 13 26 9 1 7 19 3
327 no pl pt pt_BR ru sk sl sv tr uk zh_CN zh_TW
328 +----------------------------------------------+
329 a2ps | () () () [] [] [] [] [] | 10
334 bison | [] [] [] [] | 12
338 cpio | [] [] [] [] | 12
339 darkstat | [] [] () () | 2
340 diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 17
341 enscript | [] [] [] [] | 8
343 fetchmail | () () [] | 6
344 fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 14
345 findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 21
351 gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 13
352 gnupg | [] [] [] | 14
355 grep | [] [] [] [] [] | 20
357 gthumb | () () [] | 1
358 hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 28
359 id-utils | [] [] [] [] | 9
360 indent | [] [] [] [] [] | 14
361 jpilot | () () [] [] | 5
362 jwhois | [] () () [] [] | 7
365 libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 18
366 libiconv | [] [] [] [] [] | 12
369 lingoteach | [] [] | 5
370 lingoteach_lessons| () | 0
371 lynx | [] [] [] [] | 13
372 m4 | [] [] [] [] | 13
373 make | [] [] [] [] [] | 15
375 mysecretdiary | [] [] [] | 7
376 nano | [] [] [] [] | 13
377 nano_1_0 | [] [] [] [] | 14
378 opcodes | [] [] [] | 8
379 parted | [] [] [] [] | 12
380 ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 19
382 recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 15
383 sed | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 24
385 sharutils | [] [] [] [] | 14
386 sketch | [] () [] | 4
387 soundtracker | [] | 6
389 tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 19
391 textutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 14
392 util-linux | [] [] [] | 10
393 vorbis-tools | [] | 3
395 wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] | 14
396 wget | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 24
397 +----------------------------------------------+
398 37 teams no pl pt pt_BR ru sk sl sv tr uk zh_CN zh_TW
399 68 domains 4 15 2 28 28 12 10 49 43 4 1 9 609
401 Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
402 visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are
403 used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
406 For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
407 which it applies should also have been internationalized and
408 distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable
409 lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
412 If August 2002 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of
413 this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. The most up-to-date
414 matrix with full percentage details can be found at
415 `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/matrix.html'.
417 Using `gettext' in new packages
418 ===============================
420 If you are writing a freely available program and want to
421 internationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your
422 package. Of course you have to respect the GNU Library General Public
423 License which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library. This means
424 in particular that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared
425 library, whereas only free software can use `libintl' as a static
426 library or use modified versions of `libintl'.
428 Once the sources are changed appropriately and the setup can handle
429 to use of `gettext' the only thing missing are the translations. The
430 Free Translation Project is also available for packages which are not
431 developed inside the GNU project. Therefore the information given above
432 applies also for every other Free Software Project. Contact
433 `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to make the `.pot' files available to
434 the translation teams.
projects / chaz / openbox / blob