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Notes on the Free Translation Project
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*************************************
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Free software is going international! The Free Translation Project
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is a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all
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together, so that will gradually become able to speak many languages.
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A few packages already provide translations for their messages.
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If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may
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assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally,
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itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do *not*
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need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using
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this package with messages translated.
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Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also
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explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
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available translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and
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work at translations should contact the appropriate team.
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When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be
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related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
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`gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the
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`intl/VERSION' file, in internationalized packages.
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If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
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should configure it using
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./configure --with-included-gettext
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to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
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package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the
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operating system where this package is being installed. So far, only
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the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as
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many features (such as locale alias or message inheritance) as the
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implementation here. It is also not possible to offer this additional
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functionality on top of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of
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GNU `gettext' will very likely convey even more functionality. So it
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might be a good idea to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
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So you need not provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
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you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
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Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
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programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
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Most such packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own
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ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
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By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
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messages. It will automatically detect whether the system provides
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usable `catgets' (if using this is selected by the installer) or
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`gettext' functions. If neither is available, the GNU `gettext' own
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library will be used. This library is wholly contained within this
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package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior installation of
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the GNU `gettext' package is *not* required. Installers may use
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special options at configuration time for changing the default
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behaviour. The commands:
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./configure --with-included-gettext
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./configure --with-catgets
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./configure --disable-nls
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will respectively bypass any pre-existing `catgets' or `gettext' to use
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the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable
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the use of the `catgets' functions (if found on the locale system), or
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else, *totally* disable translation of messages.
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When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
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configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
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probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
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will decide to use this. This might be not what is desirable. You
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should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e.
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if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
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package is more recent, you should use
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./configure --with-included-gettext
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to prevent auto-detection.
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By default the configuration process will not test for the `catgets'
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function and therefore they will not be used. The reasons are already
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given above: the emulation on top of `catgets' cannot provide all the
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extensions provided by the GNU `gettext' library. If you nevertheless
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want to use the `catgets' functions use
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./configure --with-catgets
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to enable the test for `catgets' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is
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not available on your system). If you really select this option we
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would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any
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Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
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LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless
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translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
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`--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
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together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
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may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
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`LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
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codes, stating which languages are allowed.
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As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
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only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
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ISO 639 `LL' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the
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package. For example, let's suppose that you speak German. At the
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shell prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de' (in `csh'),
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`export LANG; LANG=de' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de' (in `bash'). This
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can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for all.
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An operating system might already offer message localization for
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many of its programs, while other programs have been installed locally
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with the full capabilities of GNU `gettext'. Just using `gettext'
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extended syntax for `LANG' would break proper localization of already
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available operating system programs. In this case, users should set
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both `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' variables in their environment, as programs
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using GNU `gettext' give preference to `LANGUAGE'. For example, some
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Swedish users would rather read translations in German than English for
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when Swedish is not available. This is easily accomplished by setting
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`LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv'.
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For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
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people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
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able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
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Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux
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International. You may reach your translation team at the address
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`LL@li.org', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your
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language. Language codes are *not* the same as the country codes given
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in ISO 3166. The following translation teams exist, as of December
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Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl', English `en',
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Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German `de', Hungarian
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`hu', Irish `ga', Italian `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja',
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Korean `ko', Latin `la', Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish
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`pl', Portuguese `pt', Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es',
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Swedish `sv', and Turkish `tr'.
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For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to
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If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you
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should become a member of the translating team for your own language.
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The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has
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`-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
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message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
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Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
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*actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
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rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and
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you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
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get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
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coordinator for all translator teams.
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The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing
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the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
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programming skill, here.
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Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following
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matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of December
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1997. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages
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PO files have been submitted to translation coordination.
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Ready PO files cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
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.----------------------------------------------------.
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clisp | [] [] [] [] | 4
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cpio | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
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diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
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enscript | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
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fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
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findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
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flex | [] [] [] [] | 4
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gcal | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
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gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 12
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grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
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hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11
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id-utils | [] [] [] | 3
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indent | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
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libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7
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m4 | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
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make | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
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ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
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recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
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sh-utils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
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sharutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
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tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11
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texinfo | [] [] [] | 3
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textutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
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wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
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`----------------------------------------------------'
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17 languages cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
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27 packages 6 4 25 1 18 1 26 2 1 12 20 9 19 7 4 7 17 179
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Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
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visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are
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used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
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For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
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which it applies should also have been internationalized and
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distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable
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lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
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If December 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy
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of this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites.
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ABOUT-NLS
