ABOUT-NLS

   1 Notes on the Free Translation Project
   2 *************************************
   3
   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.
   8
   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.
  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 Quick configuration advice
  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 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.
  43
  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
  46 included `libintl'.
  47
  48 INSTALL Matters
  49 ===============
  50
  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'.
  55
  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:
  64
  65      ./configure --with-included-gettext
  66      ./configure --disable-nls
  67
  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.
  71
  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
  79
  80      ./configure --with-included-gettext
  81
  82 to prevent auto-detection.
  83
  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.
  88
  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.
  97
  98 Using This Package
  99 ==================
 100
 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
 109 all.
 110
 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.
 115
 116    Not all programs have translations for all languages.  By default, an
 117 English message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation.  If you
 118 understand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages.
 119 This is done through a different environment variable, called
 120 `LANGUAGE'.  GNU `gettext' gives preference to `LANGUAGE' over `LANG'
 121 for the purpose of message handling, but you still need to have `LANG'
 122 set to the primary language; this is required by other parts of the
 123 system libraries.  For example, some Swedish users who would rather
 124 read translations in German than English for when Swedish is not
 125 available, set `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv_SE'.
 126
 127    In the `LANGUAGE' environment variable, but not in the `LANG'
 128 environment variable, `LL_CC' combinations can be abbreviated as `LL'
 129 to denote the language's main dialect.  For example, `de' is equivalent
 130 to `de_DE' (German as spoken in Germany), and `pt' to `pt_PT'
 131 (Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) in this context.
 132
 133 Translating Teams
 134 =================
 135
 136    For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
 137 people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
 138 able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
 139 Each translation team has its own mailing list.  The up-to-date list of
 140 teams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage,
 141 `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/', in the "National teams"
 142 area.
 143
 144    If you'd like to volunteer to _work_ at translating messages, you
 145 should become a member of the translating team for your own language.
 146 The subscribing address is _not_ the same as the list itself, it has
 147 `-request' appended.  For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
 148 message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
 149
 150      subscribe
 151
 152    Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
 153 _actively_ in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
 154 rather than merely lurking around.  If your team does not exist yet and
 155 you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
 156 get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
 157 coordinator for all translator teams.
 158
 159    The English team is special.  It works at improving and uniformizing
 160 the terminology in use.  Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
 161 programming skill, here.
 162
 163 Available Packages
 164 ==================
 165
 166    Languages are not equally supported in all packages.  The following
 167 matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of May 2001.
 168 The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages PO
 169 files have been submitted to translation coordination, with a
 170 translation percentage of at least 50%.
 171
 172      Ready PO files    bg cs da de el en eo es et fi fr gl hr id it
 173                      +----------------------------------------------+
 174      a2ps            |          []             []                   |
 175      bash            |          []       [] []       []             |
 176      bison           |          []          [] []    []             |
 177      clisp           |          []    []    []       []             |
 178      cpio            |       [] []          []       []             |
 179      diffutils       |       [] []       [] []       [] []    []    |
 180      enscript        |          []                   []             |
 181      error           |                               []             |
 182      fileutils       |    [] [] [] []       []       [] []          |
 183      findutils       |       [] []          [] []    [] []    [] [] |
 184      flex            |       []             []       []             |
 185      gawk            |                                              |
 186      gcal            |                                              |
 187      gcc             |       []                                     |
 188      gettext         |    [] [] [] []       []       [] []    [] [] |
 189      gnupg           |          []       []    []    []          [] |
 190      grep            |                   []    []                [] |
 191      hello           |       [] []       [] [] [] [] []       [] [] |
 192      id-utils        |       []                      []             |
 193      indent          |       [] []             []    [] []          |
 194      libc            |    [] [] [] []       []       [] []       [] |
 195      lilypond        |                                              |
 196      lynx            |    [] [] []                                  |
 197      m4              |    [] [] [] []                [] []    []    |
 198      make            |          []          []       [] []          |
 199      parted          |          []                      []          |
 200      ptx             |       [] []          [] []    [] []    []    |
 201      python          |                                              |
 202      recode          |       [] [] []    [] []       [] []       [] |
 203      sed             |    []    [] []    []    []    [] []    [] [] |
 204      sh-utils        |    [] [] [] []       [] []    [] []       [] |
 205      sharutils       |    [] [] [] []       []       [] []          |
 206      soundtracker    |                                              |
 207      sp              |                                              |
 208      tar             |    [] [] []          [] []    []       [] [] |
 209      texinfo         |    []    []       []          []             |
 210      textutils       |    [] [] [] []       []       [] []          |
 211      util-linux      |    []                                        |
 212      wdiff           |    [] []             [] []    [] []    []    |
 213      wget            |    [] [] [] []       [] []    [] []       [] |
 214                      +----------------------------------------------+
 215                        bg cs da de el en eo es et fi fr gl hr id it
 216                         0 14 21 27 10  1  8 20 13  1 28 17  0  9 11
 217
 218                        ja ko lv nl no pl pt pt_BR ru sk sl sv tr zh
 219                      +----------------------------------------------+
 220      a2ps            |          []                []    []          |  5
 221      bash            |                                              |  4
 222      bison           | []       []                []                |  7
 223      clisp           |          []                                  |  5
 224      cpio            |    []    []    []     []   []                |  9
 225      diffutils       |                []          []       []       | 10
 226      enscript        |          []           []   []                |  5
 227      error           |                                              |  1
 228      fileutils       | [] []    []    []     []   [] [] [] []       | 16
 229      findutils       |    []    []    []     []   []       []       | 14
 230      flex            |    []                      []       []       |  6
 231      gawk            |                                              |  0
 232      gcal            |                                              |  0
 233      gcc             | []                                           |  2
 234      gettext         | [] []    []    []     []   []    [] [] [] [] | 19
 235      gnupg           | []             []                   []       |  8
 236      grep            |                                              |  3
 237      hello           | [] []    []    []     []   [] []    []       | 17
 238      id-utils        |          []                []       []       |  5
 239      indent          |    []    []    []          [] []    [] []    | 12
 240      libc            | [] []       [] []     []      []    []       | 15
 241      lilypond        |          []                                  |  1
 242      lynx            | []       []           []   []       []       |  8
 243      m4              | []       []    []          []       []       | 12
 244      make            | []       []    []     []   []                |  9
 245      parted          | []       []                []                |  5
 246      ptx             |          [] [] [] []       []       []       | 13
 247      python          |                                              |  0
 248      recode          |                            []    [] []       | 11
 249      sed             | []       []           []   [] [] [] []       | 16
 250      sh-utils        | []       [] [] []     []   [] [] [] []    [] | 19
 251      sharutils       | []       []                []       []       | 11
 252      soundtracker    |                                              |  0
 253      sp              |                                              |  0
 254      tar             | []       [] [] []     []   []    [] []       | 16
 255      texinfo         | []                         []                |  6
 256      textutils       | []       [] [] []     []   [] [] []          | 15
 257      util-linux      |                       []                     |  2
 258      wdiff           |          []    []          [] []    []       | 12
 259      wget            | []          []        []   [] [] [] []    [] | 17
 260                      +----------------------------------------------+
 261        29 teams        ja ko lv nl no pl pt pt_BR ru sk sl sv tr zh
 262        40 domains      18  8  0 23  6 16  1  15   26  9  9 20  2  3  336
 263
 264    Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
 265 visible blocks let us expect.  This is because a few extra PO files are
 266 used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
 267 dialects.
 268
 269    For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
 270 which it applies should also have been internationalized and
 271 distributed as such by its maintainer.  There might be an observable
 272 lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
 273 distribution.
 274
 275    If May 2001 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of
 276 this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites.  The most up-to-date
 277 matrix with full percentage details can be found at
 278 `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/matrix.html'.
 279
 280 Using `gettext' in new packages
 281 ===============================
 282
 283    If you are writing a freely available program and want to
 284 internationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your
 285 package.  Of course the GNU Public License applies to your sources from
 286 then if you include `gettext' directly in your distribution on but
 287 since you are writing free software anyway this is no restriction.
 288
 289    Once the sources are change appropriately and the setup can handle to
 290 use of `gettext' the only thing missing are the translations.  The Free
 291 Translation Project is also available for packages which are not
 292 developed inside the GNU project.  Therefore the information given above
 293 applies also for every other Free Software Project.  Contact
 294 `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to make the `.pot' files available to
 295 the translation teams.
 296