]>
Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
f6bcfd97 BP |
1 | <HTML> |
2 | <HEAD> | |
3 | <!-- This HTML file has been created by texi2html 1.54 | |
4 | from gettext.texi on 25 January 1999 --> | |
5 | ||
6 | <TITLE>GNU gettext utilities - Introduction</TITLE> | |
7 | <link href="gettext_2.html" rel=Next> | |
8 | <link href="gettext_toc.html" rel=ToC> | |
9 | ||
10 | </HEAD> | |
11 | <BODY> | |
12 | <p>Go to the first, previous, <A HREF="gettext_2.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>. | |
13 | <P><HR><P> | |
14 | ||
15 | ||
16 | <H1><A NAME="SEC1" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC1">Introduction</A></H1> | |
17 | ||
18 | ||
19 | <BLOCKQUOTE> | |
20 | <P> | |
21 | This manual is still in <EM>DRAFT</EM> state. Some sections are still | |
22 | empty, or almost. We keep merging material from other sources | |
23 | (essentially e-mail folders) while the proper integration of this | |
24 | material is delayed. | |
25 | </BLOCKQUOTE> | |
26 | ||
27 | <P> | |
28 | In this manual, we use <EM>he</EM> when speaking of the programmer or | |
29 | maintainer, <EM>she</EM> when speaking of the translator, and <EM>they</EM> | |
30 | when speaking of the installers or end users of the translated program. | |
31 | This is only a convenience for clarifying the documentation. It is | |
32 | <EM>absolutely</EM> not meant to imply that some roles are more appropriate | |
33 | to males or females. Besides, as you might guess, GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> | |
34 | is meant to be useful for people using computers, whatever their sex, | |
35 | race, religion or nationality! | |
36 | ||
37 | </P> | |
38 | <P> | |
39 | This chapter explains the goals sought in the creation | |
40 | of GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> and the free Translation Project. | |
41 | Then, it explains a few broad concepts around | |
42 | Native Language Support, and positions message translation with regard | |
43 | to other aspects of national and cultural variance, as they apply to | |
44 | to programs. It also surveys those files used to convey the | |
45 | translations. It explains how the various tools interact in the | |
46 | initial generation of these files, and later, how the maintenance | |
47 | cycle should usually operate. | |
48 | ||
49 | </P> | |
50 | <P> | |
51 | Please send suggestions and corrections to: | |
52 | ||
53 | </P> | |
54 | ||
55 | <PRE> | |
56 | Internet address: | |
57 | bug-gnu-utils@prep.ai.mit.edu | |
58 | </PRE> | |
59 | ||
60 | <P> | |
61 | Please include the manual's edition number and update date in your messages. | |
62 | ||
63 | </P> | |
64 | ||
65 | ||
66 | ||
67 | <H2><A NAME="SEC2" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC2">The Purpose of GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE></A></H2> | |
68 | ||
69 | <P> | |
70 | Usually, programs are written and documented in English, and use | |
71 | English at execution time to interact with users. This is true | |
72 | not only of GNU software, but also of a great deal of commercial | |
73 | and free software. Using a common language is quite handy for | |
74 | communication between developers, maintainers and users from all | |
75 | countries. On the other hand, most people are less comfortable with | |
76 | English than with their own native language, and would prefer to | |
77 | use their mother tongue for day to day's work, as far as possible. | |
78 | Many would simply <EM>love</EM> to see their computer screen showing | |
79 | a lot less of English, and far more of their own language. | |
80 | ||
81 | </P> | |
82 | <P> | |
83 | However, to many people, this dream might appear so far fetched that | |
84 | they may believe it is not even worth spending time thinking about | |
85 | it. They have no confidence at all that the dream might ever | |
86 | become true. Yet some have not lost hope, and have organized themselves. | |
87 | The Translation Project is a formalization of this hope into a | |
88 | workable structure, which has a good chance to get all of us nearer | |
89 | the achievement of a truly multi-lingual set of programs. | |
90 | ||
91 | </P> | |
92 | <P> | |
93 | GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> is an important step for the Translation Project, | |
94 | as it is an asset on which we may build many other steps. This package | |
95 | offers to programmers, translators and even users, a well integrated | |
96 | set of tools and documentation. Specifically, the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> | |
97 | utilities are a set of tools that provides a framework within which | |
98 | other free packages may produce multi-lingual messages. These tools | |
99 | include a set of conventions about how programs should be written to | |
100 | support message catalogs, a directory and file naming organization for the | |
101 | message catalogs themselves, a runtime library supporting the retrieval of | |
102 | translated messages, and a few stand-alone programs to massage in various | |
103 | ways the sets of translatable strings, or already translated strings. | |
104 | A special mode for GNU Emacs also helps ease interested parties into | |
105 | preparing these sets, or bringing them up to date. | |
106 | ||
107 | </P> | |
108 | <P> | |
109 | GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> is designed to minimize the impact of | |
110 | internationalization on program sources, keeping this impact as small | |
111 | and hardly noticeable as possible. Internationalization has better | |
112 | chances of succeeding if it is very light weighted, or at least, | |
113 | appear to be so, when looking at program sources. | |
114 | ||
115 | </P> | |
116 | <P> | |
117 | The Translation Project also uses the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> | |
118 | distribution as a vehicle for documenting its structure and methods. | |
119 | This goes beyond the strict technicalities of documenting the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> | |
120 | proper. By so doing, translators will find in a single place, as | |
121 | far as possible, all they need to know for properly doing their | |
122 | translating work. Also, this supplemental documentation might also | |
123 | help programmers, and even curious users, in understanding how GNU | |
124 | <CODE>gettext</CODE> is related to the remainder of the Translation | |
125 | Project, and consequently, have a glimpse at the <EM>big picture</EM>. | |
126 | ||
127 | </P> | |
128 | ||
129 | ||
130 | <H2><A NAME="SEC3" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC3">I18n, L10n, and Such</A></H2> | |
131 | ||
132 | <P> | |
133 | Two long words appear all the time when we discuss support of native | |
134 | language in programs, and these words have a precise meaning, worth | |
135 | being explained here, once and for all in this document. The words are | |
136 | <EM>internationalization</EM> and <EM>localization</EM>. Many people, | |
137 | tired of writing these long words over and over again, took the | |
138 | habit of writing <STRONG>i18n</STRONG> and <STRONG>l10n</STRONG> instead, quoting the first | |
139 | and last letter of each word, and replacing the run of intermediate | |
140 | letters by a number merely telling how many such letters there are. | |
141 | But in this manual, in the sake of clarity, we will patiently write | |
142 | the names in full, each time... | |
143 | ||
144 | </P> | |
145 | <P> | |
146 | By <STRONG>internationalization</STRONG>, one refers to the operation by which a | |
147 | program, or a set of programs turned into a package, is made aware of and | |
148 | able to support multiple languages. This is a generalization process, | |
149 | by which the programs are untied from calling only English strings or | |
150 | other English specific habits, and connected to generic ways of doing | |
151 | the same, instead. Program developers may use various techniques to | |
152 | internationalize their programs. Some of these have been standardized. | |
153 | GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> offers one of these standards. See section <A HREF="gettext_8.html#SEC39">The Programmer's View</A>. | |
154 | ||
155 | </P> | |
156 | <P> | |
157 | By <STRONG>localization</STRONG>, one means the operation by which, in a set | |
158 | of programs already internationalized, one gives the program all | |
159 | needed information so that it can adapt itself to handle its input | |
160 | and output in a fashion which is correct for some native language and | |
161 | cultural habits. This is a particularisation process, by which generic | |
162 | methods already implemented in an internationalized program are used | |
163 | in specific ways. The programming environment puts several functions | |
164 | to the programmers disposal which allow this runtime configuration. | |
165 | The formal description of specific set of cultural habits for some | |
166 | country, together with all associated translations targeted to the | |
167 | same native language, is called the <STRONG>locale</STRONG> for this language | |
168 | or country. Users achieve localization of programs by setting proper | |
169 | values to special environment variables, prior to executing those | |
170 | programs, identifying which locale should be used. | |
171 | ||
172 | </P> | |
173 | <P> | |
174 | In fact, locale message support is only one component of the cultural | |
175 | data that makes up a particular locale. There are a whole host of | |
176 | routines and functions provided to aid programmers in developing | |
177 | internationalized software and which allow them to access the data | |
178 | stored in a particular locale. When someone presently refers to a | |
179 | particular locale, they are obviously referring to the data stored | |
180 | within that particular locale. Similarly, if a programmer is referring | |
181 | to "accessing the locale routines", they are referring to the | |
182 | complete suite of routines that access all of the locale's information. | |
183 | ||
184 | </P> | |
185 | <P> | |
186 | One uses the expression <STRONG>Native Language Support</STRONG>, or merely NLS, | |
187 | for speaking of the overall activity or feature encompassing both | |
188 | internationalization and localization, allowing for multi-lingual | |
189 | interactions in a program. In a nutshell, one could say that | |
190 | internationalization is the operation by which further localizations | |
191 | are made possible. | |
192 | ||
193 | </P> | |
194 | <P> | |
195 | Also, very roughly said, when it comes to multi-lingual messages, | |
196 | internationalization is usually taken care of by programmers, and | |
197 | localization is usually taken care of by translators. | |
198 | ||
199 | </P> | |
200 | ||
201 | ||
202 | <H2><A NAME="SEC4" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC4">Aspects in Native Language Support</A></H2> | |
203 | ||
204 | <P> | |
205 | For a totally multi-lingual distribution, there are many things to | |
206 | translate beyond output messages. | |
207 | ||
208 | </P> | |
209 | ||
210 | <UL> | |
211 | <LI> | |
212 | ||
213 | As of today, GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> offers a complete toolset for | |
214 | translating messages output by C programs. Perl scripts and shell | |
215 | scripts will also need to be translated. Even if there are today some hooks | |
216 | by which this can be done, these hooks are not integrated as well as they | |
217 | should be. | |
218 | ||
219 | <LI> | |
220 | ||
221 | Some programs, like <CODE>autoconf</CODE> or <CODE>bison</CODE>, are able | |
222 | to produce other programs (or scripts). Even if the generating | |
223 | programs themselves are internationalized, the generated programs they | |
224 | produce may need internationalization on their own, and this indirect | |
225 | internationalization could be automated right from the generating | |
226 | program. In fact, quite usually, generating and generated programs | |
227 | could be internationalized independently, as the effort needed is | |
228 | fairly orthogonal. | |
229 | ||
230 | <LI> | |
231 | ||
232 | A few programs include textual tables which might need translation | |
233 | themselves, independently of the strings contained in the program | |
234 | itself. For example, RFC 1345 gives an English description for each | |
235 | character which GNU <CODE>recode</CODE> is able to reconstruct at execution. | |
236 | Since these descriptions are extracted from the RFC by mechanical means, | |
237 | translating them properly would require a prior translation of the RFC | |
238 | itself. | |
239 | ||
240 | <LI> | |
241 | ||
242 | Almost all programs accept options, which are often worded out so to | |
243 | be descriptive for the English readers; one might want to consider | |
244 | offering translated versions for program options as well. | |
245 | ||
246 | <LI> | |
247 | ||
248 | Many programs read, interpret, compile, or are somewhat driven by | |
249 | input files which are texts containing keywords, identifiers, or | |
250 | replies which are inherently translatable. For example, one may want | |
251 | <CODE>gcc</CODE> to allow diacriticized characters in identifiers or use | |
252 | translated keywords; <SAMP>`rm -i'</SAMP> might accept something else than | |
253 | <SAMP>`y'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`n'</SAMP> for replies, etc. Even if the program will | |
254 | eventually make most of its output in the foreign languages, one has | |
255 | to decide whether the input syntax, option values, etc., are to be | |
256 | localized or not. | |
257 | ||
258 | <LI> | |
259 | ||
260 | The manual accompanying a package, as well as all documentation files | |
261 | in the distribution, could surely be translated, too. Translating a | |
262 | manual, with the intent of later keeping up with updates, is a major | |
263 | undertaking in itself, generally. | |
264 | ||
265 | </UL> | |
266 | ||
267 | <P> | |
268 | As we already stressed, translation is only one aspect of locales. | |
269 | Other internationalization aspects are not currently handled by GNU | |
270 | <CODE>gettext</CODE>, but perhaps may be handled in future versions. There | |
271 | are many attributes that are needed to define a country's cultural | |
272 | conventions. These attributes include beside the country's native | |
273 | language, the formatting of the date and time, the representation of | |
274 | numbers, the symbols for currency, etc. These local <STRONG>rules</STRONG> are | |
275 | termed the country's locale. The locale represents the knowledge | |
276 | needed to support the country's native attributes. | |
277 | ||
278 | </P> | |
279 | <P> | |
280 | There are a few major areas which may vary between countries and | |
281 | hence, define what a locale must describe. The following list helps | |
282 | putting multi-lingual messages into the proper context of other tasks | |
283 | related to locales, and also presents some other areas which GNU | |
284 | <CODE>gettext</CODE> might eventually tackle, maybe, one of these days. | |
285 | ||
286 | </P> | |
287 | <DL COMPACT> | |
288 | ||
289 | <DT><EM>Characters and Codesets</EM> | |
290 | <DD> | |
291 | The codeset most commonly used through out the USA and most English | |
292 | speaking parts of the world is the ASCII codeset. However, there are | |
293 | many characters needed by various locales that are not found within | |
294 | this codeset. The 8-bit ISO 8859-1 code set has most of the special | |
295 | characters needed to handle the major European languages. However, in | |
296 | many cases, the ISO 8859-1 font is not adequate. Hence each locale | |
297 | will need to specify which codeset they need to use and will need | |
298 | to have the appropriate character handling routines to cope with | |
299 | the codeset. | |
300 | ||
301 | <DT><EM>Currency</EM> | |
302 | <DD> | |
303 | The symbols used vary from country to country as does the position | |
304 | used by the symbol. Software needs to be able to transparently | |
305 | display currency figures in the native mode for each locale. | |
306 | ||
307 | <DT><EM>Dates</EM> | |
308 | <DD> | |
309 | The format of date varies between locales. For example, Christmas day | |
310 | in 1994 is written as 12/25/94 in the USA and as 25/12/94 in Australia. | |
311 | Other countries might use ISO 8061 dates, etc. | |
312 | ||
313 | Time of the day may be noted as <VAR>hh</VAR>:<VAR>mm</VAR>, <VAR>hh</VAR>.<VAR>mm</VAR>, | |
314 | or otherwise. Some locales require time to be specified in 24-hour | |
315 | mode rather than as AM or PM. Further, the nature and yearly extent | |
316 | of the Daylight Saving correction vary widely between countries. | |
317 | ||
318 | <DT><EM>Numbers</EM> | |
319 | <DD> | |
320 | Numbers can be represented differently in different locales. | |
321 | For example, the following numbers are all written correctly for | |
322 | their respective locales: | |
323 | ||
324 | ||
325 | <PRE> | |
326 | 12,345.67 English | |
327 | 12.345,67 French | |
328 | 1,2345.67 Asia | |
329 | </PRE> | |
330 | ||
331 | Some programs could go further and use different unit systems, like | |
332 | English units or Metric units, or even take into account variants | |
333 | about how numbers are spelled in full. | |
334 | ||
335 | <DT><EM>Messages</EM> | |
336 | <DD> | |
337 | The most obvious area is the language support within a locale. This is | |
338 | where GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> provides the means for developers and users to | |
339 | easily change the language that the software uses to communicate to | |
340 | the user. | |
341 | ||
342 | </DL> | |
343 | ||
344 | <P> | |
345 | In the near future we see no chance that components of locale outside of | |
346 | message handling will be made available for use in other | |
347 | packages. The reason for this is that most modern systems provide | |
348 | a more or less reasonable support for at least some of the missing | |
349 | components. Another point is that the GNU <CODE>libc</CODE> and Linux will get | |
350 | a new and complete implementation of the whole locale functionality | |
351 | which could be adopted by system lacking a reasonable locale support. | |
352 | ||
353 | </P> | |
354 | ||
355 | ||
356 | <H2><A NAME="SEC5" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC5">Files Conveying Translations</A></H2> | |
357 | ||
358 | <P> | |
359 | The letters PO in <TT>`.po'</TT> files means Portable Object, to | |
360 | distinguish it from <TT>`.mo'</TT> files, where MO stands for Machine | |
361 | Object. This paradigm, as well as the PO file format, is inspired | |
362 | by the NLS standard developed by Uniforum, and implemented by Sun | |
363 | in their Solaris system. | |
364 | ||
365 | </P> | |
366 | <P> | |
367 | PO files are meant to be read and edited by humans, and associate each | |
368 | original, translatable string of a given package with its translation | |
369 | in a particular target language. A single PO file is dedicated to | |
370 | a single target language. If a package supports many languages, | |
371 | there is one such PO file per language supported, and each package | |
372 | has its own set of PO files. These PO files are best created by | |
373 | the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> program, and later updated or refreshed through | |
374 | the <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> program. Program <CODE>xgettext</CODE> extracts all | |
375 | marked messages from a set of C files and initializes a PO file with | |
376 | empty translations. Program <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> takes care of adjusting | |
377 | PO files between releases of the corresponding sources, commenting | |
378 | obsolete entries, initializing new ones, and updating all source | |
379 | line references. Files ending with <TT>`.pot'</TT> are kind of base | |
380 | translation files found in distributions, in PO file format, and | |
381 | <TT>`.pox'</TT> files are often temporary PO files. | |
382 | ||
383 | </P> | |
384 | <P> | |
385 | MO files are meant to be read by programs, and are binary in nature. | |
386 | A few systems already offer tools for creating and handling MO files | |
387 | as part of the Native Language Support coming with the system, but the | |
388 | format of these MO files is often different from system to system, | |
389 | and non-portable. They do not necessary use <TT>`.mo'</TT> for file | |
390 | extensions, but since system libraries are also used for accessing | |
391 | these files, it works as long as the system is self-consistent about | |
392 | it. If GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> is able to interface with the tools already | |
393 | provided with systems, it will consequently let these provided tools | |
394 | take care of generating the MO files. Or else, if such tools are not | |
395 | found or do not seem usable, GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> will use its own ways | |
396 | and its own format for MO files. Files ending with <TT>`.gmo'</TT> are | |
397 | really MO files, when it is known that these files use the GNU format. | |
398 | ||
399 | </P> | |
400 | ||
401 | ||
402 | <H2><A NAME="SEC6" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC6">Overview of GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE></A></H2> | |
403 | ||
404 | <P> | |
405 | The following diagram summarizes the relation between the files | |
406 | handled by GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> and the tools acting on these files. | |
407 | It is followed by a somewhat detailed explanations, which you should | |
408 | read while keeping an eye on the diagram. Having a clear understanding | |
409 | of these interrelations would surely help programmers, translators | |
410 | and maintainers. | |
411 | ||
412 | </P> | |
413 | ||
414 | <PRE> | |
415 | Original C Sources ---> PO mode ---> Marked C Sources ---. | |
416 | | | |
417 | .---------<--- GNU gettext Library | | |
418 | .--- make <---+ | | |
419 | | `---------<--------------------+-----------' | |
420 | | | | |
421 | | .-----<--- PACKAGE.pot <--- xgettext <---' .---<--- PO Compendium | |
422 | | | | ^ | |
423 | | | `---. | | |
424 | | `---. +---> PO mode ---. | |
425 | | +----> msgmerge ------> LANG.pox --->--------' | | |
426 | | .---' | | |
427 | | | | | |
428 | | `-------------<---------------. | | |
429 | | +--- LANG.po <--- New LANG.pox <----' | |
430 | | .--- LANG.gmo <--- msgfmt <---' | |
431 | | | | |
432 | | `---> install ---> /.../LANG/PACKAGE.mo ---. | |
433 | | +---> "Hello world!" | |
434 | `-------> install ---> /.../bin/PROGRAM -------' | |
435 | </PRE> | |
436 | ||
437 | <P> | |
438 | The indication <SAMP>`PO mode'</SAMP> appears in two places in this picture, | |
439 | and you may safely read it as merely meaning "hand editing", using | |
440 | any editor of your choice, really. However, for those of you being | |
441 | the lucky users of GNU Emacs, PO mode has been specifically created | |
442 | for providing a cozy environment for editing or modifying PO files. | |
443 | While editing a PO file, PO mode allows for the easy browsing of | |
444 | auxiliary and compendium PO files, as well as for following references into | |
445 | the set of C program sources from which PO files have been derived. | |
446 | It has a few special features, among which are the interactive marking | |
2edb0bde | 447 | of program strings as translatable, and the validation of PO files |
f6bcfd97 BP |
448 | with easy repositioning to PO file lines showing errors. |
449 | ||
450 | </P> | |
451 | <P> | |
452 | As a programmer, the first step to bringing GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> | |
453 | into your package is identifying, right in the C sources, those strings | |
454 | which are meant to be translatable, and those which are untranslatable. | |
455 | This tedious job can be done a little more comfortably using emacs PO | |
456 | mode, but you can use any means familiar to you for modifying your | |
457 | C sources. Beside this some other simple, standard changes are needed to | |
458 | properly initialize the translation library. See section <A HREF="gettext_3.html#SEC13">Preparing Program Sources</A>, for | |
459 | more information about all this. | |
460 | ||
461 | </P> | |
462 | <P> | |
463 | For newly written software the strings of course can and should be | |
464 | marked while writing the it. The <CODE>gettext</CODE> approach makes this | |
465 | very easy. Simply put the following lines at the beginning of each file | |
466 | or in a central header file: | |
467 | ||
468 | </P> | |
469 | ||
470 | <PRE> | |
471 | #define _(String) (String) | |
472 | #define N_(String) (String) | |
473 | #define textdomain(Domain) | |
474 | #define bindtextdomain(Package, Directory) | |
475 | </PRE> | |
476 | ||
477 | <P> | |
478 | Doing this allows you to prepare the sources for internationalization. | |
479 | Later when you feel ready for the step to use the <CODE>gettext</CODE> library | |
480 | simply remove these definitions, include <TT>`libintl.h'</TT> and link | |
481 | against <TT>`libintl.a'</TT>. That is all you have to change. | |
482 | ||
483 | </P> | |
484 | <P> | |
485 | Once the C sources have been modified, the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> program | |
486 | is used to find and extract all translatable strings, and create an | |
487 | initial PO file out of all these. This <TT>`<VAR>package</VAR>.pot'</TT> file | |
488 | contains all original program strings. It has sets of pointers to | |
489 | exactly where in C sources each string is used. All translations | |
490 | are set to empty. The letter <KBD>t</KBD> in <TT>`.pot'</TT> marks this as | |
491 | a Template PO file, not yet oriented towards any particular language. | |
492 | See section <A HREF="gettext_4.html#SEC20">Invoking the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> Program</A>, for more details about how one calls the | |
493 | <CODE>xgettext</CODE> program. If you are <EM>really</EM> lazy, you might | |
494 | be interested at working a lot more right away, and preparing the | |
495 | whole distribution setup (see section <A HREF="gettext_10.html#SEC67">The Maintainer's View</A>). By doing so, you | |
496 | spare yourself typing the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> command, as <CODE>make</CODE> | |
497 | should now generate the proper things automatically for you! | |
498 | ||
499 | </P> | |
500 | <P> | |
501 | The first time through, there is no <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.po'</TT> yet, so the | |
502 | <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> step may be skipped and replaced by a mere copy of | |
503 | <TT>`<VAR>package</VAR>.pot'</TT> to <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.pox'</TT>, where <VAR>lang</VAR> | |
504 | represents the target language. | |
505 | ||
506 | </P> | |
507 | <P> | |
508 | Then comes the initial translation of messages. Translation in | |
509 | itself is a whole matter, still exclusively meant for humans, | |
510 | and whose complexity far overwhelms the level of this manual. | |
511 | Nevertheless, a few hints are given in some other chapter of this | |
512 | manual (see section <A HREF="gettext_9.html#SEC56">The Translator's View</A>). You will also find there indications | |
513 | about how to contact translating teams, or becoming part of them, | |
514 | for sharing your translating concerns with others who target the same | |
515 | native language. | |
516 | ||
517 | </P> | |
518 | <P> | |
519 | While adding the translated messages into the <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.pox'</TT> | |
520 | PO file, if you do not have GNU Emacs handy, you are on your own | |
521 | for ensuring that your efforts fully respect the PO file format, and quoting | |
522 | conventions (see section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC9">The Format of PO Files</A>). This is surely not an impossible task, | |
523 | as this is the way many people have handled PO files already for Uniforum or | |
524 | Solaris. On the other hand, by using PO mode in GNU Emacs, most details | |
525 | of PO file format are taken care of for you, but you have to acquire | |
526 | some familiarity with PO mode itself. Besides main PO mode commands | |
527 | (see section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC10">Main PO mode Commands</A>), you should know how to move between entries | |
528 | (see section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC11">Entry Positioning</A>), and how to handle untranslated entries | |
529 | (see section <A HREF="gettext_5.html#SEC27">Untranslated Entries</A>). | |
530 | ||
531 | </P> | |
532 | <P> | |
533 | If some common translations have already been saved into a compendium | |
534 | PO file, translators may use PO mode for initializing untranslated | |
535 | entries from the compendium, and also save selected translations into | |
536 | the compendium, updating it (see section <A HREF="gettext_4.html#SEC22">Using Translation Compendiums</A>). Compendium files | |
537 | are meant to be exchanged between members of a given translation team. | |
538 | ||
539 | </P> | |
540 | <P> | |
541 | Programs, or packages of programs, are dynamic in nature: users write | |
542 | bug reports and suggestion for improvements, maintainers react by | |
543 | modifying programs in various ways. The fact that a package has | |
544 | already been internationalized should not make maintainers shy | |
545 | of adding new strings, or modifying strings already translated. | |
546 | They just do their job the best they can. For the Translation | |
547 | Project to work smoothly, it is important that maintainers do not | |
548 | carry translation concerns on their already loaded shoulders, and that | |
549 | translators be kept as free as possible of programmatic concerns. | |
550 | ||
551 | </P> | |
552 | <P> | |
553 | The only concern maintainers should have is carefully marking new | |
554 | strings as translatable, when they should be, and do not otherwise | |
555 | worry about them being translated, as this will come in proper time. | |
556 | Consequently, when programs and their strings are adjusted in various | |
557 | ways by maintainers, and for matters usually unrelated to translation, | |
558 | <CODE>xgettext</CODE> would construct <TT>`<VAR>package</VAR>.pot'</TT> files which are | |
559 | evolving over time, so the translations carried by <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.po'</TT> | |
560 | are slowly fading out of date. | |
561 | ||
562 | </P> | |
563 | <P> | |
564 | It is important for translators (and even maintainers) to understand | |
565 | that package translation is a continuous process in the lifetime of a | |
566 | package, and not something which is done once and for all at the start. | |
567 | After an initial burst of translation activity for a given package, | |
568 | interventions are needed once in a while, because here and there, | |
569 | translated entries become obsolete, and new untranslated entries | |
570 | appear, needing translation. | |
571 | ||
572 | </P> | |
573 | <P> | |
574 | The <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> program has the purpose of refreshing an already | |
575 | existing <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.po'</TT> file, by comparing it with a newer | |
576 | <TT>`<VAR>package</VAR>.pot'</TT> template file, extracted by <CODE>xgettext</CODE> | |
577 | out of recent C sources. The refreshing operation adjusts all | |
578 | references to C source locations for strings, since these strings | |
579 | move as programs are modified. Also, <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> comments out as | |
580 | obsolete, in <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.pox'</TT>, those already translated entries | |
581 | which are no longer used in the program sources (see section <A HREF="gettext_5.html#SEC28">Obsolete Entries</A>). It finally discovers new strings and inserts them in | |
582 | the resulting PO file as untranslated entries (see section <A HREF="gettext_5.html#SEC27">Untranslated Entries</A>). See section <A HREF="gettext_5.html#SEC24">Invoking the <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> Program</A>, for more information about what | |
583 | <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> really does. | |
584 | ||
585 | </P> | |
586 | <P> | |
587 | Whatever route or means taken, the goal is to obtain an updated | |
588 | <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.pox'</TT> file offering translations for all strings. | |
589 | When this is properly achieved, this file <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.pox'</TT> may | |
590 | take the place of the previous official <TT>`<VAR>lang</VAR>.po'</TT> file. | |
591 | ||
592 | </P> | |
593 | <P> | |
594 | The temporal mobility, or fluidity of PO files, is an integral part of | |
595 | the translation game, and should be well understood, and accepted. | |
596 | People resisting it will have a hard time participating in the | |
597 | Translation Project, or will give a hard time to other participants! In | |
598 | particular, maintainers should relax and include all available official | |
599 | PO files in their distributions, even if these have not recently been | |
600 | updated, without banging or otherwise trying to exert pressure on the | |
601 | translator teams to get the job done. The pressure should rather come | |
602 | from the community of users speaking a particular language, and | |
603 | maintainers should consider themselves fairly relieved of any concern | |
604 | about the adequacy of translation files. On the other hand, translators | |
605 | should reasonably try updating the PO files they are responsible for, | |
606 | while the package is undergoing pretest, prior to an official | |
607 | distribution. | |
608 | ||
609 | </P> | |
610 | <P> | |
611 | Once the PO file is complete and dependable, the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> program | |
612 | is used for turning the PO file into a machine-oriented format, which | |
613 | may yield efficient retrieval of translations by the programs of the | |
614 | package, whenever needed at runtime (see section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC34">The Format of GNU MO Files</A>). See section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC33">Invoking the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> Program</A>, for more information about all modalities of execution | |
615 | for the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> program. | |
616 | ||
617 | </P> | |
618 | <P> | |
619 | Finally, the modified and marked C sources are compiled and linked | |
620 | with the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> library, usually through the operation of | |
621 | <CODE>make</CODE>, given a suitable <TT>`Makefile'</TT> exists for the project, | |
622 | and the resulting executable is installed somewhere users will find it. | |
623 | The MO files themselves should also be properly installed. Given the | |
624 | appropriate environment variables are set (see section <A HREF="gettext_7.html#SEC38">Magic for End Users</A>), the | |
625 | program should localize itself automatically, whenever it executes. | |
626 | ||
627 | </P> | |
628 | <P> | |
629 | The remainder of this manual has the purpose of explaining in depth the various | |
630 | steps outlined above. | |
631 | ||
632 | </P> | |
633 | <P><HR><P> | |
634 | <p>Go to the first, previous, <A HREF="gettext_2.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>. | |
635 | </BODY> | |
636 | </HTML> |