rosapps/mc/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 One advise in advance
  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 or message inheritance) as the
  38 implementation here.  It is also not possible to offer this additional
  39 functionality on top of a `catgets' implementation.  Future versions of
  40 GNU `gettext' will very likely convey even more functionality.  So it
  41 might be a good idea to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
  42
  43    So you need not provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
  44 you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
  45 included `libintl'.
  46
  47 INSTALL Matters
  48 ===============
  49
  50    Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
  51 programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
  52 Most such packages use GNU `gettext'.  Other packages have their own
  53 ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
  54
  55    By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
  56 messages.  It will automatically detect whether the system provides
  57 usable `catgets' (if using this is selected by the installer) or
  58 `gettext' functions.  If neither is available, 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 --with-catgets
  67      ./configure --disable-nls
  68
  69 will respectively bypass any pre-existing `catgets' or `gettext' to use
  70 the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable
  71 the use of the `catgets' functions (if found on the locale system), or
  72 else, *totally* disable translation of messages.
  73
  74    When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
  75 configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
  76 probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
  77 will decide to use this.  This might be not what is desirable.  You
  78 should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library.  I.e.
  79 if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
  80 package is more recent, you should use
  81
  82      ./configure --with-included-gettext
  83
  84 to prevent auto-detection.
  85
  86    By default the configuration process will not test for the `catgets'
  87 function and therefore they will not be used.  The reasons are already
  88 given above: the emulation on top of `catgets' cannot provide all the
  89 extensions provided by the GNU `gettext' library.  If you nevertheless
  90 want to use the `catgets' functions use
  91
  92      ./configure --with-catgets
  93
  94 to enable the test for `catgets' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is
  95 not available on your system).  If you really select this option we
  96 would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any
  97 good one ourself.
  98
  99    Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
 100 LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language.  Unless
 101 translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
 102 `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
 103 together with the package.  However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
 104 may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
 105 `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
 106 codes, stating which languages are allowed.
 107
 108 Using This Package
 109 ==================
 110
 111    As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
 112 only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
 113 ISO 639 `LL' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the
 114 package.  For example, let's suppose that you speak German.  At the
 115 shell prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de' (in `csh'),
 116 `export LANG; LANG=de' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de' (in `bash').  This
 117 can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for all.
 118
 119    An operating system might already offer message localization for
 120 many of its programs, while other programs have been installed locally
 121 with the full capabilities of GNU `gettext'.  Just using `gettext'
 122 extended syntax for `LANG' would break proper localization of already
 123 available operating system programs.  In this case, users should set
 124 both `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' variables in their environment, as programs
 125 using GNU `gettext' give preference to `LANGUAGE'.  For example, some
 126 Swedish users would rather read translations in German than English for
 127 when Swedish is not available.  This is easily accomplished by setting
 128 `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv'.
 129
 130 Translating Teams
 131 =================
 132
 133    For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
 134 people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
 135 able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
 136 Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux
 137 International.  You may reach your translation team at the address
 138 `LL@li.org', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your
 139 language.  Language codes are *not* the same as the country codes given
 140 in ISO 3166.  The following translation teams exist, as of August 1997:
 141
 142      Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl', English `en',
 143      Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German `de', Hungarian
 144      `hu', Irish `ga', Italian `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja',
 145      Korean `ko', Latin `la', Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish
 146      `pl', Portuguese `pt', Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es',
 147      Swedish `sv', and Turkish `tr'.
 148
 149 For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to
 150 `zh@li.org'.
 151
 152    If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you
 153 should become a member of the translating team for your own language.
 154 The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has
 155 `-request' appended.  For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
 156 message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
 157
 158      subscribe
 159
 160    Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
 161 *actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
 162 rather than merely lurking around.  If your team does not exist yet and
 163 you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
 164 get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
 165 coordinator for all translator teams.
 166
 167    The English team is special.  It works at improving and uniformizing
 168 the terminology in use.  Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
 169 programming skill, here.
 170
 171 Available Packages
 172 ==================
 173
 174    Languages are not equally supported in all packages.  The following
 175 matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of August
 176 1997.  The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages
 177 PO files have been submitted to translation coordination.
 178
 179      Ready PO files    cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv
 180                      .-------------------------------------------------.
 181      bash            |       []          []          []                |  3
 182      bison           |       []          []          []                |  3
 183      clisp           |       [] [] []    []                            |  4
 184      cpio            |       []    []    []          []    []          |  5
 185      diffutils       |       []    []    []                []       [] |  5
 186      enscript        |       []    [] [] []          []          []    |  6
 187      fileutils       | []    []    []    []       [] []    [] [] [] [] | 10
 188      findutils       |       []    []    [] []    [] []    []       [] |  8
 189      flex            |             []    []       []                [] |  4
 190      gcal            |       []          []          []    []       [] |  5
 191      gettext         |       []    []    []       [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11
 192      grep            |       []    []    []       [] [] [] []    [] [] |  9
 193      hello           |       []    []    []       [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
 194      id-utils        |       []          []                []          |  3
 195      indent          |    [] []                   []       []          |  4
 196      libc            |       []    []    []       [] []    []       [] |  7
 197      m4              |       []          []    []    []             [] |  5
 198      make            |       []    []    []       [] []    []          |  6
 199      music           |                   []                []          |  2
 200      ptx             |       []    []    []          [] [] [] []    [] |  8
 201      recode          |    [] []    []    []          []    [] [] [] [] |  9
 202      sh-utils        |       []          []          [] [] [] []    [] |  7
 203      sharutils       |       []    []    []          []             [] |  5
 204      tar             |       []          [] []    [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
 205      texinfo         |                   []                            |  1
 206      textutils       | []    []    []    []       [] [] [] []       [] |  9
 207      wdiff           | []    []    []    []          [] [] []       [] |  8
 208                      `-------------------------------------------------'
 209        16 languages    cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt sl sv
 210        27 packages      3  2 24  1 17  1 26  2  1 11 20  9 19  7  7 17  167
 211
 212    Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
 213 visible blocks let us expect.  This is because a few extra PO files are
 214 used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
 215 dialects.
 216
 217    For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
 218 which it applies should also have been internationalized and
 219 distributed as such by its maintainer.  There might be an observable
 220 lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
 221 distribution.
 222
 223    If August 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of
 224 this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites.
 225