1 | 1 Notes on the Free Translation Project |
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2 | *************************************** |
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3 | |
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4 | Free software is going international! The Free Translation Project is |
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5 | a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all |
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6 | together, so that free software will gradually become able to speak many |
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7 | languages. A few packages already provide translations for their |
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8 | messages. |
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9 | |
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10 | If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may |
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11 | assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally, |
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12 | itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do _not_ |
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13 | need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using |
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14 | this package with messages translated. |
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15 | |
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16 | Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also |
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17 | explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the |
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18 | available translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and |
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19 | work on translations can contact the appropriate team. |
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20 | |
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21 | When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be |
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22 | related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of |
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23 | `gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the |
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24 | `intl/VERSION' file, in internationalized packages. |
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25 | |
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26 | 1.1 Quick configuration advice |
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27 | ============================== |
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28 | |
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29 | If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you |
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30 | should configure it using |
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31 | |
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32 | ./configure --with-included-gettext |
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33 | |
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34 | to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this |
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35 | package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the |
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36 | operating system where this package is being installed. So far, only |
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37 | the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as |
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38 | many features (such as locale alias, message inheritance, automatic |
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39 | charset conversion or plural form handling) as the implementation here. |
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40 | It is also not possible to offer this additional functionality on top |
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41 | of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of GNU `gettext' will |
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42 | very likely convey even more functionality. So it might be a good idea |
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43 | to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible. |
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44 | |
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45 | So you need _not_ provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or |
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46 | you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the |
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47 | included `libintl'. |
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48 | |
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49 | 1.2 INSTALL Matters |
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50 | =================== |
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51 | |
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52 | Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the programs |
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53 | they contain can be made to speak your own native language. Most such |
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54 | packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own ways to |
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55 | internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'. |
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56 | |
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57 | By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of |
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58 | messages. It will automatically detect whether the system already |
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59 | provides the GNU `gettext' functions. If not, the included GNU |
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60 | `gettext' library will be used. This library is wholly contained |
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61 | within this package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior |
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62 | installation of the GNU `gettext' package is _not_ required. |
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63 | Installers may use special options at configuration time for changing |
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64 | the default behaviour. The commands: |
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65 | |
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66 | ./configure --with-included-gettext |
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67 | ./configure --disable-nls |
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68 | |
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69 | will, respectively, bypass any pre-existing `gettext' to use the |
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70 | internationalizing routines provided within this package, or else, |
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71 | _totally_ disable translation of messages. |
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72 | |
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73 | When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run |
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74 | configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will |
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75 | probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and |
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76 | will decide to use this. This might not be desirable. You should use |
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77 | the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e. if the file |
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78 | `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this package is |
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79 | more recent, you should use |
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80 | |
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81 | ./configure --with-included-gettext |
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82 | |
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83 | to prevent auto-detection. |
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84 | |
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85 | The configuration process will not test for the `catgets' function |
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86 | and therefore it will not be used. The reason is that even an |
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87 | emulation of `gettext' on top of `catgets' could not provide all the |
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88 | extensions of the GNU `gettext' library. |
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89 | |
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90 | Internationalized packages usually have many `po/LL.po' files, where |
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91 | LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless |
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92 | translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the |
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93 | `--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed |
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94 | together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS' |
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95 | may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set. |
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96 | `LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter |
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97 | codes, stating which languages are allowed. |
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98 | |
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99 | 1.3 Using This Package |
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100 | ====================== |
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101 | |
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102 | As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you |
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103 | only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate |
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104 | `LL_CC' combination. Here `LL' is an ISO 639 two-letter language code, |
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105 | and `CC' is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code. For example, let's |
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106 | suppose that you speak German and live in Germany. At the shell |
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107 | prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de_DE' (in `csh'), |
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108 | `export LANG; LANG=de_DE' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de_DE' (in `bash'). |
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109 | This can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for |
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110 | all. |
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111 | |
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112 | You might think that the country code specification is redundant. |
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113 | But in fact, some languages have dialects in different countries. For |
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114 | example, `de_AT' is used for Austria, and `pt_BR' for Brazil. The |
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115 | country code serves to distinguish the dialects. |
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116 | |
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117 | The locale naming convention of `LL_CC', with `LL' denoting the |
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118 | language and `CC' denoting the country, is the one use on systems based |
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119 | on GNU libc. On other systems, some variations of this scheme are |
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120 | used, such as `LL' or `LL_CC.ENCODING'. You can get the list of |
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121 | locales supported by your system for your language by running the |
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122 | command `locale -a | grep '^LL''. |
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123 | |
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124 | Not all programs have translations for all languages. By default, an |
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125 | English message is shown in place of a nonexistent translation. If you |
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126 | understand other languages, you can set up a priority list of languages. |
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127 | This is done through a different environment variable, called |
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128 | `LANGUAGE'. GNU `gettext' gives preference to `LANGUAGE' over `LANG' |
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129 | for the purpose of message handling, but you still need to have `LANG' |
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130 | set to the primary language; this is required by other parts of the |
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131 | system libraries. For example, some Swedish users who would rather |
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132 | read translations in German than English for when Swedish is not |
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133 | available, set `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv_SE'. |
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134 | |
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135 | Special advice for Norwegian users: The language code for Norwegian |
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136 | bokma*l changed from `no' to `nb' recently (in 2003). During the |
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137 | transition period, while some message catalogs for this language are |
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138 | installed under `nb' and some older ones under `no', it's recommended |
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139 | for Norwegian users to set `LANGUAGE' to `nb:no' so that both newer and |
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140 | older translations are used. |
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141 | |
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142 | In the `LANGUAGE' environment variable, but not in the `LANG' |
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143 | environment variable, `LL_CC' combinations can be abbreviated as `LL' |
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144 | to denote the language's main dialect. For example, `de' is equivalent |
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145 | to `de_DE' (German as spoken in Germany), and `pt' to `pt_PT' |
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146 | (Portuguese as spoken in Portugal) in this context. |
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147 | |
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148 | 1.4 Translating Teams |
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149 | ===================== |
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150 | |
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151 | For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested |
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152 | people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also |
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153 | able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language. |
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154 | Each translation team has its own mailing list. The up-to-date list of |
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155 | teams can be found at the Free Translation Project's homepage, |
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156 | `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/', in the "National teams" |
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157 | area. |
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158 | |
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159 | If you'd like to volunteer to _work_ at translating messages, you |
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160 | should become a member of the translating team for your own language. |
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161 | The subscribing address is _not_ the same as the list itself, it has |
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162 | `-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a |
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163 | message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body: |
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164 | |
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165 | subscribe |
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166 | |
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167 | Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate |
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168 | _actively_ in translations, or at solving translational difficulties, |
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169 | rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and |
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170 | you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to |
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171 | get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the |
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172 | coordinator for all translator teams. |
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173 | |
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174 | The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing |
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175 | the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skills are praised more than |
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176 | programming skills, here. |
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177 | |
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178 | 1.5 Available Packages |
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179 | ====================== |
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180 | |
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181 | Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following |
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182 | matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of October |
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183 | 2006. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages |
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184 | PO files have been submitted to translation coordination, with a |
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185 | translation percentage of at least 50%. |
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186 | |
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187 | # Matrix here is removed! |
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188 | |
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189 | Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of |
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190 | visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are |
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191 | used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language |
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192 | dialects. |
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193 | |
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194 | For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to |
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195 | which it applies should also have been internationalized and |
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196 | distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable |
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197 | lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a |
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198 | distribution. |
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199 | |
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200 | If October 2006 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy of |
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201 | this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites. The most up-to-date |
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202 | matrix with full percentage details can be found at |
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203 | `http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/po/HTML/matrix.html'. |
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204 | |
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205 | 1.6 Using `gettext' in new packages |
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206 | =================================== |
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207 | |
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208 | If you are writing a freely available program and want to |
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209 | internationalize it you are welcome to use GNU `gettext' in your |
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210 | package. Of course you have to respect the GNU Library General Public |
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211 | License which covers the use of the GNU `gettext' library. This means |
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212 | in particular that even non-free programs can use `libintl' as a shared |
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213 | library, whereas only free software can use `libintl' as a static |
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214 | library or use modified versions of `libintl'. |
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215 | |
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216 | Once the sources are changed appropriately and the setup can handle |
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217 | the use of `gettext' the only thing missing are the translations. The |
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218 | Free Translation Project is also available for packages which are not |
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219 | developed inside the GNU project. Therefore the information given above |
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220 | applies also for every other Free Software Project. Contact |
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221 | `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to make the `.pot' files available to |
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222 | the translation teams. |
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223 | |
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