Annotation of embedaddon/lrzsz/ABOUT-NLS, revision 1.1
1.1 ! misho 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:
FreeBSD-CVSweb <freebsd-cvsweb@FreeBSD.org>
![[BACK]](/icons/cvsweb/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to ABOUT-NLS CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/cvsweb/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/cvsweb/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [ELWIX - Embedded LightWeight unIX -] / embedaddon / lrzsz