February 2007
This file is mainly intended for those who have no or little experience using
-.po files, but want to contribute by translating the LyX interface into their
-native language.
+.po files, but want to contribute by translating the LyX interface (i.e. menu
+and dialog items, console messages) into their native language.
1) WHERE DO I START?
-The file you need to edit it an xx.po file where xx stands for your language's
-two letter code. German would be for example de.po and Polish pl.po. For a list
-of languages codes look at:
+The file you need to edit is an xx.po file where xx stands for your language's
+two letter code. For a list of languages codes look at:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_mono/gettext.html#Language-Codes
pl.po. This file is generated in the "po" directory of the source tree during
the compilation.
+There are basically two source trees you can start to work with - trunk
+(development version) and branch (stable version). Unless the development
+version is shortly before release it is better idea to start your translating
+work on the stable version. If you have no idea how to get those trees you
+can follow http://www.lyx.org/HowToUseSVN page.
+
2) HOW DO I EDIT PO FILES?
translation for them.
-4) WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE '&', '|', '$, '%' AND [[]] CHARACTERS?
+4) WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE '&', '|', '$, '%' {} AND [[]] CHARACTERS?
'&' stands for underlined characters (shortcut) in dialog boxes.
'|' stands for underlined characters in menus.
invent your own working shortcuts for dialog and menu entries and resolve
possible conflicts of the same shortcut chars in one menu...
-Note also that there are already used global shortcuts (such as p k x c m) and
-you should avoid to use these characters for first-level menu shortcuts.
+Note also that there are already used global shortcuts (such as p k x c m s a)
+and you should avoid to use these characters for first-level menu shortcuts.
'$' and '%' are usually used as handlers for formatting or variables to be
inserted into the strings. Character sequences like %1$s or %1$d MUST also
have different translation dependent on the Context. [[Context]] appears only
in msgid string and should not be repeated in the translated version.
+{} refer to counters and must not be translated. Example would be:
+msgid "Algorithm \\arabic{theorem}"
+msgstr "Algoritmus \\arabic{theorem}"
+
5) WHAT IS pocheck.pl AND HOW DO I USE IT?
7) HOW TO CONTRIBUTE MY WORK?
-You can manually use diff utility to make patch; usually the most comfortable
-way is to run something like (after you edit xx.po):
-
- svn diff xx.po > xx.po.patch
-
-This file should be sent to po-updates@lyx.org.
+Send your edited xx.po file to po-updates@lyx.org.
Also you can check http://www.lyx.org/trac/browser/lyx-devel/trunk to track
changes or watch updates.