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 country 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#SEC222
+ http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_mono/gettext.html#Language-Codes
If you want to start from scratch then you should obtain a copy of the lyx.pot
and name it after your language. German would be for example de.po and Polish
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?
that a "#, fuzzy" line is just a hint for translation from compiler - in order
to get the translation of the current item working you have to delete this
line. It is recommended that you would take a look at another .po file - that
-way you can get an idea of what to do. If your using a specialized po editor
+way you can get an idea of what to do. If you are using a specialized po editor
then you will see in it the untranslated strings and a place to write your
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 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
appear in your translations! Please take them exactly as they are or you may
experience crashes when running LyX.
+[[Context]] is used to distinguish otherwise identical strings, which could
+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?
The most comfortable way to see your updated translation while editing, is
running (in linux):
-1. "make xx.po" in po directory to compile updated xx.po translation
+1. "make xx.gmo" in the po directory to compile updated xx.po translation
2. "make install" in root lyx tree to copy xx.gmo into the appropriate location
(or do it by hand...)
+For advanced users - if you want to remerge your files against current source
+files run make update-po.
+
+
+7) HOW TO CONTRIBUTE MY WORK?
+
+Send your edited xx.po file to po-updates@lyx.org.
-7) REFERENCES
+Also you can check http://www.lyx.org/trac/browser/lyx-devel/trunk to track
+changes or watch updates.
+
+
+8) SHALL ALL THE UNUSED STRINGS AT THE BOTTOM OF .PO FILE BE REMOVED,
+ OR SHALL THEY STAY?
+
+As you wish. They can be reused for generating fuzzy hints when completely
+new strings appear, no other function.
+
+
+9) REFERENCES
For some basic idea on how the translation works, you can look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext
-For detailed reference, have a look at
+For detailed reference (including full list of country and language codes),
+have a look at
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html
+
+
+Consider subscribing to the documentation list at lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org (rather
+silent one) or developer's mailing list lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org (high volume).