Notes on the Free Translation Project
*************************************

  Free software is going international ! The Free Translation Project
  is a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all
  together, so that will gradually become able to speak many languages.
  A few packages already provide translations for their messages.

  If you found this ` ABOUT - NLS ' file inside a distribution, you may
  assume that the distributed package does use GNU ` gettext ' internally,
  itself available at your nearest GNU archive site.But you
do
   *not *
    need to install GNU ` gettext ' prior to configuring, installing or using
    this package with messages translated.

    Installers will find here some useful hints.These notes also
    explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
    available translations.They tell how people wanting to contribute and
    work at translations should contact the appropriate team.

    When reporting bugs in the ` intl / ' directory or bugs which may be
    related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
  ` gettext ' which is used.  The information can be found in the
  ` intl / VERSION ' file, in internationalized packages.

    One advise in advance
  == == == == == == == == == == =

  If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
    should configure it using

  . / configure-- with - included - gettext

    to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
    package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the
    operating system where this package is being installed.So far, only
    the ` gettext ' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as
  many features(such as locale alias or message inheritance)
  as the
    implementation here.It is also not possible to offer this additional
    functionality on top of a ` catgets ' implementation.  Future versions of
    GNU ` gettext ' will very likely convey even more functionality.  So it
    might be a good idea to change to GNU ` gettext ' as soon as possible.

    So you need not provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
    you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
    included ` libintl '.

    INSTALL Matters
  == == == == == == == =

  Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
    programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
      Most such packages use GNU ` gettext '.  Other packages have their own
      ways to internationalization, predating GNU ` gettext '.

      By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
      messages.It will automatically detect whether the system provides
      usable ` catgets ' (if using this is selected by the installer) or
      ` gettext ' functions.  If neither is available, the GNU `gettext' own
      library will be used.This library is wholly contained within this
      package, usually in the ` intl / ' subdirectory, so prior installation of
      the GNU ` gettext ' package is *not* required.  Installers may use
      special options at configuration time for changing
      the default
behaviour.The commands:

      . / configure-- with - included - gettext
	. / configure-- with - catgets
	. / configure-- disable - nls

	will respectively bypass any pre - existing ` catgets ' or `gettext' to use
	the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable
	the use of the ` catgets ' functions (if found on the locale system), or
	else
      ,*totally * disable translation of messages.

	When you already have GNU ` gettext ' installed on your system and run
	configure without an option for your
	new package, `configure ' will
	  probably detect the previously built and installed ` libintl.a ' file and
	  will decide to use this.This might be not what is desirable.You
	  should use the more recent version of the GNU ` gettext ' library.  I.e.
	  if the
	  file ` intl / VERSION ' shows that the library which comes with this
	    package is more recent, you should use

	    . / configure-- with - included - gettext

	    to prevent auto - detection.

	    By default the configuration process will not test for the
	    `catgets '
	      function and therefore they will not be used.The reasons are already
given above:
	    the emulation on top of ` catgets ' cannot provide all the
	      extensions provided by the GNU ` gettext ' library.  If you nevertheless
	      want to use the ` catgets ' functions use

	      . / configure-- with - catgets

	      to enable the test for `catgets
	      ' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is
		not available on your system).If you really select this option we
		would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any
		good one ourself.

		Internationalized packages have usually many ` po / LL.po ' files, where
		LL gives an ISO 639 two - letter code identifying the language.Unless
		translations have been forbidden at ` configure ' time by using the
		` --disable - nls ' switch, all available translations are installed
		together with the package.However, the environment variable ` LINGUAS '
		may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
		` LINGUAS ' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
		codes, stating which languages are allowed.

		Using This Package
		== == == == == == == == ==

		As a user, if your
		language has been installed for this
		  package, you
		    only have to set the ` LANG ' environment variable to the appropriate
		    ISO 639 ` LL ' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the
		    package.For example, let 's suppose that you speak German.  At the
		    shell prompt, merely execute ` setenv LANG de ' (in `csh'),
		    `export LANG;
LANG = de ' (in `sh') or ` export LANG = de ' (in `bash').This
can be done from your `.login ' or `.profile' file, once and for all
  .

    An operating system might already offer message localization for
    many
    of its programs, while other
      programs have been installed locally
	with the full capabilities of GNU ` gettext '.  Just using `gettext'
	extended syntax for `LANG
	' would break proper localization of already
	  available operating system programs.In this case, users should set
	  both ` LANGUAGE ' and `LANG' variables in their environment, as programs
	  using GNU ` gettext ' give preference to `LANGUAGE'.For example, some
	  Swedish users would rather read translations in German than English for
	  when
	  Swedish is not available.This is easily accomplished by setting
	    ` LANGUAGE ' to `sv:de' while leaving
	    `LANG ' to `sv'.

	      Translating Teams
	      == == == == == == == == =

	      For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
	      people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
	      able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
	      Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux
	      International.You may reach your translation team at the address
	      ` LL @ li.org ', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your
	      language.Language codes are * not * the same as the country codes given
	      in ISO 3166. The following translation teams exist, as of December
1997:

	    Chinese ` zh ', Czech `cs', Danish ` da ', Dutch `nl', English ` en ',
	      Esperanto ` eo ', Finnish `fi', French ` fr ', German `de', Hungarian
	      ` hu ', Irish `ga', Italian ` it ', Indonesian `id', Japanese ` ja ',
	      Korean ` ko ', Latin `la', Norwegian ` no ', Persian `fa', Polish
	      ` pl ', Portuguese `pt', Russian ` ru ', Slovenian `sl', Spanish ` es ',
	      Swedish ` sv ', and Turkish `tr'.

	      For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to
	      ` zh @ li.org '.

	      If you 'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you
	      should become a member of the translating team for your
	      own language.
		The subscribing address is * not * the same as the list itself, it has
		` -request ' appended.  For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
		message to ` sv - request @ li.org ', having this message body:

		subscribe

		Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
		* actively * in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
		rather than merely lurking around.If your team does not exist yet and
		you want to start one, or if you
		are unsure about what to
		do
		  or how to
		    get started, please write to ` translation @ iro.umontreal.ca ' to reach the
		    coordinator for all
		    translator teams.

		      The English team is special.It works at improving and uniformizing
		      the terminology in use.Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
		      programming skill, here.

		      Available Packages
		      == == == == == == == == ==

		      Languages are not equally supported in all packages.The following
		      matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of December
		      1997. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which
		      languages
			PO files have been submitted to translation coordination.

			Ready PO files cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
			. -- --------------------------------------------------.
			bash |[][][] | 3
			bison |[][][] | 3
			clisp |[][][][] | 4
			cpio |[][][][][][] | 6
			diffutils |[][][][][] | 5
			enscript |[][][][][][] | 6
			fileutils |[][][][][][][][][][] | 10
			findutils |[][][][][][][][][] | 9
			flex |[][][][] | 4
			gcal |[][][][][] | 5
			gettext |[][][][][][][][][][][] | 12
			grep |[][][][][][][][][][] | 10
			hello |[][][][][][][][][][][] | 11
			id - utils |[][][] | 3
			indent |[][][][][] | 5
			libc |[][][][][][][] | 7
			m4 |[][][][][][] | 6
			make |[][][][][][] | 6
			music |[][] | 2
			ptx |[][][][][][][][] | 8
			recode |[][][][][][][][][] | 9
			sh - utils |[][][][][][][][] | 8
			sharutils |[][][][][][] | 6
			tar |[][][][][][][][][][][] | 11
			texinfo |[][][] | 3
			textutils |[][][][][][][][][] | 9
			wdiff |[][][][][][][][] | 8
			` ----------------------------------------------------'
			17 languages cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
			27 packages 6 4 25 1 18 1 26 2 1 12 20 9 19 7 4 7 17 179

			Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
			visible blocks let us expect.This is because a few extra PO files are
			used for implementing
			regional variants of languages, or language
			  dialects.

			  For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
			  which it applies should also have been internationalized and
			  distributed as such by its maintainer.There might be an observable
			  lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
			  distribution.

			  If December 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy
			  of this ` ABOUT - NLS ' file on most GNU archive sites.
