Geografic-Information-System/locale

HOWTO translate GRASS messages
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This file contains following sections:
1. Instructions for programmers;
2. A translation workflow overview;
3. A detailed explanation of translation workflow, testing;
4. Some notes and links

[ Web page: http://grass.osgeo.org/devel/i18n.php ]

Updating the message catalogs currently only works on
unix-like systems and requires xgettext.

------------------------------------------------------

REQUIRED SOURCE CODE CHANGES (programming required)

Generally, to support i18N multiple languages,
message strings in GRASS must be modified from

fprintf ( ..., "...\n", ...);
to either
fprintf ( ..., _("...\n"), ...);
or (omit \n)
G_message ( _("..."), ...);

Careful:
G_message should be used for messages - information about
the process for user while fprintf(stdout...) for data output.
G_message output is not expected to be send to pipe or file.
fprintf(stdout...) output is usually send to pipe or file.


Three steps:
1) check if fprintf is to be replaced (see above)

2) to add (see example above):
the macro _( ) which encapulates the message

3) to be added to file.c header:
#include "glocale.h"

This line has to be added to each C file which contains
user messages, preferably as last #include statement.
Only, if missing, also add
#include "gis.h"

NOTE: Also G_warning() and G_fatal_error() need the message
encapsulation with macro _() but no further changes.

NOTE2: Also the parameters/flags of each module needs the
macro _().

NOTE3: Notices to translators can be added by placing
a comment line starting with GTC tag just above
message to be translated:
/* GTC A comma separated keyword list.
Should not contain spaces! */
keywords = _("first,second,third");

NOTE4: Any string containing a number that requires a correct plural form of
a noun, has to pass trough ngettext function implemented in GRASS
as a n_() macro.
n_("Message in English for singular case", "Message in English for
plural case", number)

Examples of messages with plural forms.
Wrong:
G_message( _("%d map(s) from mapset <%s> removed"), n, ms);
G_message( n == 1 ? _("One file removed") : _("%d files removed"), n);
G_warning( _("%d %s without geometry skipped"), n,
n == 1 ? "feature" : "features");
G_message( _("%d maps selected"), n);
G_message( n == 1 ? _("Remove map") : _("Remove maps"));

Correct:
G_message( n_("%d map from mapset <%s> removed",
"%d maps from mapset <%s> removed", n), n, ms);
/* Notice double use of number "n" - as an argument for
both functions - n_() and G_message() */
G_message( n_("One file removed", "%d files removed", n) n);
/* Both of forms of singular case "%d file" or "One file" are correct.
The choice between them is purely stylistic one. */
G_warning( n_("One feature without geometry skipped",
"%d features without geometry skipped", n), n);
G_message( n_("%d map selected", "%d maps selected", n), n);
/* Although in English it is not necessary to provide a separate
text if "n" always is >1, in other languages is a difference if "n"
is i.e. 2-4, or n==10 etc. */
G_message( n_("Remove map", "Remove maps", n));
/* Number it self doesn't have to be used in the output text */


All these messages strings will be then automatically
extracted into the message files.

See for example ./vector/v.what.rast/main.c

NOTE4: Such lines
fprintf (stdout,"\n");
do not need a change as no translation is needed.

A detailed example of adapting code for use in multiple languages
can be found in gettext manual.
How to prepare program source:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Sources

More advanced tricks like resolving ambiguties and handling of plural forms:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Programmers

------------------------------------------------------

GENERAL TRANSLATION PROCEDURE (no programming required)

POT files ----> PO files ----> MO files
(original (translated (final message file,
messages) messages) used by GRASS programs)


Semi-automated procedure:

1. In the main GRASS source code directory, run:

./configured --with-nls [...further options...]
make

2. In the locale/ directory, run:

make pot creates grass.pot (containing original messages)

make update-po merges new messages into existing *.po files

3. Now translate the messages in the po/*.po files (using kbabel or
other editor). Just open the .po file(s) in your preferred translation
software.

4. In the locale/ directory, run:

make mo creates the mo files (containing translated messages as
binary file)

If you have any difficulty with these instructions please ask for help
on the GRASS development mailing list
(subscribe at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-dev). Your
willingness, time, and effort translating are valuable. If necessary,
all of these steps except for the actual translation can be done by
someone else on a different computer.

A convenient software package to translate messages is 'kbabel'.
It permits to enhance it's message database by loading existing
.po files to semi-automate the translation.

Note that GRASS must be configured with '--with-nls' and (re)compiled
to make use of the translated messages.

There is a file for all library messages and another for all
module messages (this might be split in future).

------------------------------------------------------
DETAILED PROCEDURE :

1. Define/check language settings

echo $LANG
echo $LANGUAGE
echo $LC_ALL

Maybe you have to change it (example for Japanese):
- for bash shell:
export LANG=ja_JP
export LANGUAGE=ja_JP
export LC_ALL=ja_JP

- for (t)csh shell:
setenv LANG ja_JP
setenv LANGUAGE ja_JP
setenv LC_ALL ja_JP


2. CREATE POT FILES
run
make pot

This will create
./templates/grasslibs.pot
./templates/grassmods.pot
./templates/grasswxpy.pot


3. CREATE LANGUAGE FILES

Two cases have to be distinguished:
a) Messages have not yet been translated to your language.
b) Some messages have already been translated to your language,
so you want to merge your efforts into the existing translation.

3.a) First CASE: Messages have not yet been translated to your language.
No .po file is present for your language in the ./po/ directory.

Run:
make pot
make update-po

Move the generated file from the ./template/ directory
to the ./po/ directory (for example German language):
mv ./template/grasslibs.pot ./po/grasslibs_de.po
mv ./template/grassmods.pot ./po/grassmods_de.po
mv ./template/grasswxpy.pot ./po/grasswxpy_de.po

Get the two characters indicating the language from this
code list: http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
The code to use is ISO 639-1 (two characters).

Then continue with 4. below.

3.b) Second CASE: Some messages have already been translated to
your language (files present in ./po/ directory), and
you want to continue with translating new and still
untranslated messages.

First we have to merge new messages into existing .po files
(which contain already translated messages) as new messages
might have been added into the GRASS system.
To do so, run:

make pot
make update-po

This will update the messages in all existing files in
the .po/ directory.



4. TRANSLATE MESSAGES

In the links section at bottom of this page you find references to the
'kbabel' and 'poEdit' software to easily translate the message files.

Run 'kbabel' or equivalent program
kbabel ./po/grasslibs_.po
kbabel ./po/grassmods_.po
kbabel ./po/grasswxpy_.po

For example (German):
kbabel ./po/grasslibs_de.po
kbabel ./po/grassmods_de.po
kbabel ./po/grasswxpy_de.po

KBABEL: You may load .po files from other projects [see footnote 1].
Then use TOOLS -> ROUGH TRANSLATION to auto-translate messages.
For Asian, Indian and other keymaps, see [footnote 3].

NOTES:
* Pay attention to keep '%s', '\n' and other stuff also
in the translated messages!

* Please use 'ISO-8859-1' or 'ISO-8859-15' for western languages.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859 for details.

After finishing the translation, save the files.


5. CREATE MO FILES

run
make mo

READY.


6. Now recompile, install and run GRASS.
It should work :-)

If you don't have this possibility, just skip this step.

7. Send the updated .po files to a GRASS Development Team member.
If possible, please send diffs against CVS:
svn diff grasslibs_LANG.po > grasslibs_LANG_po.diff
svn diff grassmods_LANG.po > grassmods_LANG_po.diff
svn diff grasswxpy_LANG.po > grasswxpy_LANG_po.diff

If you updated .c files with _() macros as explained
above, please send C file diffs against SVN:

svn diff file.c > file.diff

Thanks for submitting.


PLEASE HELP TO TRANSLATE GRASS MESSAGES!

----------------------------------------------

LINKS

- KBabel: http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/
- poEdit: http://poedit.sourceforge.net/
- *.po files for many languages: KDE translator center, http://i18n.kde.org/teams/

NOTES

[1] To load existing .po files (eg from older GRASS versions or
KDE translator center, http://i18n.kde.org/teams/) into
Kbabel, use
KBABEL -> SETTINGS -> CONFIGURE DIRECTORY -> PO AUXILIARY

[2] To use QGIS' TS files, you have to convert them to PO format.
TS files -> PO files converter:
To translate the .ts files e.g. from QGIS to .po files,
use
http://oss.erdfunkstelle.de/ts2msg/index.shtml

cd qgis/i18n
ts2msg utf8 qgis_de.ts
-> qgis_de.po

[3] To change/add the keymap under KDE, you have to:
1. Open "(KDE) Control Center = kcontrol"
2. Go to Regional & Accessibility -> Keyboard Layout
3. Check "Enable Keyboard Layout".
4. Select Layout (e.g. Hindi) from the Additional Layouts list
5. Press "Add >>"
6. Press "Apply".

Note!: You can change between the new and the original layouts by
pressing Alt+Ctrl+k or by clicking the keyboard icon in the system
tray.

Command line alternative:
# hindi layout (Devanagari)
setxkbmap -model -layout dev -variant basic
# back to US layout:
setxkbmap -model -layout us -variant basic

How to use the keyboard

http://indlinux.org/keymap/keymaps.php