docs/TRANSLATORS.md

   1 ---
   2 title: Notes for Translators
   3 category: Contributing
   4 ---
   5
   6 # Notes for Translators
   7
   8 systemd depends on the `gettext` package for multilingual support.
   9
  10 You'll find the i18n files in the `po/` directory.
  11
  12 The build system (meson/ninja) can be used to generate a template (`*.pot`),
  13 which can be used to create new translations.
  14
  15 It can also merge the template into the existing translations (`*.po`), to pick
  16 up new strings in need of translation.
  17
  18 Finally, it is able to compile the translations (to `*.gmo` files), so that
  19 they can be used by systemd software. (This step is also useful to confirm the
  20 syntax of the `*.po` files is correct.)
  21
  22 ## Creating a New Translation
  23
  24 To create a translation to a language not yet available, start by creating the
  25 initial template:
  26
  27 ```
  28 $ ninja -C build/ systemd-pot
  29 ```
  30
  31 This will generate file `po/systemd.pot` in the source tree.
  32
  33 Then simply copy it to a new <code><i>${lang_code}</i>.po</code> file, where
  34 <code><i>${lang_code}</i></code> is the two-letter code for a language
  35 (possibly followed by a two-letter uppercase country code), according to the
  36 ISO 639 standard.
  37
  38 In short:
  39
  40 <pre>
  41 $ cp po/systemd.pot po/<i>${lang_code}</i>.po
  42 </pre>
  43
  44 Then edit the new <code>po/<i>${lang_code}</i>.po</code> file (for example,
  45 using the `poedit` GUI editor.)
  46
  47 ## Updating an Existing Translation
  48
  49 Start by updating the `*.po` files from the latest template:
  50
  51 ```
  52 $ ninja -C build/ systemd-update-po
  53 ```
  54
  55 This will touch all the `*.po` files, so you'll want to pay attention when
  56 creating a git commit from this change, to only include the one translation
  57 you're actually updating.
  58
  59 Edit the `*.po` file, looking for empty translations and translations marked as
  60 "fuzzy" (which means the merger found a similar message that needs to be
  61 reviewed as it's expected not to match exactly.)
  62
  63 You can use any text editor to update the `*.po` files, but a good choice is
  64 the `poedit` editor, a graphical application specifically designed for this
  65 purpose.
  66
  67 Once you're done, create a git commit for the update of the `po/*.po` file you
  68 touched. Remember to undo the changes to the other `*.po` files (for instance,
  69 using `git checkout -- po/` after you commit the changes you do want to keep.)
  70
  71 # Recompiling Translations
  72
  73 You can recompile the `*.po` files using the following command:
  74
  75 ```
  76 $ ninja -C build/ systemd-gmo
  77 ```
  78
  79 The resulting files will be saved in the `build/po/` directory.