docs/TRANSLATORS.md

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