lyx_mirror/README.localization

	Localization/Translation FAQ
              
    by Ran Rutenberg, Pavel Sanda, Michael Gerz

    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.


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:

  http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_mono/gettext.html#SEC222

If you want to start from scratch than you should obtain a copy of the lyx.pot 
file.


2) HOW DO I EDIT PO FILES?

PO files can be edited with every text editor available for your system (e.g. 
VIM, NotePad etc.). Yet another option is to use a specialized editor for .po 
files. You can e.g. use the editors "poEdit" or "jEdit", Linux users can 
additionally use e.g. "kbabel". Using these editors usually makes things easier 
as they have many tools to assist the translator.


3) WHAT DO I NEED TO TRANSLATE?

If your using a simple text editor you should translate the strings that appear 
in the msgid line and write the translation into the msgstr line. Note 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 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?

'&' stands for underlined characters (shortcut) in dialog boxes.
'|' stands for underlined characters in menus.

These chars should be somehow used in your translations, however you'll have to 
invent your own working shortcuts for dialog and menu entries and resolve 
possible conflicts of the same shortcut chars in one menu... 

'$' and '%' are usually used as handlers for formatting or variables to be 
inserted into the strings. Character sequences like %1$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.


5) WHAT IS pocheck.pl AND HOW DO I USE IT?

This is a small script located in the "po" directory of the source that helps 
you find common errors in your translation. In order to use this script you have 
to have the script language Perl installed.


6) HOW CAN I TEST MY TRANSLATION?

In order to test your translation you need to obtain the LyX sources (from the 
SVN repository) and replace the existing .po with yours. Afterwards, you should 
compile and install LyX (check the INSTALL file for your OS). If you don't 
install LyX it won't work. For running LyX with your translation, use the 
appropriate LANG variable:

  On Linux: LANG=xx_CC lyx
  On Windows, you need to change the lyx.bat file and write: set LANG=xx_CC

xx stands for your language code. CC stands for your country code. So to get, 
e.g., Czech, the code is "cs_CZ".

7) 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 

  http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html