lyx_mirror/README.po-files

	PO FAQ
              
   by Ran Rutenberg, Pavel Sanda
   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.
'$' and '%' are usually used as handlers for formating or variables to be inserted
into the strings.
So all 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... 

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 source (from the SVN) 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:
In Linux: LANG=xx_CC lyx
In 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 for example Czech
the code is "cs_CZ".

7) REFERENCES
For basic idea how the translation works you can look http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext
Just for detailed reference you can look at http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html