lang-howto

Linux下的MSN聊天程序源码

LANG-HOWTO
Version 2.2

File name: msn/lang/LANG-HOWTO
This document and its contents are licenced under the 
GNU-FDL licence version 1.2 or up.
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

If you modify this file, please update the version and add 
your name to the credits at the end.

This little document is a guide to translator and translation
managers that works or wants to work in aMSN. It is indeed a
little document, but has a lot of information. We suggest you 
to print it and leave it within the reach of your hands if you
are serious in this translation business.

Another word of warning: if you are in doubt, please ask! 
We will be pleased to help you. The right place to ask 
questions is our discussion list: [e-mail]
You must subscribe to post there. Instructions on how to subscribe
can be found here: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/amsn-lang

One of our goals is to be the most internationalized 
free software / open source project of the world. 
And to achieve that we need you!

Thanks for the interest on the aMSN project!

Index:

*. Introduction.
   What is this aMSN translation stuff all about?

0. The most important thing
   Explains why and how to subscribe to the amsn-lang forum.

1. For translators
   For those who want to translate aMSN for their own language, 
   or help improve/extend the existing translation. Must read.
	-- Rules that must be followed
	-- How to add a new language

2. For translation managers
   For those who are in charge of coordination of local or global 
   translation efforts and commiting the langfiles to the CVS server.
   If you want to start a local translation effort please read this.

3. For both - useful tools
   Some of the tools you *must* use before sending your files. These
   tools are included with aMSN. 

============
Introduction
============

There are many ways you can help the aMSN project. One of them is 
by translating the software to other languages. This can be easily
done. Another way is proofreading the current translations in search
of typos and errors and missing (untranslated) messages. There is
plenty of work for everyone who wants to be involved, and this seems
to be your case as you are reading this file ;-)

The aMSN Messenger can be translated into any language you want. 
It is easy to do so because all of the translated messages for every 
new language are stored in a special file called langfile. The name 
of each and every langfile indicates clearly the language it contains. 
The format is langXX, where XX is the two-caracter ISO code of your 
language. For instance, for the italian language, whose ISO code is IT, 
the langfile is called langit. A few examples:

English: langen
Spanish: langes
German: langde
French: langfr

The ISO codes for the english, spanish, german and french languages are, 
respectively, en, es, de and fr. Later in this document we will see how
to determine the country code for new languages. For the languages already
present in aMSN (some completely translated, some not) please refer to our 
translation effort page: 
http://amsn.sourceforge.net/modules.php?name=Translation

You can help us enormously by checking periodicaly the webpage above
and, if your language has any missing key (a key is one of the many 
messages shown on the various aMSN windows, menus ans dialog boxes), 
translate it and send us the file. Even if your language has zero 
missing keys, it is important to scan the file for possible errors 
or bad writting styles introduced by other translators.

This document (msn/lang/LANG-HOWTO) deals ONLY with the langXX files
(that is, the language files that translates aMSN's messages, menus 
and dialog boxes). Please read the present document completely, make sure 
you understand everything and ask what to do 
(at [e-mail]) when in doubt.

There are other files that need translation and proofreading, like the
HELP, FAQ and README files. There is another document called DOCS-HOWTO,
located at msn/docs/DOCS-HOWTO. *PLEASE READ THAT DOCUMENT TOO*


Tip: this LANG-HOWTO file surely contains many errors. If you are a
native english speaker, please help us by proofreading it.


===========================
0. The most important thing
===========================

You MUST subscribe to the [e-mail] mailing
list. There you can discuss various issues with the members of the
translation team, including:
- The best way to translate a word or phrase;
- What character code you should use or not use;
- Best translation practices;
- Issues and questions about this HOWTO;
- Coordination of local efforts;
- Stablishment of local language translation managers.

One important thing you MUST ask at the amsn-lang list is if there
is somebody already doing what you intend to. 

For instance, if you want to translate the langfile file into greek
(langel) you shoud ask first. This way, if there is another person
already translating the same langel you won't waste your time.

You can subscribe to the list by visiting this page:

   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/amsn-lang

Remember, joining or not is not an option. You MUST subscribe.

==================
1. For Translators
==================

When you add new keys, you should send the entire updated langXX
file, compressed using GZIP or ZIP (.gz or .zip files),
to the translator managers, who can be reached at

    [e-mail]

Diff files are also accepted, and can be used in certain cases where
you update more than one file with a single diff or you merge
different files into one, but the best and easyest way (for both
translators and managers) is to send the whole translated file. If
in doubt, send the entire compressed file.

Keys sent in the body of the email will be ignored, due to character
coding and line break issues.

If you are sending a new file, or you have changed the encoding of the
translated file, don't forget to tell us!

You can help us by translating some sentences to your language,
or modifying wrongly translated sentences (proofreading).

RULES THAT MUST BE FOLLOWED:
----------------------------
1. Download the latest langfile you want to work on from the website
or via CVS. You will find the link at the translation page:
http://amsn.sourceforge.net/modules.php?name=Translation
-NEVER use files from a stable AMSN package, as they are probably out
of date, and you'll find yourself translating many keys that are
already translated in the latest language file version.
When in doubt, ask! ([e-mail])

2. Add the missing keywords from the list at the bottom of the page
to the language file.
-Alternatively, you can also download "langen" file (the master file),
and use the script "missing.py" in the lang/ folder to check what are
the missing keys. When in doubt, ask! ([e-mail])

3. Translate the english sentences.
-BE CAREFUL with $1, $2... parameters that appear in some
sentences. You can change their position, but they must appear on
the sentence, they 'll be substituted during execution with some
values.
-Every key must be in a single line. There should be no line breaks.
The key name (first word on the line), and the translation must be
separated by a single blank. Don't use Tabs.
-Keep the current encoding unless you have a good reason to change it.
You can probably find the the file encoding using the unix 'file' command,
or just by checking the 'langlist' file in the amsn folder. Use
a text editor that supports that encoding. If for some reason, you
change the encoding (for example, you decide to go for utf-8 instead of
iso8859-1 for spanish), please DON'T FORGET to tell us the new encoding
when sending your updated translation.

When in doubt, ask! ([e-mail])

4. Check the translated file with one of the scripts provided 
in the lang/ folder. For example:
 $ ./missing.py langXX
It will tell you if there are any errors or missing keys to translate.
You'll need the "langen" file in the same folder in order to check the
missing keys. It can be downloaded from the translations web page too.
-It's not necessary that the keys in the file are sorted, but it is
better to have them sorted, in order to find keys more easily. You can
sort them automatically using the "sortlang" script in the lang/ folder.
Please MAKE SURE there are no errors in the file before sorting, or the
file can be messed up.
When in doubt, ask! ([e-mail])

5. When all errors are fixed, compress (gzip o zip) the updated file
and send it to [e-mail]
-We will ONLY accept gzipped or zipped langfiles.
-We will NOT accept, in ANY way,
individual keys received in the body of the email. You MUST send
the COMPLETE langfile (for instance, langit if you are italian)
ATTACHED to de email message. Only in special cases we will accept