diff options
| author | Lorry Tar Creator <lorry-tar-importer@baserock.org> | 2014-12-24 07:38:37 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | <> | 2015-02-02 12:02:29 +0000 |
| commit | 482840e61f86ca321838a91e902c41d40c098bbb (patch) | |
| tree | 01ea2e242fd2792d19fe192476601587901db794 /gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html | |
| download | gettext-tarball-482840e61f86ca321838a91e902c41d40c098bbb.tar.gz | |
Imported from /home/lorry/working-area/delta_gettext-tarball/gettext-0.19.4.tar.xz.gettext-0.19.4
Diffstat (limited to 'gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html | 735 |
1 files changed, 735 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html b/gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2f3be3 --- /dev/null +++ b/gettext-tools/doc/tutorial.html @@ -0,0 +1,735 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML i18n//EN"> + +<!--Converted with jLaTeX2HTML 2002-2-1 (1.70) JA patch-1.4 +patched version by: Kenshi Muto, Debian Project. +LaTeX2HTML 2002-2-1 (1.70), +original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds +* revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan +* with significant contributions from: + Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others --> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>A tutorial on Native Language Support using GNU gettext</TITLE> +<META NAME="description" CONTENT="A tutorial on Native Language Support using GNU gettext"> +<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="memo"> +<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> +<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="jLaTeX2HTML v2002-2-1 JA patch-1.4"> +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Style-Type" CONTENT="text/css"> + +<!-- +<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="memo.css"> +--> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY > + +<!--Navigation Panel +<DIV CLASS="navigation"> +<IMG WIDTH="81" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next_inactive" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/nx_grp_g.png"> +<IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/up_g.png"> +<IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/prev_g.png"> +<BR> +<BR><BR></DIV> +End of Navigation Panel--> + +<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">A tutorial on Native Language Support using GNU gettext</H1><DIV CLASS="author_info"> + +<P ALIGN="CENTER"><STRONG>G. Mohanty</STRONG></P> +<P ALIGN="CENTER"><STRONG>Revision 0.3: 24 July 2004</STRONG></P> +</DIV> + +<H3>Abstract:</H3> +<DIV CLASS="ABSTRACT"> + The use of the GNU <TT>gettext</TT> utilities to implement support for native +languages is described here. Though, the language to be supported is +considered to be Oriya, the method is generally applicable. Likewise, while +Linux was used as the platform here, any system using GNU <TT>gettext</TT> should work +in a similar fashion. + +<P> +We go through a step-by-step description of how to make on-screen messages +from a toy program to appear in Oriya instead of English; starting from the +programming and ending with the user's viewpoint. Some discussion is also made +of how to go about the task of translation. +</DIV> +<P> +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00010000000000000000"> +Introduction</A> +</H1> +Currently, both commercial and free computer software is typically written and +documented in English. Till recently, little effort was expended towards +allowing them to interact with the user in languages other than English, thus +leaving the non-English speaking world at a disadvantage. However, that +changed with the release of the GNU <TT>gettext</TT> utilities, and nowadays most GNU +programs are written within a framework that allows easy translation of the +program message to languages other than English. Provided that translations +are available, the language used by the program to interact with the user can +be set at the time of running it. <TT>gettext</TT> manages to achieve this seemingly +miraculous task in a manner that simplifies the work of both the programmer +and the translator, and, more importantly, allows them to work independently +of each other. + +<P> +This article describes how to support native languages under a system using +the GNU <TT>gettext</TT> utilities. While it should be applicable to other versions of +<TT>gettext</TT>, the one actually used for the examples here is version +0.12.1. Another system, called <TT>catgets</TT>, described in the X/Open +Portability Guide, is also in use, but we shall not discuss that here. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00020000000000000000"> +A simple example</A> +</H1> +<A NAME="sec:simple"></A>Our first example of using <TT>gettext</TT> will be the good old Hello World program, +whose sole function is to print the phrase “Hello, world!” to the terminal. +The internationalized version of this program might be saved in hello.c as: +<PRE> +1 #include <libintl.h> +2 #include <locale.h> +3 #include <stdio.h> +4 #include <stdlib.h> +5 int main(void) +6 { +7 setlocale( LC_ALL, "" ); +8 bindtextdomain( "hello", "/usr/share/locale" ); +9 textdomain( "hello" ); +10 printf( gettext( "Hello, world!\n" ) ); +11 exit(0); +12 } +</PRE> +Of course, a real program would check the return values of the functions and +try to deal with any errors, but we have omitted that part of the code for +clarity. Compile as usual with <TT>gcc -o hello hello.c</TT>. The program should +be linked to the GNU libintl library, but as this is part of the GNU C +library, this is done automatically for you under Linux, and other systems +using glibc. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00021000000000000000"> +The programmer's viewpoint</A> +</H2> + As expected, when the <TT>hello</TT> executable is run under the default locale +(usually the C locale) it prints “Hello, world!” in the terminal. Besides +some initial setup work, the only additional burden faced by the programmer is +to replace any string to be printed with <TT>gettext(string)</TT>, i.e., to +instead pass the string as an argument to the <TT>gettext</TT> function. For lazy +people like myself, the amount of extra typing can be reduced even further by +a CPP macro, e.g., put this at the beginning of the source code file, +<PRE> + #define _(STRING) gettext(STRING) +</PRE> +and then use <TT>_(string)</TT> instead of <TT>gettext(string)</TT>. + +<P> +Let us dissect the program line-by-line. + +<OL> +<LI><TT>locale.h</TT> defines C data structures used to hold locale + information, and is needed by the <TT>setlocale</TT> function. <TT>libintl.h</TT> + prototypes the GNU text utilities functions, and is needed here by + <TT>bindtextdomain</TT>, <TT>gettext</TT>, and <TT>textdomain</TT>. +</LI> +<LI>The call to <TT>setlocale</TT> () on line 7, with LC_ALL as the first argument + and an empty string as the second one, initializes the entire current locale + of the program as per environment variables set by the user. In other words, + the program locale is initialized to match that of the user. For details see + “man <TT>setlocale</TT>.” +</LI> +<LI>The <TT>bindtextdomain</TT> function on line 8 sets the base directory for the + message catalogs for a given message domain. A message domain is a set of + translatable messages, with every software package typically having its own + domain. Here, we have used “hello” as the name of the message domain for + our toy program. As the second argument, /usr/share/locale, is the default + system location for message catalogs, what we are saying here is that we are + going to place the message catalog in the default system directory. Thus, we + could have dispensed with the call to <TT>bindtextdomain</TT> here, and this + function is useful only if the message catalogs are installed in a + non-standard place, e.g., a packaged software distribution might have + the catalogs under a po/ directory under its own main directory. See “man + <TT>bindtextdomain</TT>” for details. +</LI> +<LI>The <TT>textdomain</TT> call on line 9 sets the message domain of the current + program to “hello,” i.e., the name that we are using for our example + program. “man textdomain” will give usage details for the function. +</LI> +<LI>Finally, on line 10, we have replaced what would normally have been, +<PRE> + printf( "Hello, world!\n" ); +</PRE> +with, +<PRE> + printf( gettext( "Hello, world!\n" ) ); +</PRE> +(If you are unfamiliar with C, the <!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>n at the end of the string +produces a newline at the end of the output.) This simple modification to all +translatable strings allows the translator to work independently from the +programmer. <TT>gettextize</TT> eases the task of the programmer in adapting a +package to use GNU <TT>gettext</TT> for the first time, or to upgrade to a newer +version of <TT>gettext</TT>. +</LI> +</OL> + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00022000000000000000"> +Extracting translatable strings</A> +</H2> + Now, it is time to extract the strings to be translated from the program +source code. This is achieved with <TT>xgettext</TT>, which can be invoked as follows: +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + xgettext -d hello -o hello.pot hello.c +</FONT></PRE> +This processes the source code in hello.c, saving the output in hello.pot (the +argument to the -o option). +The message domain for the program should be specified as the argument +to the -d option, and should match the domain specified in the call to +<TT>textdomain</TT> (on line 9 of the program source). Other details on how to use +<TT>gettext</TT> can be found from “man gettext.” + +<P> +A .pot (portable object template) file is used as the basis for translating +program messages into any language. To start translation, one can simply copy +hello.pot to oriya.po (this preserves the template file for later translation +into a different language). However, the preferred way to do this is by +use of the <TT>msginit</TT> program, which takes care of correctly setting up some +default values, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + msginit -l or_IN -o oriya.po -i hello.pot +</FONT></PRE> +Here, the -l option defines the locale (an Oriya locale should have been +installed on your system), and the -i and -o options define the input and +output files, respectively. If there is only a single .pot file in the +directory, it will be used as the input file, and the -i option can be +omitted. For me, the oriya.po file produced by <TT>msginit</TT> would look like: +<PRE> + # Oriya translations for PACKAGE package. + # Copyright (C) 2004 THE PACKAGE'S COPYRIGHT HOLDER + # This file is distributed under the same license as the PACKAGE package. + # Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>, 2004. + # + msgid "" + msgstr "" + "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n" + "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" + "POT-Creation-Date: 2004-06-22 02:22+0530\n" + "PO-Revision-Date: 2004-06-22 02:38+0530\n" + "Last-Translator: Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>\n" + "Language-Team: Oriya\n" + "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" + "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" + "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" + + #: hello.c:10 + msgid "Hello, world!\n" + msgstr "" +</PRE> +<TT>msginit</TT> prompted for my email address, and probably obtained my real name +from the system password file. It also filled in values such as the revision +date, language, character set, presumably using information from the or_IN +locale. + +<P> +It is important to respect the format of the entries in the .po (portable +object) file. Each entry has the following structure: +<PRE> + WHITE-SPACE + # TRANSLATOR-COMMENTS + #. AUTOMATIC-COMMENTS + #: REFERENCE... + #, FLAG... + msgid UNTRANSLATED-STRING + msgstr TRANSLATED-STRING +</PRE> +where, the initial white-space (spaces, tabs, newlines,...), and all +comments might or might not exist for a particular entry. Comment lines start +with a '#' as the first character, and there are two kinds: (i) manually +added translator comments, that have some white-space immediately following the +'#,' and (ii) automatic comments added and maintained by the <TT>gettext</TT> tools, +with a non-white-space character after the '#.' The <TT>msgid</TT> line contains +the untranslated (English) string, if there is one for that PO file entry, and +the <TT>msgstr</TT> line is where the translated string is to be entered. More on +this later. For details on the format of PO files see gettext::Basics::PO +Files:: in the Emacs info-browser (see Appdx. <A HREF="#sec:emacs-info">A</A> for an +introduction to using the info-browser in Emacs). + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00023000000000000000"> +Making translations</A> +</H2> + The oriya.po file can then be edited to add the translated Oriya +strings. While the editing can be carried out in any editor if one is careful +to follow the PO file format, there are several editors that ease the task of +editing PO files, among them being po-mode in Emacs, <TT>kbabel</TT>, gtranslator, +poedit, etc. Appdx. <A HREF="#sec:pofile-editors">B</A> describes features of some of +these editors. + +<P> +The first thing to do is fill in the comments at the beginning and the header +entry, parts of which have already been filled in by <TT>msginit</TT>. The lines in +the header entry are pretty much self-explanatory, and details can be found in +the gettext::Creating::Header Entry:: info node. After that, the remaining +work consists of typing the Oriya text that is to serve as translations for +the corresponding English string. For the <TT>msgstr</TT> line in each of the +remaining entries, add the translated Oriya text between the double quotes; +the translation corresponding to the English phrase in the <TT>msgid</TT> string +for the entry. For example, for the phrase “Hello world!<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>n” in +oriya.po, we could enter “ନମସ୍କାର<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>n”. The final +oriya.po file might look like: +<PRE> + # Oriya translations for hello example package. + # Copyright (C) 2004 Gora Mohanty + # This file is distributed under the same license as the hello example package. + # Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>, 2004. + # + msgid "" + msgstr "" + "Project-Id-Version: oriya\n" + "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" + "POT-Creation-Date: 2004-06-22 02:22+0530\n" + "PO-Revision-Date: 2004-06-22 10:54+0530\n" + "Last-Translator: Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>\n" + "Language-Team: Oriya\n" + "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" + "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" + "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" + "X-Generator: KBabel 1.3\n" + + #: hello.c:10 + msgid "Hello, world!\n" + msgstr "ନମସ୍କାର\n" +</PRE> + +<P> +For editing PO files, I have found the <TT>kbabel</TT> editor suits me the best. The +only problem is that while Oriya text can be entered directly into <TT>kbabel</TT> +using the xkb Oriya keyboard layouts [<A + HREF="memo.html#xkb-oriya-layout">1</A>] and the entries +are saved properly, the text is not displayed correctly in the <TT>kbabel</TT> window +if it includes conjuncts. Emacs po-mode is a little restrictive, but strictly +enforces conformance with the PO file format. The main problem with it is that +it does not seem currently possible to edit Oriya text in Emacs. <TT>yudit</TT> +is the best at editing Oriya text, but does not ensure that the PO file format +is followed. You can play around a bit with these editors to find one that +suits your personal preferences. One possibility might be to first edit the +header entry with <TT>kbabel</TT> or Emacs po-mode, and then use <TT>yudit</TT> to enter +the Oriya text on the <TT>msgstr</TT> lines. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00024000000000000000"> +Message catalogs</A> +</H2> + <A NAME="sec:catalog"></A>After completing the translations in the oriya.po file, it must be compiled to +a binary format that can be quickly loaded by the <TT>gettext</TT> tools. To do that, +use: +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + msgfmt -c -v -o hello.mo oriya.po +</FONT></PRE> +The -c option does detailed checking of the PO file format, -v makes the +program verbose, and the output filename is given by the argument to the -o +option. Note that the base of the output filename should match the message +domain given in the first arguments to <TT>bindtextdomain</TT> and <TT>textdomain</TT> on +lines 8 and 9 of the example program in Sec. <A HREF="#sec:simple">2</A>. The .mo +(machine object) file should be stored in the location whose base directory is +given by the second argument to <TT>bindtextdomain</TT>. The final location of the +file will be in the sub-directory LL/LC_MESSAGES or LL_CC/LC_MESSAGES under +the base directory, where LL stands for a language, and CC for a country. For +example, as we have chosen the standard location, /usr/share/locale, for our +base directory, and for us the language and country strings are “or” and +“IN,” respectively, we will place hello.mo in /usr/share/locale/or_IN. Note +that you will need super-user privilege to copy hello.mo to this system +directory. Thus, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + mkdir -p /usr/share/locale/or_IN/LC_MESSAGES + cp hello.mo /usr/share/locale/or_IN/LC_MESSAGES +</FONT></PRE> + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00025000000000000000"> +The user's viewpoint</A> +</H2> + Once the message catalogs have been properly installed, any user on the system +can use the Oriya version of the Hello World program, provided an Oriya locale +is available. First, change your locale with, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + echo $LANG + export LANG=or_IN +</FONT></PRE> +The first statement shows you the current setting of your locale (this is +usually en_US, and you will need it to reset the default locale at the end), +while the second one sets it to an Oriya locale. + +<P> +A Unicode-capable terminal emulator is needed to view Oriya output +directly. The new versions of both gnome-terminal and konsole (the KDE +terminal emulator) are Unicode-aware. I will focus on gnome-terminal as it +seems to have better support for internationalization. gnome-terminal needs to +be told that the bytes arriving are UTF-8 encoded multibyte sequences. This +can be done by (a) choosing Terminal <TT>-></TT> Character Coding <TT>-></TT> +Unicode (UTF-8), or (b) typing “/bin/echo -n -e +'<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>033%<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>G'” in the terminal, or (c) by running +/bin/unicode_start. Likewise, you can revert to the default locale by (a) +choosing Terminal <TT>-></TT> Character Coding <TT>-></TT> Current Locale +(ISO-8859-1), or (b) “/bin/echo -n -e '<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>033%<!-- MATH + $\backslash$ + --> +<SPAN CLASS="MATH">\</SPAN>@',” or +(c) by running /bin/unicode_stop. Now, running the example program (after +compiling with gcc as described in Sec. <A HREF="#sec:simple">2</A>) with, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + ./hello +</FONT></PRE> +should give you output in Oriya. Please note that conjuncts will most likely +be displayed with a “halant” as the terminal probably does not render Indian +language fonts correctly. Also, as most terminal emulators assume fixed-width +fonts, the results are hardly likely to be aesthetically appealing. + +<P> +An alternative is to save the program output in a file, and view it with +<TT>yudit</TT> which will render the glyphs correctly. Thus, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + ./hello > junk + yudit junk +</FONT></PRE> +Do not forget to reset the locale before resuming usual work in the +terminal. Else, your English characters might look funny. + +<P> +While all this should give the average user some pleasure in being able to see +Oriya output from a program without a whole lot of work, it should be kept in +mind that we are still far from our desired goal. Hopefully, one day the +situation will be such that rather than deriving special pleasure from it, +users take it for granted that Oriya should be available and are upset +otherwise. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00030000000000000000"> +Adding complications: program upgrade</A> +</H1> +The previous section presented a simple example of how Oriya language support +could be added to a C program. Like all programs, we might now wish to further +enhance it. For example, we could include a greeting to the user by adding +another <TT>printf</TT> statement after the first one. Our new hello.c source +code might look like this: +<PRE> +1 #include <libintl.h> +2 #include <locale.h> +3 #include <stdio.h> +4 #include <stdlib.h> +5 int main(void) +6 { +7 setlocale( LC_ALL, "" ); +8 bindtextdomain( "hello", "/usr/share/locale" ); +9 textdomain( "hello" ); +10 printf( gettext( "Hello, world!\n" ) ); +11 printf( gettext( "How are you\n" ) ); +12 exit(0); +13 } +</PRE> +For such a small change, it would be simple enough to just repeat the above +cycle of extracting the relevant English text, translating it to Oriya, and +preparing a new message catalog. We can even simplify the work by cutting and +pasting most of the old oriya.po file into the new one. However, real programs +will have thousands of such strings, and we would like to be able to translate +only the changed strings, and have the <TT>gettext</TT> utilities handle the drudgery +of combining the new translations with the old ones. This is indeed possible. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00031000000000000000"> +Merging old and new translations</A> +</H2> + As before, extract the translatable strings from hello.c to a new portable +object template file, hello-new.pot, using <TT>xgettext</TT>, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + xgettext -d hello -o hello-new.pot hello.c +</FONT></PRE> +Now, we use a new program, <TT>msgmerge</TT>, to merge the existing .po file with +translations into the new template file, viz., +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + msgmerge -U oriya.po hello-new.pot +</FONT></PRE> +The -U option updates the existing +.po file, oriya.po. We could have chosen to instead create a new .po file by +using “-o <SPAN CLASS="MATH"><</SPAN>filename<SPAN CLASS="MATH">></SPAN>” instead of -U. The updated .po file will still +have the old translations embedded in it, and new entries with untranslated +<TT>msgid</TT> lines. For us, the new lines in oriya.po will look like, +<PRE> + #: hello.c:11 + msgid "How are you?\n" + msgstr "" +</PRE> +For the new translation, we could use, “ଆପଣ +କିପରି ଅଛନ୍ତି?” in +place of the English phrase “How are you?” The updated oriya.po file, +including the translation might look like: +<PRE> + # Oriya translations for hello example package. + # Copyright (C) 2004 Gora Mohanty + # This file is distributed under the same license as the hello examplepackage. + # Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>, 2004. + # + msgid "" + msgstr "" + "Project-Id-Version: oriya\n" + "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n" + "POT-Creation-Date: 2004-06-23 14:30+0530\n" + "PO-Revision-Date: 2004-06-22 10:54+0530\n" + "Last-Translator: Gora Mohanty <gora_mohanty@yahoo.co.in>\n" + "Language-Team: Oriya\n" + "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" + "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" + "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" + "X-Generator: KBabel 1.3\n" + + #: hello.c:10 + msgid "Hello, world!\n" + msgstr "ନମସ୍କାର\n" + + #: hello.c:11 + msgid "How are you?\n" + msgstr "ଆପଣ କିପରି ଅଛନ୍ତି?\n" +</PRE> + +<P> +Compile oriya.po to a machine object file, and install in the appropriate +place as in Sec. <A HREF="#sec:catalog">2.4</A>. Thus, +<PRE><FONT color="red"> + msgfmt -c -v -o hello.mo oriya.po + mkdir -p /usr/share/locale/or_IN/LC_MESSAGES + cp hello.mo /usr/share/locale/or_IN/LC_MESSAGES +</FONT></PRE> +You can test the Oriya output as above, after recompiling hello.c and running +it in an Oriya locale. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00040000000000000000"> +More about <TT>gettext</TT> </A> +</H1> +The GNU <TT>gettext</TT> info pages provide a well-organized and complete description +of the <TT>gettext</TT> utilities and their usage for enabling Native Language +Support. One should, at the very least, read the introductory material at +gettext::Introduction::, and the suggested references in +gettext::Conclusion::References::. Besides the <TT>gettext</TT> utilities described in +this document, various other programs to manipulate .po files are discussed in +gettext:Manipulating::. Finally, support for programming languages other than +C/C++ is discussed in gettext::Programming Languages::. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00050000000000000000"> +The work of translation</A> +</H1> + Besides the obvious program message strings that have been the sole focus of +our discussion here, there are many other things that require translation, +including GUI messages, command-line option strings, configuration files, +program documentation, etc. Besides these obvious aspects, there are a +significant number of programs and/or scripts that are automatically generated +by other programs. These generated programs might also themselves require +translation. So, in any effort to provide support for a given native language, +carrying out the translation and keeping up with program updates becomes a +major part of the undertaking, requiring a continuing commitment from the +language team. A plan has been outlined for the Oriya localization +project [<A + HREF="memo.html#url:oriya-trans-plan">2</A>]. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00060000000000000000"> +Acknowledgments</A> +</H1> +Extensive use has obviously been made of the GNU <TT>gettext</TT> manual in preparing +this document. I have also been helped by an article in the Linux +Journal [<A + HREF="memo.html#url:lj-translation">3</A>]. + +<P> +This work is part of the project for enabling the use of Oriya under Linux. I +thank my uncle, N. M. Pattnaik, for conceiving of the project. We have all +benefited from the discussions amidst the group of people working on this +project. On the particular issue of translation, the help of H. R. Pansari, +A. Nayak, and M. Chand is much appreciated. + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00070000000000000000"> +The Emacs info browser</A> +</H1> +<A NAME="sec:emacs-info"></A>You can start up Emacs from the command-line by typing “emacs,” or “emacs +<SPAN CLASS="MATH"><</SPAN>filename<SPAN CLASS="MATH">></SPAN>.” It can be started from the menu in some desktops, e.g., on +my GNOME desktop, it is under Main Menu <TT>-></TT> Programming <TT>-></TT> +Emacs. If you are unfamiliar with Emacs, a tutorial can be started by typing +“C-h t” in an Emacs window, or from the Help item in the menubar at the +top. Emacs makes extensive use of the Control (sometimes labelled as “CTRL” +or “CTL”) and Meta (sometimes labelled as “Edit” or “Alt”) keys. In +Emacs parlance, a hyphenated sequence, such as “C-h” means to press the +Control and ‘h’ key simultaneously, while “C-h t” would mean to press the +Control and ‘h’ key together, release them, and press the ‘t’ key. Similarly, +“M-x” is used to indicate that the Meta and ‘x’ keys should be pressed at +the same time. + +<P> +The info browser can be started by typing “C-h i” in Emacs. The first time +you do this, it will briefly list some commands available inside the info +browser, and present you with a menu of major topics. Each menu item, or +cross-reference is hyperlinked to the appropriate node, and you can visit that +node either by moving the cursor to the item and pressing Enter, or by +clicking on it with the middle mouse button. To get to the <TT>gettext</TT> menu items, +you can either scroll down to the line, +<PRE> + * gettext: (gettext). GNU gettext utilities. +</PRE> +and visit that node. Or, as it is several pages down, you can locate it using +“I-search.” Type “C-s” to enter “I-search” which will then prompt you +for a string in the mini-buffer at the bottom of the window. This is an +incremental search, so that Emacs will keep moving you forward through the +buffer as you are entering your search string. If you have reached the last +occurrence of the search string in the current buffer, you will get a message +saying “Failing I-search: ...” on pressing “C-s.” At that point, press +“C-s” again to resume the search at the beginning of the buffer. Likewise, +“C-r” incrementally searches backwards from the present location. + +<P> +Info nodes are listed in this document with a “::” separator, so +that one can go to the gettext::Creating::Header Entry:: by visiting the +“gettext” node from the main info menu, navigating to the “Creating” +node, and following that to the “Header Entry” node. + +<P> +A stand-alone info browser, independent of Emacs, is also available on many +systems. Thus, the <TT>gettext</TT> info page can also be accessed by typing +“info gettext” in a terminal. <TT>xinfo</TT> is an X application serving as an +info browser, so that if it is installed, typing “xinfo gettext” from the +command line will open a new browser window with the <TT>gettext</TT> info page. + +<P> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION00080000000000000000"> +PO file editors</A> +</H1> +<A NAME="sec:pofile-editors"></A>While the <TT>yudit</TT> editor is adequate for our present purposes, and we are +planning on using that as it is platform-independent, and currently the best +at rendering Oriya. This section describes some features of some editors that +are specialized for editing PO files under Linux. This is still work in +progress, as I am in the process of trying out different editors before +settling on one. The ones considered here are: Emacs in po-mode, <TT>poedit</TT>, +<TT>kbabel</TT>, and <TT>gtranslator</TT>. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00081000000000000000"> +Emacs PO mode</A> +</H2> + Emacs should automatically enter po-mode when you load a .po file, as +indicated by “PO” in the modeline at the bottom. The window is made +read-only, so that you can edit the .po file only through special commands. A +description of Emacs po-mode can be found under the gettext::Basics info node, +or type ‘h’ or ‘?’ in a po-mode window for a list of available commands. While +I find Emacs po-mode quite restrictive, this is probably due to unfamiliarity +with it. Its main advantage is that it imposes rigid conformance to the PO +file format, and checks the file format when closing the .po file +buffer. Emacs po-mode is not useful for Oriya translation, as I know of no way +to directly enter Oriya text under Emacs. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00082000000000000000"> +poedit</A> +</H2> + XXX: in preparation. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00083000000000000000"> +KDE: the kbabel editor</A> +</H2> + <TT>kbabel</TT> [<A + HREF="memo.html#url:kbabel">4</A>] is a more user-friendly and configurable editor than +either of Emacs po-mode or <TT>poedit</TT>. It is integrated into KDE, and offers +extensive contextual help. Besides support for various PO file features, it +has a plugin framework for dictionaries, that allows consistency checks and +translation suggestions. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00084000000000000000"> +GNOME: the gtranslator editor</A> +</H2> + XXX: in preparation. + +<H2><A NAME="SECTION00090000000000000000"> +Bibliography</A> +</H2><DL COMPACT><DD><P></P><DT><A NAME="xkb-oriya-layout">1</A> +<DD> +G. Mohanty, +<BR>A practical primer for using Oriya under Linux, v0.3, +<BR><TT><A NAME="tex2html1" + HREF="http://oriya.sarovar.org/docs/getting_started/index.html">http://oriya.sarovar.org/docs/getting_started/index.html</A></TT>, 2004, +<BR>Sec. 6.2 describes the xkb layouts for Oriya. + +<P></P><DT><A NAME="url:oriya-trans-plan">2</A> +<DD> +G. Mohanty, +<BR>A plan for Oriya localization, v0.1, +<BR><TT><A NAME="tex2html2" + HREF="http://oriya.sarovar.org/docs/translation_plan/index.html">http://oriya.sarovar.org/docs/translation_plan/index.html</A></TT>, + 2004. + +<P></P><DT><A NAME="url:lj-translation">3</A> +<DD> +Linux Journal article on internationalization, +<BR><TT><A NAME="tex2html3" + HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3023">http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3023</A></TT>. + +<P></P><DT><A NAME="url:kbabel">4</A> +<DD> +Features of the kbabel editor, +<BR><TT><A NAME="tex2html4" + HREF="http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/features.html">http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/features.html</A></TT>. +</DL> + +<H1><A NAME="SECTION000100000000000000000"> +About this document ...</A> +</H1> + <STRONG>A tutorial on Native Language Support using GNU gettext</STRONG><P> +This document was generated using the +<A HREF="http://www.latex2html.org/"><STRONG>LaTeX</STRONG>2<tt>HTML</tt></A> translator Version 2002-2-1 (1.70) +<P> +Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, +<A HREF="http://cbl.leeds.ac.uk/nikos/personal.html">Nikos Drakos</A>, +Computer Based Learning Unit, University of Leeds. +<BR>Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, +<A HREF="http://www.maths.mq.edu.au/~ross/">Ross Moore</A>, +Mathematics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney. +<P> +The command line arguments were: <BR> + <STRONG>latex2html</STRONG> <TT>-no_math -html_version 4.0,math,unicode,i18n,tables -split 0 memo</TT> +<P> +The translation was initiated by Gora Mohanty on 2004-07-24 +<DIV CLASS="navigation"><HR> + +<!--Navigation Panel +<IMG WIDTH="81" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next_inactive" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/nx_grp_g.png"> +<IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/up_g.png"> +<IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" + SRC="file:/usr/share/latex2html/icons/prev_g.png"> +<BR></DIV> +End of Navigation Panel--> + +<ADDRESS> +Gora Mohanty +2004-07-24 +</ADDRESS> +</BODY> +</HTML> |