Quick Guide for new translations -------------------------------- If you would like to translate Geany into another language, have a look at the language statistics page at [1] first to see if your desired language already exists. If it already exists, please read the "Notes for updating translations" section. Otherwise, get the SVN version of Geany, change to the po directory and start the new translation with: $ msginit -l ll_CC -o ll.po -i geany.pot Fill in ll with the language code and CC with the country code. For example, to translate Geany into Italian you would type: $ msginit -l it_IT -o it.po -i geany.pot This will create a file it.po. This file can be opened with a text editor (e.g. Geany ;-)) or a graphical program like PoEdit [2]. There are also several other GUI programs for working on translations. You don't need to modify the file po/LINGUAS, it is regenerated automatically on the next build. When you have finished editing the file, check the file with: $ msgfmt -c --check-accelerators=_ it.po Please ensure you also translate the mnemonic letters (strings containing a "_" before a letter, also called "accelerators" on some platforms/toolkits). When the user wishes to activate a menu item using their keyboard, they will use this letter to pick an item from the menu. Here are a few notes on picking which letter to use: * Always follow platform/toolkit conventions (for example "t" for "Cut") even if they don't necessarily seem obvious. * Try to choose the first letter of the command name, where this is the most appropriate letter (for example "S" for "Save"), assuming it's not already used in the same menu. * Try not to use the same character more than once in the same menu as this will cause the user to have to press the mnemonic's key multiple times to select the correct menu item. * If there is no letter in the text that can easily be entered from a keyboard then choose another character that can be, and put it in parenthesis after the translated text. * Try not to change which letter is used whenever possible as it is not user-configurable and users may have become accustomed to using the existing mnemonic key. You can also use intl_stats.sh, e.g. by running the following command in the top source directory of Geany: $ po/intl_stats.sh -a it This will print some information about the Italian translation and checks for menu accelerators. When you have finished your work - which doesn't mean you finished the translation, you will not have to work alone - send the file to the translation mailing list [3] or directly to Frank Lanitz [4] and he will add the translation to Geany then. It is a good idea to let any translator and Frank know before you start or while translating, because they can give you hints on translating and Frank can ensure that a translation is not already in progress. Notes for updating translations ------------------------------- If you want to update an existing translation, please contact the translation mailing list [3] and/or Frank Lanitz [4] directly. He is supervising all translation issues and will contact the maintainer of the translation you want to update to avoid any conflicts. Some translation statistics can be found at: http://i18n.geany.org/ I18n mailing list ----------------- There is also a mailing list dedicated to translation issues. Please visit http://www.geany.org/Support/MailingList#geany-i18 for more information. [1] http://i18n.geany.org/ [2] http://www.poedit.net/ [3] http://www.geany.org/Support/MailingList#geany-i18 [4] Frank Lanitz