[Koha] Translate Koha 3.0 into YOUR language

[Joshua Ferraro]

Hi folks,

Now that the alpha release of Koha 3.0 is out, we need to start lining up
commitments from folks who want to translate Koha into their language.
If you want your translation to be accepted for the 3.0 release, you MUST
submit it before February 1st, 2008, which is the date that the Beta is
released! Note: even partial submissions will be accepted.

So, what is the procedure for submitting a translation? You can, of course,
roll your own, but if you want your translation to be included in the
main release
of Koha 3.0, we'd best have a bit of a formal procedure ... so here's my crack
at an overview of the process:

1. Please take a look at http://translate.koha.org. Some translations already
exist; please consider taking over an existing translation rather than starting
a fresh one, unless the existing one is un-usably poor :-)

2. Please post your intent to translate Koha to the koha-translate list:

http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/koha-translate

In your email, please specify your Language, Region, and Country (and
if your language uses a non-latin script, please also indicate the Script).
Koha uses RFC4646 for managing language subtags, so it's important
that we know all of those aspects of the language you're providing.

It's important that you post your intent, this way we can avoid overlap
and perhaps can even do some collaboration.

Note: even if you've contributed a contribution previously, please announce
your intent so we can have you on record for the 3.0 version.

3. Determine the application you intend to use to do the translation. You
have a few options:

  a. http://translate.koha.org will allow you to add your translations via a
web-based interface. If your language, region, country and script are not
listed, please email me and I will add them.

   b. Desktop Application - there are a few: LocFactory Editor (for OSX),
POEdit (for Windows), Kbabel (for Linux). If you use a desktop application,
please ensure that your encoding is set either UTF-8 or UTF-16, depending
on your language's script support in UTF-8. Most languages should use
UTF-8.

   c. Text file -- yes, you can edit POT files directly in a text
editor, but please
make sure you have the proper encoding as with the Desktop application.

4. Obtain the Translation Files. (doesn't apply if you use translate.koha.org).
You need to copy two files from the Koha 3.0 repository, one for the OPAC,
and one for the Staff Client:

http://git.koha.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=Koha;a=blob_plain;f=misc/translator/po/xx-XX-i-staff-t-prog-v-3000000.pot;hb=HEAD

http://git.koha.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=Koha;a=blob_plain;f=misc/translator/po/xx-XX-i-opac-t-prog-v-3000000.pot;hb=HEAD

5. Naming your files. (doesn't apply if you use translate.koha.org).
Starting with Koha 3, we're using RFC4646 language subtag
naming conventions,  (have a look at

http://www.w3.org/International/articles/language-tags/ for an intro).

RFC4646 has a concept of 'extensions' that Koha uses to tag for the 'theme' (t)
 'interface' (i) and 'version' (v). For example, if you're creating a
French translation
from France, for the staff interface, and version 3.00.00.00, the
filename would be:

fr-FR-i-staff-t-prog-v-3000000.po

6. If you've used translate.koha.org to submit your translation, when you have
finished, the system will have that indicated on the report (100%). Otherwise,
you'll have to send the file to us somehow. You can do that via email to the
list (in which case i recommend creating an archive of the completed files,
rather than sending them through in raw format). Or, if you are reasonable
comfortable with the command line, you can submit them via Git as a
patch. Here are the basic instructions for how to contribute using Git:

http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=en:development:git_usage

Translations go in the misc/translator/po file, and should utilize the standard
naming conventions. If you have a question, don't hesitate to ask.

So ... any takers? Feel free to post on-list or email directly to me,
I'll try to
coordinate the activity.

Cheers,

-- 
Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
jmf at liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS