Translating¶

Crown tools use GNU gettext for handling translations. Source strings are marked in code with _() or N_() and translations live in tools/po.

Files¶

tools/po/POTFILES: Source files scanned by xgettext. Add a file here when it contains translatable strings.
tools/po/crown-editor.pot: Template generated from the source files. Do not edit translations here.
tools/po/LINGUAS: List of languages to build and ship.
tools/po/<lang>.po: Translation for <lang>.

Creating a New Translation¶

Create the .po file from the current template. For example, for Italian:

msginit --input=tools/po/crown-editor.pot --locale=it --output-file=tools/po/it.po

Add the language to tools/po/LINGUAS.
Translate msgstr values in tools/po/it.po. Do not change msgid values.

Updating an Existing Translation¶

Regenerate the template and merge it into the language file:

make -C tools/po pot
msgmerge --update tools/po/it.po tools/po/crown-editor.pot

Translate new empty or fuzzy entries, then remove any remaining fuzzy markers.

Checking a Translation¶

Validate a .po file with:

msgfmt -c --statistics -o build/linux64/bin/po/it/LC_MESSAGES/crown-editor.mo tools/po/it.po

The output should not report fuzzy or untranslated messages before committing a completed translation.

Build and Test¶

The tools build compiles every language listed in tools/po/LINGUAS into the build directory:

make crown-editor-linux-debug64

Run the editor in a language with:

env -u LC_ALL LANGUAGE=it build/linux64/bin/crown-editor

LC_ALL overrides other locale variables, so unset it while testing. Using LANG=it_IT.UTF-8 also works when that locale is installed on the system LANGUAGE=it is usually easier for quick gettext tests.

Translation Rules¶

Keep the source capitalization style. If the English text is title case, use title case in the translation too, for example New Project... becomes Nuovo Progetto....