TaskBar Translation

How to Translate

by Michal Růžička

Update the TaskBar.pot file

Update the TaskBar.pot file (i.e. template for translations) from the current sources:

cd .../gnome-shell-extension-taskbar.git
xgettext --join-existing -k_ -kN_ -o TaskBar.pot *.js

All the translatable string in the *.js files, i.e. function calls with string parameters such as

   _("String to translate")

should be found and included in the POT file for translation.

Unfortunately, the POT file copyright headers are replaced with a default ones. It can be easily fixed with Git interactive staging:

$ git add TaskBar.pot
$ git gui
# Staged Changes (Will Commit) | TaskBar.pot | <right click on header diff> | Unstage Hunk From Commit
$ git checkout -- TaskBar.pot

Now we have the update TaskBar.pot file in both working directory and Git staging area.

Create new language

Create new language from the template:

$ mkdir -p locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/
$ LANG=cs_CZ msginit
$ mv -iv cs.po locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.po

The language code consist of language and optional region code (Czech language [cs] in the Czech Republic [CZ] in this case).

Translate

For translating we can use GUI program POedit. Qt Linguist is another alternative.

$ poedit locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.po

or

$ linguist locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.po

The PO file contains links to the *.js files. As the PO file was moved to the .../LC_MESSAGES/ subdirectory, the GUI translation tools are unable to show preview of the source code context. I believe it is not possible to change the *.js files paths in the PO file to keep it usable for the GNOME extensions system so the only alternative is to translate the PO file before moving if the source code preview is necessary. On the other hand, I do not think the source code preview is necessary in such a small piece of software with straightforward text mapping. Moreover, POedit allows to define relative path to the sourcode:

  Catalogue | Properties... | Source paths | Base path: ../../.. | Ok

Then you can right click on the translation string and select References: to the source code.

In menu

  Catalogue | Properties...

you can easily fill in other translation parameters (such as encoding, translator's e-mail address etc.).

Update PO file

Update PO translation file according to the current POT file:

• On command line:

  $ msgmerge -U locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.po TaskBar.pot

• POedit:

  Catalogue | Update from POT File...
  

The GUI translation tool automatically generates MO binary representations of the translation when PO file is saved. So running

$ msgfmt locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.po -o locale/cs_CZ/LC_MESSAGES/TaskBar.mo

on the command line is not necessary.