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L10n:Starting a localization: Difference between revisions
add link to the new bootstrapping mdc doc, add link to bitbucket, remove references to cvs
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* Set up a communication channel for your language. You can use mailing lists or newsgroups, which many open source hosting partners offer, or simply open a Google or Yahoo group. You should leave a link to this forum on the wiki page for your language, so that new volunteers and members of the Mozilla community can find it. That's important because building a community around you to support your work is an essential part of being an open source project. | * Set up a communication channel for your language. You can use mailing lists or newsgroups, which many open source hosting partners offer, or simply open a Google or Yahoo group. You should leave a link to this forum on the wiki page for your language, so that new volunteers and members of the Mozilla community can find it. That's important because building a community around you to support your work is an essential part of being an open source project. | ||
= Localization work = | = Localization work = | ||
Now you and your community are set up to do the actual localization work. | |||
You may want to set up a central repository for your work (code, mailing lists, newsgroups, website). Depending on your working habits and the size of your team, you may want to look into open source hosting offers like [http://mozdev.org mozdev.org] or [http://sf.net/ SourceForge]. A very convenient way of keeping your files's version history up on the Web is to use [http://bitbucket.org/ BitBucket]. It's an on-line Mercurial (hg) hosting service, which has the nice side effect of getting you started with using hg. You can also just use plain files and regular backups. | |||
Instead of localizing a language pack directly, you should localize in the source directory structure, and then make your work publicly available. We believe this as a good way to start out because it let's people know you are open to new collaborators and enabling a smooth path going forward. | |||
To make your work available for users to download and test, create a language pack which can be hosted on [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:1/cat:37 AMO]. AMO offers many advantages for both you and your testers and users, from download capacity to automatic updates of your Add-on. | |||
Starting from scratch on a new localization depends a good deal on whether you use a [[L10n:Tools|tool]], and if so, which. On MDC, we documented [[mdc:Bootstrapping_a_New_Locale|bootstrapping a new locale]], which works with the Mozilla build system and an UTF-8-capable editor. You won't need a compiler, though, no worries. The steps roughly include | |||
*Check out the en-US tree. | |||
*Once you've created your working clone, edit the resulting tree to translate the strings (perhaps with [[L10n:Tools|tools]]) | |||
*Package up the result into a [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_en-X-dude#Create_a_language_pack language pack] | |||
*Shipping it to some friends to test it. | |||
*Translate more ... | |||
Most of your work will happen here. There are many code strings to change so read the documentation we provided above carefully and use the resources we offer extensively to get you through it successfully! | |||
The critical elements of this stage are to ensure your work has been reviewed by the community, particularly those interested in your language. You can use AMO to host your language packs and update them regularly. It's important to collect input from any and all sources about your language pack as this is the first time that people will be using it on a day-to-day basis and giving you feedback about the quality of your work. It is these same users who will then download and promote your new localization. | |||
Something to think about all throughout your work is [[L10n:Building Blocks|expanding the community around you]] who can help you with the language you're working on. This is a good thing and will be useful for you for testing, celebratory events (i.e, launch parties), and possibly web pages or other areas you might need or want help with. We want to help you with this and are working on programs that we believe will do so. To read more about this, check out Seth's blog on our [http://blog.mozilla.com/seth/2007/06/04/support-update-3/ global program]. | |||
<div class="note"> | <div class="note"> | ||
'''You only have a language pack?''' | '''You only have a language pack?''' There seem to be a bunch of language packs floating around still, that don't exist in an up-to-date form to be used for the build. If you have one, and would like to convert it to a source, [http://perso.orange.fr/cedric.corazza.net/html/langpack2cvstree.html there's a tool] by [http://perso.orange.fr/cedric.corazza.net/html/mozilla.html Cedric] that can help you with the file shuffling. The build process from sources to language packs is lossy, so there will be work left to do, but the tool will do the tedious part for you. | ||
There seem to be a bunch of language packs floating around still, that don't exist in an up-to-date form to be used for the build. If you have one, and would like to convert it to a source, [http://perso.orange.fr/cedric.corazza.net/html/langpack2cvstree.html there's a tool] by [http://perso.orange.fr/cedric.corazza.net/html/mozilla.html Cedric] that can help you with the file shuffling. The build process from sources to language packs is lossy, so there will be work left to do, but the tool will do the tedious part for you. | |||
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