Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of TranslationSystem

Timestamp:

Oct 15, 2013, 10:20:55 AM (11 years ago)

Author:

davea

Comment:

--

TranslationSystem

@@ -1 @@
-= BOINC Translation System =
+= Translating BOINC =
 
-The BOINC translation system is broken into three phases.
+The translation of BOINC involves several steps:
 
-== Template Construction ==
+ * Generate "templates" (.pot files) containing translatable strings from the BOINC source code.
+ * Import these templates into Pootle.
+ * Volunteers translate the strings in Pootle.
+ * Export the translations (*.po files) from Pootle to the BOINC Git repo
+ * Deploy the new translations.
 
-This phase is primarily a manual operation.  If the automated framework consumes an invalid or empty template file all existing translations will be thrown away.
+BOINC is divided into the following components, each with its own template file:
 
-To manually update a template run the 'build_po' scripts in the given area of interest:
- * boinc/doc           (BOINC-Web.pot)
- * html/user           (BOINC-Project-Generic.pot)
- * boinc/client        (BOINC-Client.pot) 
- * boinc/clientgui     (BOINC-Manager.pot)
- * boinc/mac_installer (BOINC-Setup.pot)
+ ||= Component =||= directory =||= Template file =||= Command =||
+ || BOINC web site || doc/ || BOINC-Web.pot || build_po.php ||
+ || Project web site || html/user/ || BOINC-Project-Generic.pot || html/ops/build_po_boinc.php ||
+ || Client || client/ || BOINC-Client.pot || build_po ||
+ || Manager || clientgui/ || BOINC-Manager.pot || build_po ||
+ || Mac installer || mac_installer/ || BOINC-Setup.pot || build_po ||
+ || Android GUI || android/ || BOINC-Android.pot || a2po export -v ||
 
-To update the Android localization template execute:
-{{{
-cd boinc/android
-a2po export -v
-}}}
+All template files are stored in '''locale/templates/''' in the BOINC repo.
+The translations for language X are stored in '''locale/X/'''.
 
-After verifying that the updated templates have the correct string to translate and a PO header go ahead and commit the changes.
+== Software releases ==
 
-All templates are stored in /boinc/locale/templates.
+Translation activity takes place in trunk.
+When a release branch (client or server) is created,
+its translations are the contents of '''locale/''' at that point.
+If translations change after that,
+or new translatable strings are added to the branch,
+we'll need to back-port changes to the .po files.
+
+== Template generation ==
+
+If a faulty template file is committed to the BOINC repo and picked up by Pootle,
+all existing translations will be lost.
+Therefore manual validation is used.
+The process is as follows:
+
+ * Once a day, a script '''build_pos''' is run as a cron job.
+    This script generates a template for each component,
+    leaving the .pot file in the component directory.
+    It then compares the .pot file with the one in '''locale/templates'''.
+    If they differ (not counting comments) it sends an email to Rom and David.
+ * On receiving this email, Rom and/or David examines the new template file.
+    If it's valid, they move it to '''locale/templates''' and commit it.
 
 == Translation ==
 
-Twice daily a cron job kicks off the process of committing all changes and updating existing languages using the new templates.
+Twice daily a cron job pulls modified templates from the BOINC repo and adds them to the Pootle database.
+DETAILS?
 
 Pootle takes care of the bulk of this with the following commands (pootle/update.sh):
@@ -38 +61 @@
 == Post Translation Updates ==
 
-After all the latest updates have been committed the compiled PO files need to be updated.  The end of the pootle/update.sh file executes boinc/locale/updatetrans.sh which handles compiling the PO files into MO files.
+After all the latest updates have been committed the compiled PO files need to be updated.
+The end of the pootle/update.sh file executes boinc/locale/updatetrans.sh which handles compiling the PO files into MO files.
+IS THIS AUTOMATED?
 
 Converting the Android PO file back into the native Android localization system XML files involves executing:
@@ -44 +69 @@
 a2po export -v
 }}}
+
+== Deployment ==
+
+=== The BOINC web site ===
+
+The BOINC web code expects translation files to be in ../languages/translations/.
+On the BOINC web server, this directory contains symbolic links from X.po
+to '''../../locale/X/BOINC-Web.po'''.
+
+'When we add a new language, we need to add a new symbolic link.'
+
+Deploying new translations requires running the script
+'''doc/update_translations.php''',
+which converts the .po files to a PHP translation array.
+This is done from cron.
+
+=== Project web sites ===
+
+