Ubuntu Internationalization Guide

This document tries to outline:

• How Ubuntu deals with translations (and i18n in general) from a developer's perspective
• Which tools are interesting for developers to make sure that translations and i18n work fine

General information

• Overview of the translations lifecycle

• Glossary of i18n-related terms

Packaging

• Internationalization of packages

Coding

• Internationalizarion of source code

Translation process

TODO

• String freeze
• Translation
• Translation deadline
• Language pack updates

Launchpad

The import queue

All translation templates (.pot files) and translations (.po) end up in the Launchpad Translations import queue before being imported into Launchpad.

Some of the Ubuntu import queues:

• Hardy

• Intrepid

• Jaunty

• Karmic

Templates generally get approved automatically, but sometimes there is some manual work involved in approving them. The Ubuntu Translations Coordinators Team manages the import queue. We've got a mailing list where issues can be discussed and we welcome the help of any community members experienced with translations.

If your project is hosted in Launchpad

Recipes

If you want to make sure that your packages translations are set up correctly, try running:

• For GNOME packages:

cd po; intltool-update -m

and be sure to either fix the issues or report them upstream.

Note: this is only worth trying if the package uses intltool for i18n (i.e. look for intltool.m4 in the top-level source directory)

• For GNU packages:
• For KDE packages:

Sometimes empty .po files caused packages to build from source.

CategoryUbuntuDevelopment CategoryTranslations