Appendix D. Documents for developers
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# Appendix D. Documents for developers

## Translation (I18N) guide

Author: Nicolas Boichat <nicolas -at- boichat.ch>

Do you want to translate ddccontrol to your favorite language? Then, this guide is for you!

The distribution is split in two packages: `ddccontrol` (the main program), and `ddccontrol-db` (monitor database).

Tools you need: `git`, `automake`/`autoconf`, `gettext`, `make`, `poedit` (or another tool, or a simple text editor).

First, you need to check out the sources from the Git repositories: ddccontrol and ddccontrol-db.

Note you need to perform the following operations in both the ddccontrol and ddccontrol-db repositories (there are strings to translate in the main program, and in the database).

Then run:

    # ./autogen.sh
    # ./configure (maybe you will need some devel package to make it working)
    # cd po
    # make update-po

If the po file for your language doesn't exist, simply copy `ddccontrol.pot` to `LANG.po` (for example, for French, it is `fr.po`) and update the fields in it (like `AUTHOR`, `CHARSET`, etc...)

Then open your `.po` file, and translate the strings! I recommend that you use a tool like poedit, as it warns you visually when strings are wrong, and offers spellcheck. But it's your choice .

When you are finished, it would be nice to test if it works by installing and running the software, but it is not mandatory, particularly if you don't have the needed hardware (i.e. a monitor supporting DDC/CI). Then, sending the completed `.po` files through a pull request or issue on the ddccontrol project on GitHub.

It is a good idea to follow the GitHub project, particularly if you have problems translating some technical strings. Please use the GitHub project issue tracker or pull request discussion for such questions, so the same terms do not need to be explained repeatedly to all translators.

Also, if you encounter mistakes in the original English strings, please report those as well.

List of languages with active translators:

- French: Nicolas Boichat
- Russian: Sergei Epiphanov

I hope my explanations were complete, otherwise do not hesitate to contact me (cc-ing the devel list) if you have questions.

THANK YOU.

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