Localization Guidelines

Help to translate Videomass to other languages

Updates an existing translation

Requirements:

  • poEdit, to do the actual translation you can use poEdit. It allows you to create, update and start translating a translation catalog from a PO file, and finally generate a MO file needed to apply the translation of a program.

PO, POT and MO files - what are they?

PO format stands for Portable Object and is the standard file format for localization for doing the actual translation, while POT format stands for Portable Object Template and is a format generated by GNU gettext to streamline software localization and internationalization. POT file is just a template that should never be edited directly, PO file: Learn more here. The MO (Machine Object) file format is the file extension given by the compiler when building the language binary file to ensure that the program can be effectively translated (from a human-readable text PO file to the machine language MO file), MO file: Learn more here.

Let’s get started

  • Download latest release of Videomass source archive (zipball or tarball).

  • Extract the archive and open the obtained Videomass source directory.

  • Browse into videomass/data/locale and choose the language code directory you are interested in translating.

  • Then browse into language code directory, e.g <LANG_CODE>/LC_MESSAGES, and locate the videomass.po file, like this:

    Videomass (source directory)
    |__ videomass
        |__ data
            |__ locale
                |__ <LANG_CODE> (language code, e.g de_DE)
                    |__ LC_MESSAGES
                        |__ videomass.po

  • Open the videomass.po file with poEdit

  • Click on poEdit menu bar -> Catalog -> Update from POT file…, then import the videomass.pot file template sited on locale folder. This is important as it ensures that the videomass.po file is fully updated with the latest translation strings.

  • Also, check the catalog property data on menu bar > Catalog > Property… and make sure it contains at least some updated indications you could provide.

  • Now, you are ready to start your translation. When you’re done save your work; you can always resume your work from where you left off.

  • Before running Videomass to test your updated translation, Make sure Python3, wxPython, PyPubSub, requests and yt-dlp are installed. Visit the Videomass wiki page for installation details.

  • Try your new tranlation by open a terminal window, cd on the Videomass sources directory and type: python3 launcher.

When you have completed your translation with ‘PoEdit’, please Create a pull request or send me your videomass.po file at: jeanlucperni@gmail.com

I will be grateful!!

At your disposal for clarification.

Start with a new translation

If you cannot find support for the language you wish to translate on Videomass, please make a request for new language support by contacting the application developer at jeanlucperni@gmail.com or opening a new issue using the following form: Feature request

Notes

When you request support for a new language, the language code should be in the format en_US and NOT just en using the standard language codes <ISO 639-1>_<ISO 3166-1 alpha-2> (e.g. en_US). See more at ISO 639-1 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 wikipedia pages.

Thanks!

General rules

  • Variables such as {0}, {1}, {dir}, {0:.1f}, etc should be copied exactly as they appear in the translation box.
  • Leave keyboard accelerator shortcuts such as \tCtrl+O, \tCtrl+Shift+H, \tDEL, \tShift+DEL, etc as they appear in the translation box.
  • If possible, try to respect the length of sentences where the newline character such as \n is present.
  • When you request to publish your translation, make sure you include useful information for any contacts: name or nickname and email or website (see PO file headers).
  • Binary translation files (MO) are not accepted and you should not push them upstream or on any Pull Requests.

Useful Resources