Universe translations in Launchpad
Universe, is one of the four repositories that make up Ubuntu (Main, Multiverse, Restricted and Universe). Until now only translations of packages in Main repository have been available under http://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/.
For Universe packages translations that are packaged for current Ubuntu version are used.
To give an example: If geany 0.18 is packaged in the universe for Ubuntu 11.10, translations in that package will be used even if better translations are available in the current version 0.20 (in this case the newest version is packaged for Ubuntu 11.10 but that is not always the case). Furthermore, for Universe packages translations are not taken into account until a new version of the program is packaged and released (translations are not a part of language packs). This has caused a significant delay in availability of newest translations in the past and also made translation more difficult as packages needed to be translated upstream, which caused:
a) lower visibility of translations (one needed to go to upstream project page to be available to translate) b) in many cases the translations workflow is significantly different and more technically challenging, which scares away less technical problems.
To alleviate this issue in the future selected Universe packages are going to be translatable under translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu. Not all universe packages are going to be available for translations since:
- we don't want to get translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu overcrowded
- packages need to be slightly changed in order to be translatable by maintainers
Before this feature is implemented it might be wise to get in contact with selected upstream projects about possibility of translations imports/exports.
Proposed Universe packages to be translated in Launchpad
The purpose of this page is to keep a list of packages, which are considered to be important (often used) and hence should be translatable in LP.
Package name |
Reason |
Developer |
Person in contact |
Status |
Wine |
Often used |
Scot Ritchie |
David |
|
gnome-panel |
Formerly on the CD, translations should already exist |
Sebastien Bacher |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
synaptic |
|
Miachel Vogt |
David |
|
epiphany-browser |
The real GNOME browser, integrates with gnome-keyring and desktop much better |
Jeremy Bircha |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfce4-power-manager |
xfce4-power-manager is default in Xubuntu. Currently, for new upstream translations to land downstream, new upstream packaging is required. For this package that probably won't happen, as no new application code is underway. So it's up to downstream. |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfce4-mixer |
See above (xfce4-power-manager) |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfce4-taskmanager |
See above (xfce4-power-manager) |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfburn |
See above (xfce4-power-manager) |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfce4-systemload-plugin |
See above (xfce4-power-manager) |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
xfce4-weather-plugin |
See above (xfce4-power-manager) |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
alacarte |
Default menu editor for Xubuntu 12.04 |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
obconf |
Default desktop configuration manager for Lubuntu |
Julien Lavergne |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
abiword |
Default word processor for Xubuntu and Lubuntu |
xubuntu-devel |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
tomboy |
|
|
|
|
gbrainy |
|
Siegfried Gevatter |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
geany |
|
? |
Andrej |
|
lxdm (and other Lubuntu packages) |
Lubuntu users |
Julien Lavergne |
Andrej |
WAITING DEV. RESPONSE |
banshee |
|
Chow Loong Jin |
Andrej |
DONE |
gnome-applets |
|
Robert Ancell |
Andrej |
DEV. NOT INETERESTED |
gnome color manager |
linked to from gnome control center |
Michael Biebel |
Andrej |
DEVELOPER NOT INTERESTED - BLOCKED |
hardinfo |
Default System Profiler and Benchmark in Lubuntu. Nowhere translatable, not even upstream. |
|
|
BLOCKED |
Compizconfig-settings-manager |
Required to change compiz (default package) options (this package is to be avoided for average users because it can cause breakage of unity) |
|
|
BLOCKED |
gdm |
Ubuntu adds extra strings, see LP: 542068. Maybe we don't need it as Ubuntu now uses lightdm |
|
|
BLOCKED |
chromium-browser |
Popular open source browser - already translatable at https://translations.launchpad.net/chromium-browser. Also appearently doesn't use gettext and cannot be shipped in language packs |
|
|
BLOCKED |
Template for bug reports
This is a template for bug reports to be sent to the maintainers.
Maintainer instructions for exposing universe package translations in Launchpad
Add X-Ubuntu-Use-Langpack: yes to debian/control's source record
Use dh_translations to generate a POT file during the build process.
Notes:
- More precisely, there needs to be a (correctly named) PO template after build. Preferably it gets generated during build, but it will also work if the package ships a static one (in that case you'll need to ensure to update it each time you change strings, though).
dh_translations checks for some standard build systems (automake, cmake, Python distutils) to figure out how to build a POT. If the source does not have any build system at all, it will not be able to do this, so the debian/rules should take care of it, or upstream ship a correctly named one.
You'll find more background info on building POT templates during build here, but note that the page is not yet up to date in terms of recommending dh_translations as the preferred way for template generation.