--- /dev/null
+Notes on the Free Translation Project
+*************************************
+
+ Free software is going international! The Free Translation Project
+is a way to get maintainers of free software, translators, and users all
+together, so that will gradually become able to speak many languages.
+A few packages already provide translations for their messages.
+
+ If you found this `ABOUT-NLS' file inside a distribution, you may
+assume that the distributed package does use GNU `gettext' internally,
+itself available at your nearest GNU archive site. But you do *not*
+need to install GNU `gettext' prior to configuring, installing or using
+this package with messages translated.
+
+ Installers will find here some useful hints. These notes also
+explain how users should proceed for getting the programs to use the
+available translations. They tell how people wanting to contribute and
+work at translations should contact the appropriate team.
+
+ When reporting bugs in the `intl/' directory or bugs which may be
+related to internationalization, you should tell about the version of
+`gettext' which is used. The information can be found in the
+`intl/VERSION' file, in internationalized packages.
+
+One advise in advance
+=====================
+
+ If you want to exploit the full power of internationalization, you
+should configure it using
+
+ ./configure --with-included-gettext
+
+to force usage of internationalizing routines provided within this
+package, despite the existence of internationalizing capabilities in the
+operating system where this package is being installed. So far, only
+the `gettext' implementation in the GNU C library version 2 provides as
+many features (such as locale alias or message inheritance) as the
+implementation here. It is also not possible to offer this additional
+functionality on top of a `catgets' implementation. Future versions of
+GNU `gettext' will very likely convey even more functionality. So it
+might be a good idea to change to GNU `gettext' as soon as possible.
+
+ So you need not provide this option if you are using GNU libc 2 or
+you have installed a recent copy of the GNU gettext package with the
+included `libintl'.
+
+INSTALL Matters
+===============
+
+ Some packages are "localizable" when properly installed; the
+programs they contain can be made to speak your own native language.
+Most such packages use GNU `gettext'. Other packages have their own
+ways to internationalization, predating GNU `gettext'.
+
+ By default, this package will be installed to allow translation of
+messages. It will automatically detect whether the system provides
+usable `catgets' (if using this is selected by the installer) or
+`gettext' functions. If neither is available, the GNU `gettext' own
+library will be used. This library is wholly contained within this
+package, usually in the `intl/' subdirectory, so prior installation of
+the GNU `gettext' package is *not* required. Installers may use
+special options at configuration time for changing the default
+behaviour. The commands:
+
+ ./configure --with-included-gettext
+ ./configure --with-catgets
+ ./configure --disable-nls
+
+will respectively bypass any pre-existing `catgets' or `gettext' to use
+the internationalizing routines provided within this package, enable
+the use of the `catgets' functions (if found on the locale system), or
+else, *totally* disable translation of messages.
+
+ When you already have GNU `gettext' installed on your system and run
+configure without an option for your new package, `configure' will
+probably detect the previously built and installed `libintl.a' file and
+will decide to use this. This might be not what is desirable. You
+should use the more recent version of the GNU `gettext' library. I.e.
+if the file `intl/VERSION' shows that the library which comes with this
+package is more recent, you should use
+
+ ./configure --with-included-gettext
+
+to prevent auto-detection.
+
+ By default the configuration process will not test for the `catgets'
+function and therefore they will not be used. The reasons are already
+given above: the emulation on top of `catgets' cannot provide all the
+extensions provided by the GNU `gettext' library. If you nevertheless
+want to use the `catgets' functions use
+
+ ./configure --with-catgets
+
+to enable the test for `catgets' (this causes no harm if `catgets' is
+not available on your system). If you really select this option we
+would like to hear about the reasons because we cannot think of any
+good one ourself.
+
+ Internationalized packages have usually many `po/LL.po' files, where
+LL gives an ISO 639 two-letter code identifying the language. Unless
+translations have been forbidden at `configure' time by using the
+`--disable-nls' switch, all available translations are installed
+together with the package. However, the environment variable `LINGUAS'
+may be set, prior to configuration, to limit the installed set.
+`LINGUAS' should then contain a space separated list of two-letter
+codes, stating which languages are allowed.
+
+Using This Package
+==================
+
+ As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
+only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate
+ISO 639 `LL' two-letter code prior to using the programs in the
+package. For example, let's suppose that you speak German. At the
+shell prompt, merely execute `setenv LANG de' (in `csh'),
+`export LANG; LANG=de' (in `sh') or `export LANG=de' (in `bash'). This
+can be done from your `.login' or `.profile' file, once and for all.
+
+ An operating system might already offer message localization for
+many of its programs, while other programs have been installed locally
+with the full capabilities of GNU `gettext'. Just using `gettext'
+extended syntax for `LANG' would break proper localization of already
+available operating system programs. In this case, users should set
+both `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' variables in their environment, as programs
+using GNU `gettext' give preference to `LANGUAGE'. For example, some
+Swedish users would rather read translations in German than English for
+when Swedish is not available. This is easily accomplished by setting
+`LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' to `sv'.
+
+Translating Teams
+=================
+
+ For the Free Translation Project to be a success, we need interested
+people who like their own language and write it well, and who are also
+able to synergize with other translators speaking the same language.
+Each translation team has its own mailing list, courtesy of Linux
+International. You may reach your translation team at the address
+`LL@li.org', replacing LL by the two-letter ISO 639 code for your
+language. Language codes are *not* the same as the country codes given
+in ISO 3166. The following translation teams exist, as of December
+1997:
+
+ Chinese `zh', Czech `cs', Danish `da', Dutch `nl', English `en',
+ Esperanto `eo', Finnish `fi', French `fr', German `de', Hungarian
+ `hu', Irish `ga', Italian `it', Indonesian `id', Japanese `ja',
+ Korean `ko', Latin `la', Norwegian `no', Persian `fa', Polish
+ `pl', Portuguese `pt', Russian `ru', Slovenian `sl', Spanish `es',
+ Swedish `sv', and Turkish `tr'.
+
+For example, you may reach the Chinese translation team by writing to
+`zh@li.org'.
+
+ If you'd like to volunteer to *work* at translating messages, you
+should become a member of the translating team for your own language.
+The subscribing address is *not* the same as the list itself, it has
+`-request' appended. For example, speakers of Swedish can send a
+message to `sv-request@li.org', having this message body:
+
+ subscribe
+
+ Keep in mind that team members are expected to participate
+*actively* in translations, or at solving translational difficulties,
+rather than merely lurking around. If your team does not exist yet and
+you want to start one, or if you are unsure about what to do or how to
+get started, please write to `translation@iro.umontreal.ca' to reach the
+coordinator for all translator teams.
+
+ The English team is special. It works at improving and uniformizing
+the terminology in use. Proven linguistic skill are praised more than
+programming skill, here.
+
+Available Packages
+==================
+
+ Languages are not equally supported in all packages. The following
+matrix shows the current state of internationalization, as of December
+1997. The matrix shows, in regard of each package, for which languages
+PO files have been submitted to translation coordination.
+
+ Ready PO files cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
+ .----------------------------------------------------.
+ bash | [] [] [] | 3
+ bison | [] [] [] | 3
+ clisp | [] [] [] [] | 4
+ cpio | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
+ diffutils | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
+ enscript | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
+ fileutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
+ findutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
+ flex | [] [] [] [] | 4
+ gcal | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
+ gettext | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 12
+ grep | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 10
+ hello | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11
+ id-utils | [] [] [] | 3
+ indent | [] [] [] [] [] | 5
+ libc | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 7
+ m4 | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
+ make | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
+ music | [] [] | 2
+ ptx | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
+ recode | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
+ sh-utils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
+ sharutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] | 6
+ tar | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 11
+ texinfo | [] [] [] | 3
+ textutils | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 9
+ wdiff | [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] | 8
+ `----------------------------------------------------'
+ 17 languages cs da de en es fi fr it ja ko nl no pl pt ru sl sv
+ 27 packages 6 4 25 1 18 1 26 2 1 12 20 9 19 7 4 7 17 179
+
+ Some counters in the preceding matrix are higher than the number of
+visible blocks let us expect. This is because a few extra PO files are
+used for implementing regional variants of languages, or language
+dialects.
+
+ For a PO file in the matrix above to be effective, the package to
+which it applies should also have been internationalized and
+distributed as such by its maintainer. There might be an observable
+lag between the mere existence a PO file and its wide availability in a
+distribution.
+
+ If December 1997 seems to be old, you may fetch a more recent copy
+of this `ABOUT-NLS' file on most GNU archive sites.
+
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