GRASS messages translation

2011-04-17T16:59:08Z

⚠️FredMaranhao: /* Continuing an existing translation */

== GRASS messages translation project ==

Many users prefer to use software in their mother tongue which is mostly no English. This requires that all GRASS software messages have to be translated to languages other than English. The GRASS Development Team is seeking translators. Please subscribe to the dedicated mailing list at

GRASS translations mailing list
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations

Translation related issues may be discussed there. This is an opportunity for non-programmers to contribute as messages can be easily translated. No programming skills required!

* Join the [[GRASS_Translation_Team#Members_of_Translation_Team|team]]

=== Wanted languages ===

Simple Chinese, Swahili, Hindi, Greek, Tamil, Russian, Telugu, Português, ... Please join us!

== How to change the language ==

* see [[GRASS_messages_translation#Testing_different_languages|Testing different languages]] below.

== How to create new translations ==

* For terminology, please refer to the [[GRASS Translation Glossary]].

=== Files ===
In GRASS, we have 4 types of .po files per language (see in the source code the directory locale/po/):

* <tt>grasslibs_LANG.po</tt>: messages from libraries
* <tt>grassmods_LANG.po</tt>: messages from commands ("modules")
* <tt>grassnviz_LANG.po</tt>: messages from NVIZ Tcl/Tk graphical user interface (GRASS 6)
* <tt>grasstcl_LANG.po</tt>: messages from Tcl/Tk graphical user interface (GRASS 6)
* <tt>grasswxpy_LANG.po</tt>: messages from wxgrass/wxPython graphical user interface

where "LANG" in the above file names is a two character code which indicates the language. It is based on the Alpha-2 code of [http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php ISO 639-1] (right column). Example: <tt>grasswxpy_pl.po</tt> for Polish.

=== Continuing an existing translation ===

The file(s) are there but partially outdated? Read on.

First '''announce''' on the [http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations GRASS translations mailing list] that you plan to continue the translation of a certain language. Why? Because sometimes people silently translate already and we need these efforts to be coordinated to avoid doing it twice...

Then get these four .po files for your language and start. If a file is missing, just ask on the list to get it generated or see next section. To get these .po files (the files are in the directory locale/po/):

* either [http://svn.osgeo.org/grass/grass/branches/releasebranch_6_4/locale/po/ download current .po files] directly from SVN (click on file name to download),
* or [http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/DownloadSource#GRASS6.4 download source code package] from SVN,
* or download the recent [http://grass.osgeo.org/grass64/source/snapshot/ source code snapshot],
* or ask on the [http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations GRASS translations mailing list] for these files.

Then edit the files with a .po file editor (poEDIT or kbabel or..., see below). Take care to maintain layout and special characters. And '''submit often''' - if you wait for weeks, the messages may already be outdated and your time wasted. Just keep in touch on the [http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations GRASS translations mailing list]!

=== Starting a new translation ===

The language you want isn't yet there? Read on.

Briefly, the steps to create new messages files are (if you find this too complicated, ask on the [http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations GRASS translations mailing list] to get these files done for you!):

# Get the latest source code development version from either the SVN repository or as SVN snapshot (see [http://grass.osgeo.org/download/index.php Download]).
# run: './configure --with-nls [... other parameters]' to configure the GRASS source code
# run: 'cd locale' to change into the translation directory
# run: 'make pot' to create grass*.pot template files (to extract original messages)
# run: copy these file from templates/ into po/; rename them to contain the two characters language code (see Alpha-2 code of [http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php ISO 639-1]) and to .po extension; update the file headers either manually or with your .po editing software
(Example: Polish language):
mv ./templates/grasslibs.pot ./po/grasslibs_pl.po
mv ./templates/grassmods.pot ./po/grassmods_pl.po
mv ./templates/grassnviz.pot ./po/grassnviz_pl.po
mv ./templates/grasstcl.pot ./po/grasstcl_pl.po
mv ./templates/grasswxpy.pot ./po/grasswxpy_pl.po

Now translate the messages in these po/*.po files (using poEDIT or other editor, see below)

From time to time messages need to be updated from the originals. This is usually done by the GRASS translation manager.

== Software to translate: .po file editors ==

* [http://userbase.kde.org/Lokalize Lokalize]: (previously KBabel) is a set of tools for editing and managing gettext PO files, cross-platform, comes with KDE SC (works also under MS-Windows)
* [http://www.poedit.net/download.php poEdit]: poEdit is gettext catalogs (.po files) editor (works also under MS-Windows)
* [http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/virtaal/index Virtaal] Virtaal is cross-platform graphical translation tool with terminology help from [http://open-tran.eu Open-Tran.eu]
* [https://www.transifex.net/projects/p/grass6/c/grass64/ Web based solution Transifex]
* [http://www.omegat.org/ Java based solution OmegaT]

'''How to use Transifex to translate messages online in a browser:'''

[[Image:Transifex register signin.png|center|450px|Register and sign in]]

[[Image:Transifex edit online.png|center|450px|Click to edit online]]

== Testing different languages ==

Testing different languages requires that the respective language environment and, if needed, fonts are installed.
Check what languages are currently installed on your system with:
locale -a

To change to a certain language environment (locale), do the following steps (here, example for Unix style environment):

1. Define/check language settings:
echo $LANG
echo $LANGUAGE
echo $LC_MESSAGES

2. Change it (example for to Japanese):
a) bash shell:
export LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8
export LANGUAGE=ja_JP.UTF-8
export LC_MESSAGES=ja_JP.UTF-8

b) (t)csh shell:
setenv LANG ja_JP.UTF-8
setenv LANGUAGE ja_JP.UTF-8
setenv LC_MESSAGES ja_JP.UTF-8

Now launch GRASS in this terminal. If you launch it from an icon, you have to change the LOCALE in the computer setup program instead.

Other common languages useful for testing are <tt>de_DE</tt> for German, <tt>fr_FR</tt> for French, or "C" for none (effectively <tt>en_US</tt>, which for GRASS is the base language).

=== Creating startup scripts for different languages ===

GRASS in English language, save as "grass64eng" (executable flag set, store in path):
#!/bin/sh
export LANG=en_US
export LANGUAGE=en_US
export LC_MESSAGES=en_US
exec grass64 "$@"

GRASS in Japanese language, save as "grass64ja" (executable flag set, store in path):
#!/bin/sh
export LANG=ja_JA.UTF-8
export LANGUAGE=ja_JA.UTF-8
export LC_MESSAGES=ja_JA.UTF-8
grass64 "$@"

== Coordination among translators ==

If several translators work on the same language files, obviously some coordination is needed. Please announce work via the "translations" mailing list at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-translations

Also the translation manager is listening there to the upload the changed files into the GRASS source code repository.

== Best practices ==

* Italiano: [http://tp.linux.it/buona_traduzione.html Regole per la buona traduzione]

== Installation of language packages ==

Example: Chinese

* Mandriva: urpmi locales-zh kde-l10n-zh_CN fonts-ttf-default-zh_CN

[[Category: Development]]
[[Category: Documentation]]
[[Category: FAQ]]

GRASS 6 Terminology

2011-03-16T17:30:13Z

⚠️FredMaranhao: /* General */

== General ==

* '''LOCATION''': This is the name of an available geographic location. It contains a series of MAPSETS which share a common map projection.
: Typically its name will be based on the larger job/project you are working on, a reflection of the map projection which it will use, or a combination of both of these. For example: "''The_Rockies''", "''UTM18_nad27''", "''LL_wgs84''", "''Spearfish60''", "''simple_xy''".

* '''MAPSET''': Every GRASS session runs under the name of a MAPSET. A MAPSET may be a geographical subset or as large as the parent LOCATION. Technically they are subdirectories under any location. In a networked environment with several users working within the same location, mapsets play a special role. Users may only select (and thus modify) a mapset that they own (i.e., have created). However, data in all mapsets for a given location can be read by anyone (unless prevented by UNIX file permissions). The "PERMANENT" mapset usually contains the read-only base maps like the elevation model, while the other locations are readable and writable by their owners. The "PERMANENT" mapset also contains some information about the location itself that is not found in the mapsets (projection info etc.), thus it must exist in every location.
: The MAPSETS might be named for their owner (on a networked multi-user system) (''e.g. user1''), a specific area or study site within the greater region (''e.g. Wade_County''), all maps concerning a specific field study (''e.g. Jan2008''), or whatever is useful to organize your data.

* '''DATABASE''': This is the unix directory containing the geographic LOCATIONS (also called GIS'''D'''BASE). For a desktop GIS user typically this will be a subdirectory called <tt>grassdata</tt> in your home directory.

[[File:Loc_struct.png|center|thumb|600px|Structure of the GRASS data hierarchy]]

* '''REGION''': The REGION may be the entire area or subset of the chosen LOCATION. It is defined by northern, southern, eastern, and western bounds, as well as the raster grid resolution. It is controlled by the {{cmd|g.region}} module and is of primary importance for raster operations. Its most obvious effect is of setting the map zoom, but it is much more than that.

* '''WINDOW''': see REGION



== Raster maps ==

* '''CELL DATA TYPE''': a raster map from INTEGER type (whole numbers only)

* '''FCELL DATA TYPE''': a raster map from FLOAT type (4 bytes, 6 digits precision)

* '''DCELL DATA TYPE''': a raster map from DOUBLE type (8 bytes, 15 digits precision)

* '''NULL''': represents "no data" in raster maps, to be distinguished from 0 (zero) data value

* '''INTEGER MAP''': see CELL DATA TYPE

* '''FLOAT MAP''': see FCELL DATA TYPE

* '''DOUBLE MAP''': see DCELL DATA TYPE

== Raster 3D maps ==

* '''VOXEL''': A 3-dimensional grid cell. (An individual cube in a greater 3D region block)

== Vector maps ==

* '''CATEGORY NUMBER''': A numerical value for a map feature (e.g. road number). The CATEGORY NUMBER is related to the attribute database. The internal vector feature ID is different from this.

* '''LAYER''': A single vector map can be connected to multiple database tables. This number determines which table to use.

* '''DRIVER''': The database backend. e.g. dbf, sqlite, pg, mysql

* '''TABLE''': The attribute table(s) associated with a map.

* '''DATABASE''': The path or connection to the backend database storage.

* '''KEY COLUMN''': The attribute column that relates the spatial data to the attribute database data. Typically the <tt>cat</tt> column is used as the key column.

* '''SQL''': The Structured Query Language. A standardized method of accessing and manipulating databases. Almost all modern databases speak some dialect of this common language.

== Map Projections ==

''See the [[GIS Concepts]] wiki page for details.


see the [[GRASS 7 Terminology]] page for more discussion.

[[Category: Documentation]]
[[Category: FAQ]]

GRASS-Wiki - User contributions [en]

GRASS messages translation

GRASS 6 Terminology