From: Raphael Finkel (raphael_at_cs.uky.edu)
Date: Mon Dec 22 2003 - 10:14:10 EST
Jordi says,
> The po files are generated from the string files. They are used to help
> people to use well-known translation tools like Kbabel.
I think statement this is inaccurate, at least for the Unix build. The files
src/af/xap/xp/xap_String_Id.h
src/wp/ap/xp/ap_String_Id.h
are the ultimate "source" for the strings, so far as I can tell. In the
abi/po directory, the program update.pl looks at POTFILES.in, which
lists those two files as the source. Update.pl builds the initial po
files, and it also updates those files when the source strings change.
In that same directory, ui-backport.pl writes out the string files (in
user/wp/strings/) from the po files. So the flow of information for a
language LG is:
*String_Id.h -> LG.po -> hand-translated LG.po -> strings/LG.strings
Translators sometimes work directly with strings files, but then they
need to use other techniques to keep track of changes to the underlying
strings. The same English string sometimes appears multiple times
(examples: "%s", "&Cells"), forcing such a translator to provide
multiple copies in the strings file (one entry suffices in the po
files).
Raphael
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