PO FAQ
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This file is mainly intended for those who have no or little experience using .po files,
but want to contribute by translating the LyX interface into their native language.


1) WHERE DO I START?

The file you need to edit it an xx.po file where xx stands for your language's two letter
code. German would be for example de.po and Polish pl.po.
If you want to start from scratch than you should obtain a copy of the lyx.pot file.



2) HOW DO I EDIT PO FILES?

PO files can be edited with every text editor available for your system (e.g. VIM, NotePad etc.).
Yet another option is to use a specialized editor for .po files. Windows users can us poEdit
and Linux has kbabel and poEdit. Using these editors usually makes things easier as they have
many tools to assist the translator.



3) WHAT I NEED TO TRANSLATE?

If your using a simple text editor you should translate the strings that appear in the msgid line
and write the translation into the msgstr line. You can also add "#, fuzzy" in order to mark a 
translation as fuzzy. It is recommended that you would take a look at another .po file - that
way you can get an idea of what to do.
If your using a specialized po editor then you will see in it the untranslated strings and a 
place to write your translation for them.



4) WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE '&', '|', '$, AND '%' CHARACTERS?

'&' stands for underlined characters (shortcut) in dialog boxes.
'|' stands for underlined characters in menus.
'$' and '%' are usually used as handlers for formating or variables to be inserted
into the strings.
So all these chars should be somehow used in your translations, however
you'll have to invent your own working shortcuts for dialog and menu entries
and resolve possible conflicts of the same shortcut chars in one menu... 



5) WHAT IS pocheck.pl AND HOW DO I USE IT?

This is a small script located in the PO directory of the source that helps you find common errors
in your translation. In order to use this script you have to have perl.


6) HOW 	CAN I TEST MY TRANSLATION?

In order to test your translation you need to obtain the LyX source (from the SVN) and replace
the existing .po with yours. Afterwards, you should compile and install (if you don't install it won't work) LyX (check the INSTALL file
for your OS).
Now, run LyX using the appropriate LANG variable:
In Linux: LANG=xx_CC lyx
In MS Windows you need to change the bat file and write: set LANG=xx_CC
xx stands for your language code.
CC stands for your country code.








Written by Ran Rutenberg 2007
I greatly appreciate all those who helped me and assisted me in this subject.