It depends on the Perl `Locale::Po4a::Po` library (`apt-get install po4a`).
+[[!toc levels=2]]
+
Introduction
============
language is a "slave" one.
A page written in the "master" language is a "master" page. It can be
-of any page type supported by ikiwiki, but PO. It does not have to be
+of any page type supported by ikiwiki, except `po`. It does not have to be
named a special way: migration to this plugin does not imply any page
renaming work.
`bla/page/index.en.html`, else as `bla/page.en.html`.
Any translation of a "master" page into a "slave" language is called
-a "slave" page; it is written in the gettext PO format. PO is now
+a "slave" page; it is written in the gettext PO format. `po` is now
a page type supported by ikiwiki.
Example: `bla/page.fr.po` is the PO "message catalog" used to
translatable. It is a [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]], so you have lots of
control over what kind of pages are translatable.
-The PO translations files are anyway not considered as being
-translatable, so you don't need to worry about excluding them
-explicitly from this [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]].
+The `.po` files are not considered as being translatable, so you don't need to
+worry about excluding them explicitly from this [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]].
Internal links
--------------
Templates
---------
+When `po_link_to` is not set to `negotiated`, one should replace some
+occurrences of `BASEURL` with `HOMEPAGEURL` to get correct links to
+the wiki homepage.
+
The `ISTRANSLATION` and `ISTRANSLATABLE` variables can be used to
display things only on translatable or translation pages.
This plugin enhances the regular [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]] syntax with some
additional tests that are documented [[here|ikiwiki/pagespec/po]].
-Automatic PO files update
--------------------------
+Automatic PO file update
+------------------------
Committing changes to a "master" page:
-1. updates the POT file and the PO files for the supported languages
- (this is done in the `needsbuild` hook); the updated PO files are
- then put under version control
-2. triggers a refresh of the corresponding HTML slave pages (this is
- achieved by making any "slave" page dependent on the corresponding
- "master" page, in the `needsbuild` hook)
+1. updates the POT file and the PO files for the "slave" languages;
+ the updated PO files are then put under version control;
+2. triggers a refresh of the corresponding HTML slave pages.
Also, when the plugin has just been enabled, or when a page has just
been declared as being translatable, the needed POT and PO files are
created, and the PO files are checked into version control.
-TODO
-====
+Discussion pages and other sub-pages
+------------------------------------
+
+Discussion should happen in the language in which the pages are
+written for real, *i.e.* the "master" one. If discussion pages are
+enabled, "slave" pages therefore link to the "master" page's
+discussion page.
+
+Likewise, "slave" pages are not supposed to have sub-pages;
+[[WikiLinks|wikilink]] that appear on a "slave" page therefore link to
+the master page's sub-pages.
-OTHERLANGUAGES dependencies
----------------------------
+Translating
+-----------
-Pages using `OTHERLANGUAGES` depend on any "master" and "slave" pages
-whose status is being displayed. It is supposed to trigger dependency
-loops, but no practical bugs were noticed yet.
+One can edit the PO files using ikiwiki's CGI (a message-by-message
+interface could also be implemented at some point).
-Should pages using the `OTHERLANGUAGES` template loop be declared as
-linking to the same page in other versions? To be rigorous, they
-should, but this may clutter the backlinks.
+If [[tips/untrusted_git_push]] is setup, one can edit the PO files in one's
+preferred `$EDITOR`, without needing to be online.
+
+Markup languages support
+------------------------
+
+Markdown is well supported. Some other markup languages supported by
+ikiwiki mostly work, but some pieces of syntax are not rendered
+correctly on the slave pages:
+
+* [[reStructuredText|rst]]: anonymous hyperlinks and internal
+ cross-references
+* [[wikitext]]: conversion of newlines to paragraphs
+* [[creole]]: verbatim text is wrapped, tables are broken
+* [[html]] and LaTeX: not supported yet; the dedicated po4a modules
+ could be used to support them, but they would need a security audit
+* other markup languages have not been tested.
+
+
+TODO
+====
Security checks
---------------
-- `refreshpofiles` uses `system()`, whose args have to be checked more
- thoroughly to prevent any security issue (command injection, etc.).
-- `refreshpofiles` and `refreshpot` create new files; this may need
- some checks, e.g. using `IkiWiki::prep_writefile()`
+### Security history
-gettext/po4a rough corners
---------------------------
+The only past security issues I could find in GNU gettext and po4a
+are:
-- fix infinite loop when synchronizing two ikiwiki (when checkouts
- live in different directories): say bla.fr.po has been updated in
- repo2; pulling repo2 from repo1 seems to trigger a PO update, that
- changes bla.fr.po in repo1; then pushing repo1 to repo2 triggers
- a PO update, that changes bla.fr.po in repo2; etc.; fixed in
- `629968fc89bced6727981c0a1138072631751fee`?
-- new translations created in the web interface must get proper charset/encoding
- gettext metadata, else the next automatic PO update removes any non-ascii
- chars; possible solution: put such metadata into the Pot file, and let it
- propagate; should be fixed in `773de05a7a1ee68d2bed173367cf5e716884945a`, time
- will tell.
+- [CVE-2004-0966](http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2004-0966),
+ *i.e.* [Debian bug #278283](http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=278283):
+ the autopoint and gettextize scripts in the GNU gettext package
+ 1.14 and later versions, as used in Trustix Secure Linux 1.5
+ through 2.1 and other operating systems, allows local users to
+ overwrite files via a symlink attack on temporary files.
+- [CVE-2007-4462](http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2007-4462):
+ `lib/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm` in po4a before 0.32 allows local users to
+ overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the
+ gettextization.failed.po temporary file.
+
+**FIXME**: check whether this plugin would have been a possible attack
+vector to exploit these vulnerabilities.
+
+Depending on my mood, the lack of found security issues can either
+indicate that there are none, or reveal that no-one ever bothered to
+find (and publish) them.
+
+### PO file features
+
+Can any sort of directives be put in po files that will cause mischief
+(ie, include other files, run commands, crash gettext, whatever)?
+
+> No [documented](http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#PO-Files)
+> directive is supposed to do so. [[--intrigeri]]
+
+### Running po4a on untrusted content
+
+Are there any security issues on running po4a on untrusted content?
+
+To say the least, this issue is not well covered, at least publicly:
+
+- the documentation does not talk about it;
+- grep'ing the source code for `security` or `trust` gives no answer.
+
+On the other hand, a po4a developer answered my questions in
+a convincing manner, stating that processing untrusted content was not
+an initial goal, and analysing in detail the possible issues.
+
+#### Already checked
+
+- the core (`Po.pm`, `Transtractor.pm`) should be safe
+- po4a source code was fully checked for other potential symlink
+ attacks, after discovery of one such issue
+- the only external program run by the core is `diff`, in `Po.pm` (in
+ parts of its code we don't use)
+- `Locale::gettext`: only used to display translated error messages
+- Nicolas François "hopes" `DynaLoader` is safe, and has "no reason to
+ think that `Encode` is not safe"
+- Nicolas François has "no reason to think that `Encode::Guess` is not
+ safe". The po plugin nevertheless avoids using it by defining the
+ input charset (`file_in_charset`) before asking `Transtractor` to
+ read any file. NB: this hack depends on po4a internals to stay
+ the same.
+
+#### To be checked
+
+##### Locale::Po4a modules
+
+The modules we want to use have to be checked, as not all are safe
+(e.g. the LaTeX module's behaviour is changed by commands included in
+the content); they may use regexps generated from the content.
+
+`Chooser.pm` only loads the plugin we tell it too: currently, this
+means the `Text` module only.
+
+`Text` module (I checked the CVS version):
+
+- it does not run any external program
+- only `do_paragraph()` builds regexp's that expand untrusted
+ variables; they seem safe to me, but someone more expert than me
+ will need to check. Joey?
+
+ > Freaky code, but seems ok due to use of `quotementa`.
+
+##### Text::WrapI18N
+
+`Text::WrapI18N` can cause DoS (see the
+[Debian bug #470250](http://bugs.debian.org/470250)), but it is
+optional and we do not need the features it provides.
+
+It is loaded if available by `Locale::Po4a::Common`; looking at the
+code, I'm not sure we can prevent this at all, but maybe some symbol
+table manipulation tricks could work; overriding
+`Locale::Po4a::Common::wrapi18n` may be easier. I'm no expert at all
+in this field. Joey? [[--intrigeri]]
+
+> Update: Nicolas François suggests we add an option to po4a to
+> disable it. It would do the trick, but only for people running
+> a brand new po4a (probably too late for Lenny). Anyway, this option
+> would have to take effect in a `BEGIN` / `eval` that I'm not
+> familiar with. I can learn and do it, in case no Perl wizard
+> volunteers to provide the po4a patch. [[--intrigeri]]
+
+>> That doesn't really need to be in a BEGIN. This patch moves it to
+>> `import`, and makes this disable wrap18n:
+>> `use Locale::Po4a::Common q{nowrapi18n}` --[[Joey]]
+
+<pre>
+--- /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Common.pm 2008-07-21 14:54:52.000000000 -0400
++++ Common.pm 2008-11-11 18:27:34.000000000 -0500
+@@ -30,8 +30,16 @@
+ use strict;
+ use warnings;
+
+-BEGIN {
+- if (eval { require Text::WrapI18N }) {
++sub import {
++ my $class=shift;
++ my $wrapi18n=1;
++ if ($_[0] eq 'nowrapi18n') {
++ shift;
++ $wrapi18n=0;
++ }
++ $class->export_to_level(1, $class, @_);
++
++ if ($wrapi18n && eval { require Text::WrapI18N }) {
+
+ # Don't bother determining the wrap column if we cannot wrap.
+ my $col=$ENV{COLUMNS};
+</pre>
+
+##### Term::ReadKey
+
+`Term::ReadKey` is not a hard dependency in our case, *i.e.* po4a
+works nicely without it. But the po4a Debian package recommends
+`libterm-readkey-perl`, so it will probably be installed on most
+systems using the po plugin.
+
+If `$ENV{COLUMNS}` is not set, `Locale::Po4a::Common` uses
+`Term::ReadKey::GetTerminalSize()` to get the terminal size. How safe
+is this?
+
+Part of `Term::ReadKey` is written in C. Depending on the runtime
+platform, this function use ioctl, environment, or C library function
+calls, and may end up running the `resize` command (without
+arguments).
+
+IMHO, using Term::ReadKey has too far reaching implications for us to
+be able to guarantee anything wrt. security. Since it is anyway of no
+use in our case, I suggest we define `ENV{COLUMNS}` before loading
+`Locale::Po4a::Common`, just to be on the safe side. Joey?
+[[--intrigeri]]
+
+> Update: adding an option to disable `Text::WrapI18N`, as Nicolas
+> François suggested, would as a bonus disable `Term::ReadKey`
+> as well. [[--intrigeri]]
+
+### msgmerge
+
+`refreshpofiles()` runs this external program. A po4a developer
+answered he does "not expect any security issues from it".
-Misc. improvements
-------------------
+### msgfmt
-### automatic POT/PO update
+`isvalidpo()` runs this external program. Its security should be checked.
-Use the `change` hook instead of `needsbuild`?
+### Fuzzing input
-### page titles
+I was not able to find any public information about gettext or po4a
+having been tested with a fuzzing program, such as `zzuf` or `fusil`.
+Moreover, some gettext parsers seem to be quite
+[easy to crash](http://fusil.hachoir.org/trac/browser/trunk/fuzzers/fusil-gettext),
+so it might be useful to bang msgmerge/po4a's heads against such
+a program in order to easily detect some of the most obvious DoS.
+[[--intrigeri]]
-Use nice page titles from meta plugin in links, as inline already does.
+> po4a was not fuzzy-tested, but according to one of its developers,
+> "it would be really appreciated". [[--intrigeri]]
-### websetup
+Test conditions:
-Which configuration settings are safe enough for websetup?
+- a 21M file containing 100 concatenated copies of all the files in my
+ `/usr/share/common-licenses/`; I had no existing PO file or
+ translated versions at hand, which renders these tests
+ quite incomplete.
+- po4a was the Debian 0.34-2 package; the same tests were also run
+ after replacing the `Text` module with the CVS one (the core was not
+ changed in CVS since 0.34-2 was released), without any significant
+ difference in the results.
+- Perl 5.10.0-16
-### Discussion pages
+#### po4a-gettextize
-Decide something, probably that "slave" pages, being only translations, don't
-deserve a discussion page: the discussion should happen in the language in which
-the pages are written for real, which is the "master" one.
+`po4a-gettextize` uses more or less the same po4a features as our
+`refreshpot` function.
-### parentlinks
+Without specifying an input charset, zzuf'ed `po4a-gettextize` quickly
+errors out, complaining it was not able to detect the input charset;
+it leaves no incomplete file on disk.
-When the wiki home page is translatable, the parentlinks plugin sets
-`./index.html` as its translations' single parent link. Ideally, the home page's
-translations should get no parent link at all, just like the version written in
-the master language.
+So I had to pretend the input was in UTF-8, as does the po plugin.
-### backlinks
+Two ways of crashing were revealed by this command-line:
-If a given translatable `sourcepage.mdwn` links to \[[destpage]],
-`sourcepage.LL.po` also link to \[[destpage]], and the latter has the master
-page *and* all its translations listed in the backlinks.
+ zzuf -vc -s 0:100 -r 0.1:0.5 \
+ po4a-gettextize -f text -o markdown -M utf-8 -L utf-8 \
+ -m LICENSES >/dev/null
-Translation quality assurance
------------------------------
+They are:
+
+ Malformed UTF-8 character (UTF-16 surrogate 0xdcc9) in substitution iterator at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm line 1443.
+ Malformed UTF-8 character (fatal) at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm line 1443.
+
+and
+
+ Malformed UTF-8 character (UTF-16 surrogate 0xdcec) in substitution (s///) at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm line 1443.
+ Malformed UTF-8 character (fatal) at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm line 1443.
+
+Perl seems to exit cleanly, and an incomplete PO file is written on
+disk. I not sure whether if this is a bug in Perl or in `Po.pm`.
+
+> It's fairly standard perl behavior when fed malformed utf-8. As long as it doesn't
+> crash ikiwiki, it's probably acceptable. Ikiwiki can do some similar things itself when fed malformed utf-8 (doesn't crash tho) --[[Joey]]
+
+#### po4a-translate
+
+`po4a-translate` uses more or less the same po4a features as our
+`filter` function.
+
+Without specifying an input charset, same behaviour as
+`po4a-gettextize`, so let's specify UTF-8 as input charset as of now.
+
+ zzuf -cv \
+ po4a-translate -d -f text -o markdown -M utf-8 -L utf-8 \
+ -k 0 -m LICENSES -p LICENSES.fr.po -l test.fr
+
+... prints tons of occurences of the following error, but a complete
+translated document is written (obviously with some weird chars
+inside):
+
+ Use of uninitialized value in string ne at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/TransTractor.pm line 854.
+ Use of uninitialized value in string ne at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/TransTractor.pm line 840.
+ Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//) at /usr/share/perl5/Locale/Po4a/Po.pm line 1002.
+
+While:
+
+ zzuf -cv -s 0:10 -r 0.001:0.3 \
+ po4a-translate -d -f text -o markdown -M utf-8 -L utf-8 \
+ -k 0 -m LICENSES -p LICENSES.fr.po -l test.fr
+
+... seems to lose the fight, at the `readpo(LICENSES.fr.po)` step,
+against some kind of infinite loop, deadlock, or any similar beast.
+It does not seem to eat memory, though.
+
+Whatever format module is used does not change anything. This is thus
+probably a bug in po4a's core or in a lib it depends on.
+
+The sub `read`, in `TransTractor.pm`, seems to be a good debugging
+starting point.
+
+#### msgmerge
+
+`msgmerge` is run in our `refreshpofiles` function. I did not manage
+to crash it with `zzuf`.
+
+gettext/po4a rough corners
+--------------------------
+
+- fix infinite loop when synchronizing two ikiwiki (when checkouts
+ live in different directories): say bla.fr.po has been updated in
+ repo2; pulling repo2 from repo1 seems to trigger a PO update, that
+ changes bla.fr.po in repo1; then pushing repo1 to repo2 triggers
+ a PO update, that changes bla.fr.po in repo2; etc.; quickly fixed in
+ `629968fc89bced6727981c0a1138072631751fee`, by disabling references
+ in Pot files. Using `Locale::Po4a::write_if_needed` might be
+ a cleaner solution. (warning: this function runs the external
+ `diff` program, have to check security)
+- new translations created in the web interface must get proper
+ charset/encoding gettext metadata, else the next automatic PO update
+ removes any non-ascii chars; possible solution: put such metadata
+ into the Pot file, and let it propagate; should be fixed in
+ `773de05a7a1ee68d2bed173367cf5e716884945a`, time will tell.
-Modifying a PO file via the CGI must be forbidden if the new version
-is not a valid PO file. As a bonus, check that it provides a more
-complete translation than the existing one.
+Better links
+------------
-A new `cansave` type of hook would be needed to implement this.
+### Page title in links
-Note: committing to the underlying repository is a way to bypass
-this check.
+Using the fix to
+[[bugs/pagetitle_function_does_not_respect_meta_titles]] from
+[[intrigeri]]'s `meta` branch, the generated links' text is based on
+the page titles set with the [[meta|plugins/meta]] plugin. This has to
+be merged upstream, though.
-Translating online
-------------------
+Robustness tests
+----------------
-As PO is a wiki page type, we already have an online PO editor, that
-is ikiwiki's CGI.
+### Enabling/disabling the plugin
-**FIXME** preview does not work for PO files.
+- enabling the plugin with `po_translatable_pages` set
+- enabling the plugin without `po_translatable_pages` set: **OK**
+- disabling the plugin: **OK**
-A message-by-message interface could also be implemented at some
-point; a nice way to do offline translation work (without VCS access)
-still has to be offered, though.
+### Changing the plugin config
-Translating offline without VCS access
---------------------------------------
+- adding existing pages to `po_translatable_pages`: **OK**
+- removing existing pages from `po_translatable_pages`: **OK**
+- adding a language to `po_slave_languages`: **OK**
+- removing a language from `po_slave_languages`: **OK**
+- changing `po_master_language`: **OK**
+- replacing `po_master_language` with a language previously part of
+ `po_slave_languages`: needs two rebuilds, but **OK** (this is quite
+ a perverse test actually)
-The following workflow should be made possible for translators without
-VCS access who need to edit the PO files in another editor than a web
-browser:
+### Creating/deleting/renaming pages
-- download the page's PO file
-- use any PO editor to update the translation
-- upload the updated PO file
+All cases of master/slave page creation/deletion/rename, both via RCS
+and via CGI, have been tested.
-Implementation note: a generic mechanism to upload a page's source is
-needed: it's only an alternative way to allow saving a the modified
-page's source with the CGI.
+### Misc
-### Short-term workflow
+- general test with `usedirs` disabled: **OK**
+- general test with `indexpages` enabled
+- general test with `po_link_to=default`
-A possible workaround is:
+Documentation
+-------------
-- pretend to edit the PO file online
-- copy the PO file content from the textarea
-- cancel the edit
-- paste the content into a local file.
-- edit the local file in any PO editor
-- pretend to edit the PO file online
-- paste the modified local file's content into the edit textarea
-- save
+Maybe write separate documentation depending on the people it targets:
+translators, wiki administrators, hackers. This plugin may be complex
+enough to deserve this.