[[!tag type/format]]
This plugin adds support for multi-lingual wikis, translated with
-gettext, using [po4a|http://po4a.alioth.debian.org/].
+gettext, using [po4a](http://po4a.alioth.debian.org/).
It depends on the Perl `Locale::Po4a::Po` library (`apt-get install po4a`).
Introduction
============
-A language is decided to be the "master" one, and any other supported
-language is a "slave" one. A page written in the "master" language is
-a "master" page, and is written in any supported format but PO.
+A language is chosen as the "master" one, and any other supported
+language is a "slave" one.
+
+A page written in the "master" language is a "master" page, and is
+written in any supported format but PO. It does not have to be named
+a special way: migration from/to this plugin does not imply heavy
+renaming work.
Example: `bla/page.mdwn` is a "master" Markdown page written in
English; if `usedirs` is enabled, it is rendered as
-`bla/page/index.html`, else as `bla/page.html`.
+`bla/page/index.en.html`, else as `bla/page.en.html`.
-Translations of a "master" page into a "slave" language are called
-"slave" pages, and is a in gettext PO format. PO is thus promoted to
-the wiki page type status.
+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 page type supported by ikiwiki.
Example: `bla/page.fr.po` is the PO "message catalog" used to
translate `bla/page.mdwn` into French; if `usedirs` is enabled, it is
-rendered as `bla/page/index.html.fr`, else as `bla/page.html.fr`
+rendered as `bla/page/index.fr.html`, else as `bla/page.fr.html`
Configuration
po_slave_languages => { 'fr' => { 'name' => 'Français', },
'es' => { 'name' => 'Castellano', },
- 'de' => { 'name' => 'Deutsch', },
- },
+ 'de' => { 'name' => 'Deutsch', }
+ }
+
+Decide which pages are translatable
+-----------------------------------
+
+The `po_translatable_pages` setting configures what pages are
+translatable. It is a [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]], so you have lots of
+control over what kind of pages are translatable.
+
+The `*.LL.po` translations files are anyway not considered as being
+translatable, so you don't need to worry about excluding them manually
+from this [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]].
+
+Internal links
+--------------
+
+One can use the `po_link_to_` option in `ikiwiki.setup` to choose how
+internal links should be generated, depending on web server features
+and site-specific preferences.
+
+### Default linking behavior
+
+If `po_link_to` is unset, or set to `default`, ikiwiki's default
+linking behavior is preserved: `[[page]]` links to the master
+language's page.
+
+### Link to negotiated language
+
+If `po_link_to` is set to `negotiated`, `[[page]]` links to the
+negotiated preferred language, *i.e.* `foo/page/`.
+
+(In)compatibility notes:
+
+- `po_link_to => negotiated` provides no useful behavior if `usedirs`
+ is disabled; this option combination is neither implemented nor
+ allowed
+- `po_link_to => negotiated` provides no useful behavior if the web
+ server does not support Content Negotiation
+
+### Link to current language
+
+If `po_link_to` is set to `current` and the destination page is either
+a translatable page or a translation, `[[page]]` links to the current
+page's language, *i.e.*:
+
+- `foo/page/index.LL.html` if `usedirs` is enabled
+- `foo/page.LL.html` if `usedirs` is disabled
Server support
When `usedirs` is enabled, one has to set `DirectoryIndex index` for
the wiki context.
-Setting `DefaultLanguage LL` for the wiki context can be needed, to
-ensure `bla/page/index.html` is served as `Content-Language: LL`
-(replace `LL` with your default MIME language).
+Setting `DefaultLanguage LL` (replace `LL` with your default MIME
+language) for the wiki context can be needed, to ensure
+`bla/page/index.en.html` is served as `Content-Language: LL`.
+**FIXME**: is it still needed with the new `.en.html` naming convention?
lighttpd
--------
lighttpd unfortunately does not support content negotiation.
+**FIXME**: does `mod_magnet` provide the functionality needed to
+ emulate this?
+
TODO
====
+Optimization
+------------
+
+Pre-compute what can be early in the build process:
+
+- the list of translatable (master) pages
+- for every translatable page, the list of slave pages
+
+... and/or memoize `istranslation`/`istranslatable` function calls.
+
Display available translations
------------------------------
View translation status
-----------------------
-One should be able to view some freshness information about the
-translation status, either for a given page or for the whole wiki.
+One should be able to view some information about the translation
+completeness, either for a given page or for the whole wiki.
This should not be too hard using gettext tools. If this is
implemented as a
loop, a page using it should depend on any "master" and "slave" pages
whose status is being displayed.
-Decide which pages are translatable
------------------------------------
-
-The subset of ("master") pages supporting translation must be
-configurable:
-
-- a `[[!translatable ]]` directive, when put on a page, makes it
- translatable
-- this [[ikiwiki/directive]] can be used with an optional `match=PageSpec`
- argument, to render translatable a bunch of pages at once
-
Automatic PO files update
-------------------------
Committing changes to a "master" page must:
-1. update the POT file, the PO files for the supported languages, and
- put them under version control
+1. update the POT file and the PO files for the supported languages,
+ before putting them under version control
2. trigger a refresh of the corresponding HTML slave pages
-The former can be implemented as a `needsbuild` hook, which is the
-first type of hook to run after the list of files that need to be
-built is known: that is, at a time when we know which "master" page
-was modified, and thus, which POT/PO files have to be updated.
+The former is to be done at a time when:
+
+- we know which "master" page was modified, and thus, which POT/PO
+ files have to be updated: the `needsbuild` hook is the first one to
+ run that provides us with the necessary information
+- we can modify the list of pages needing a refresh; this is
+ `needsbuild` hook's job
The latter can be implemented by making any "slave" page depend on the
-corresponding "master" page. The `add_depends` function can achieved
-this, if used in a FIXME hook.
+corresponding "master" page. The `add_depends` function can achieve
+this, if used in a **FIXME** hook.
UI consistency: rename "Edit" button on slave pages
---------------------------------------------------
It may be surprising to some, after having pressed *Edit* on a wiki
-page, to end up editing a strange PO file. The *Edit* button must then
-be be renamed to *Improve translation* on "slave" pages.
+page, to end up editing a strange looking PO file. The *Edit* button
+displayed on "slave" pages must therefore be renamed *Improve
+translation* .
+
+Pages selection depending on language
+-------------------------------------
+
+To improve user navigation in a multi-lingual wiki, site developers
+must be enabled to write:
+
+ \[[!map pages="dev/* and lang(LL)" feeds="no"]]
+
+ \[[!map pages="dev/* and currentlang()" feeds="no"]]
Translation quality assurance
-----------------------------
As PO is a wiki page type, we already have an online PO editor, that
is ikiwiki's CGI.
-A message-by-message interface could be implemented later, providing
-a nice way to translate offline (without VCS access) is provided.
+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.
Translating offline without VCS access
--------------------------------------
VCS access who need to edit the PO files in another editor than a web
browser:
-- download the PO file for the page
+- download the page's PO file
- use any PO editor to update the translation
- upload the updated PO file
-A generic mechanism to download and upload a page's source is needed.
-It's only an alternative way to do Edit/edit/Save.
+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.
### Short-term workflow
+A possible workaround is:
+
- 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