add a po/HACKING file explaining how to add translations

1 files changed, 44 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/po/HACKING b/po/HACKING
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a29adc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/po/HACKING
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+Translations for programs are provided in files with the `.po` suffix.
+These are created by copying PO-template (`.pot`) files, and filling
+in the missing "msgstr" values.
+
+To add a translation, you'll first (1) need to create the `.pot`
+files, and then (2) copy them and (3) fill them in.
+
+# 1. Create `.pot` files
+
+  libretools' .pot files are not tracked in git; they are created by
+  running `make` (you'll need a checkout of both devtools-par and
+  libretools to run `make` if building from git):
+
+      $ git clone https://git.parabola.nu/packages/devtools-par.git/
+      $ git clone https://git.parabola.nu/packages/libretools.git/
+      $ cd libretools
+      $ make
+      ...
+      $ cd po/
+      $ ls
+      HACKING
+      gitget.pot
+      librelib.pot
+      libretools.pot
+      xbs.pot
+      ...
+
+# 2. Create `.po` files from them
+
+  Create a folder under `po/` with the two-letter language code[^1]
+  you want to add.  Then, copy the `.pot` files to that folder,
+  changing the file extension to `.po`; for example:
+
+      $ mkdir es
+      $ for file in *.pot; do cp $file es/${file%t}; done
+
+  [^1]: See the langauge code table
+        here: <http://www.lingoes.net/en/translator/langcode.htm>
+
+# 3. Fill the `.po` files in with translations
+
+  From there you can open each .po file in your favorite text editor,
+  and fill in the `msgstr` values with translations of the associated
+  `msgid` keys.