Hello Linus, On 08.10.2015 16:29, Linus Hughes wrote:
> I am working on developing some custom language packs for the Linux
> community.
The "language packs" are Ubuntu specific, for the most part. Support for
a language consists of
1. handling in the "locales" package
This is what makes a language known to the system, and selectable. Here,
basics like time and date formats, sort order and a few very common
translations ("Yes", "No", "Okay", "Cancel") are defined.
2. a font that can handle the characters required for the language
3. an input method that allows typing the characters
4. translations for individual texts in packages
For each of these steps, there are some tutorials available, but you are
looking at a lot of work here.
> I am wanting to provide some basic instructions on the process of
> creating a Tolkein Elvish language pack, using the Elven font &
> implementing a rudimentary dictionary for the system so that various
> translations can be automated, & anything else that might be requested.
I'm not sure there are Unicode code points assigned for this language,
which would present an additional hurdle, as the language may be used in
a mixed environment -- for example, if I call "df" once with Japanese
and once with Elvish locale set, I expect the output from both to be
displayed properly, so these should not conflict in their use of
character code points.
Translations are never automatic, instead there is a list of translated
strings for each package, often with additional rules like "this
translation is appropriate if the first number inserted is either 1 or 21."
> 1) Is there anybody else in the mailing list or a notorious community
> member/leader whom works a lot with the language packs or has a specific
> interest in the topic & some know-how whom would want to be involved or
> has requests/concers?
There are usually language teams working on supporting a particular
language. Coordination between teams is not usually required, so there
are no structures for that.
Simon
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