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7. Translation Lifecycle

To keep the consistency of all documents among Fedora repository and translators, a translation lifecycle is being established. The life cycle involves 5 phases as shown in Table 1.

PhaseActionSoftwareWhereLogin Requires
Section 7.1, “ Phase 1 ”Take the file you want to translate (if no other translators took it)Any Web broswer with cookies enabledFedora Translation Status PageLogin name and PIN code
Section 7.2, “ Phase 2 ”Download the latest file from Fedora repositoryTortoiseCVS or other CVS clientIn TortoiseCVS, right click the translate folder, choose CVS updatePassphrase of your private key
Section 7.3, “ Phase 3 ”Edit the file you had taken. Save before you finishpoEdit or other editorsFor poEdit, click start => All Programs => poEdit => poEdit, then open the file you want to edit in the translate folder. Or double-click the file directly in Windows ExplorerN/A
Section 7.4, “ Phase 4 ”Upload your file back to Fedora repositoryTortoiseCVS or other CVS clientIn TortoiseCVS, right click translate folder, choose CVS update; Right click translate folder, choose CVS commmit if there are no conflicts between files on your machine and the server.Passphrase of your private key
Section 7.5, “ Phase 5 ”Release the file you have taken if you don't wish to translate any moreAny Web broswer with cookies enabledFedora Translation Status PageLogin name and PIN code

Table 1. Fedora PO file translation life cycle

7.1.  Phase 1

Open your browser and go to:

http://i18n.redhat.com/cgi-bin/i18n-status

After select your language, you'll see a web page similar to Figure 32. In this example, po file in package dist has 839 entries untranslated and not taken by any translator. To claim this file, press the Take link at the right hand side.


			To take a file for translation.

Figure 32. Take a File for Translation

If the file is not available for translation because someone else is working on it, you will see the status as Assigned, as shown in Figure 33.


			File has been taken.

Figure 33. File Has Been Taken

After click the Take link, you'll be prompted for username and password (Figure 34). Please enter your Login name and PIN code as described in Figure 12.


			Username and password prompt.

Figure 34. Username and Password Prompt

The system will assign the file to you after you successfully login (Figure 35), or display the error page upon unsuccessful login (Figure 36). Please email i18n@redhat.com to request your PIN code to be reissued if you have lost it.


			File is assigned to you.

Figure 35. File is Assigned to You


			Authentication failed.

Figure 36. Authentication Failed

7.2.  Phase 2

To download the latest files from server, please right-click on the translate folder in Windows Explorer and select CVS Update You'll be prompted to enter the passphrase of your private key before TortoiseCVS can continue. Figure 37 illustrates.


			Get update files from cvs repository.

Figure 37. Get Update Files from CVS

You'll see a screen similar to Figure 38 after the update successfully finished. The letter "P" in front of any file stands for "patched", which means minor changes from the server had been patched to your files; while "U" stands for "updated" that your file is overwritten by the latest version due to major changes. Don't be panic if you see "P" and "U" since we work in the community environment the files are bound to change from now and then. As long as you have committed your change, your version is never lost - that's the beauty of cvs.


			Update successful.

Figure 38. Update Successful

7.3.  Phase 3

Open the file you had taken and downloaded from the server. You can either double click on the .po file or open the .po file within poEdit application. Don't forget to save your changes before you finish everything.

7.4.  Phase 4

To upload the file you've taken and subsequently translated back to cvs server is similar to download operation. Right-click on translate folder in Windows Explorer and select CVS Update. You'll be prompted to enter the passphrase of your private key before TortoiseCVS can continue. After you correctly input your passphrase, you may see a screen similar to Figure 39.


			Update before commit.

Figure 39. Update Before Commit

"M" stands for "modified". It indicates that this file had been modified on YOUR local machine and needed to be uploaded to server.

If you see a capital "C" instead of "M", then it's time to panic. :P (See Figure 40.) "C" stands for "conflict", which means while you were modifying your local file this file on the server has been changed at the same time. This may be caused by the package maintainer who merged your file with .pot file, or you forget to Take the file before starting working on it and someone else had taken and committed the translation before you. The file conflicts have to be resolved manually and may cause lost translation and wasted effort. Please seek assistance through your community and relavant mailing lists.


			File conflict

Figure 40. File Conflict

If everything is fine, you can upload the file you had modified. Choose CVS Commit after you right-click on the translate folder, as shown in Figure 41.

[Note] Note

cvs update will notify you the file modification on your local computer. It will NOT, however, upload the file back to server until you choose to cvs commit.


			Commit files to server.

Figure 41. Commit Files to Server

You'll see a list of modified files, as shown in Figure 42. Check the file(s) you will upload to the server. It is also recommended to key in some comments, so other translators can easily track what has been changed in any file. Press OK to upload the file.


			Commit files to server.

Figure 42. Commit Files to Server

Again, you'll be prompted the passphrase of your private key. After files are successfully uploaded to server, you will see a screen similar to Figure 43.


			Commit files to server successfully.

Figure 43. Commit Files to Server Successfully

7.5.  Phase 5

The phase is an optional one, only occurs when you decide to stop working on a file before it's fully translated. For example, you may go on a holiday and don't want to keep working on a file but would like others to be able to resume the work. To do so, you need to go to the Fedora status page, find the package you had taken, and click the package name to view the detail. On the bottom of that page, you would see the Release link, as shown in Figure 44.


			Release file screen.

Figure 44. Release File Screen

This is the end of the life cycle of Fedora software translation. We do hope you enjoy being with part of the open source community and continue lending your support.

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