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nvrl d9064ef880 feat(core,gui): gettext translations and language preference

The app, the tray and the search prompt route every user-visible string
through GNU gettext in the `pdfs` text domain, with named placeholders and
plural forms. po/ holds the template, update and build scripts, and catalogs
for de, en_GB, es, fr, it, nl, pl and pt_BR. Preferences gains a Language row
that overrides the system language from the next start (config `language`).

Packages compile the catalogs into /usr/share/locale and the desktop files
carry translated descriptions and keywords. docs/TRANSLATING.md describes
the workflow.

2026-09-23 08:07:50 +02:00

4.3 KiB

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Translating Proton Drive for Linux

The desktop app (pdfs-app), the tray (pdfs-tray) and the search prompt (pdfs-prompt) are translated with GNU gettext in the pdfs text domain. The pdfs command-line tool and the daemon's own messages stay in English, because scripts parse their output.

US English is the source language. The shipped catalogs are listed in po/LINGUAS: German, British English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese.

Picking a language

The apps follow the system locale (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG). Preferences → General → Appearance → Language overrides that for the app, the tray and the prompt. The choice is stored as language in config.json and takes effect the next time they start.

Layout

Path	Purpose
`crates/pdfs-gui/src/i18n.rs`	Locale setup and the `gettext`, `gettext_f`, `ngettext_f`, `pgettext` and `gettext_noop` helpers
`po/POTFILES.in`	Sources that `xgettext` scans
`po/pdfs.pot`	The template, generated from the sources
`po/<lang>.po`	One catalog per language
`po/update.sh`	Regenerates the template and merges it into every catalog
`po/build.sh <localedir>`	Compiles the catalogs to `<localedir>/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/pdfs.mo`

Updating an existing translation

Run po/update.sh. It regenerates po/pdfs.pot and merges new and changed strings into each catalog, marking changed ones fuzzy.
Edit po/<lang>.po with a PO editor (Poedit, Lokalize, GNOME Translation Editor) or a text editor. Translate the empty entries and review every fuzzy one, then remove its fuzzy flag.
Check the catalog with msgfmt --check --statistics -o /dev/null po/<lang>.po.

Try it from the source tree:

po/build.sh target/locale
PDFS_LOCALEDIR=target/locale LANGUAGE=<lang> cargo run -p pdfs-gui --bin pdfs-app

Adding a language

Add the code (for example sv or pt_PT) to po/LINGUAS, keeping the list sorted.
Run po/update.sh. It creates po/<lang>.po from the template with msginit.
Fill in the Plural-Forms header if msginit did not, and translate the catalog.
Add the code and the language's own name to LANGUAGES in crates/pdfs-gui/src/i18n.rs, so the Preferences picker offers it.
Add GenericName[<lang>], Comment[<lang>] and Keywords[<lang>] lines to the two desktop files in packaging/.

cargo test -p pdfs-gui checks that every language in the picker has a catalog, that po/POTFILES.in lists every source file that calls gettext, and that every catalog passes msgfmt --check.

Rules for translators

Keep every {placeholder} from the English text. You may move it, but not rename or drop it. msgfmt --check rejects a catalog where they differ. Plural forms keep {n} in every form.
Read the #. translator comments above an entry. They explain placeholders and date formats.
Date entries such as %b %e are strftime formats for GLib's DateTime::format. Translate them into the order and separators your language uses, not into literal dates.
A msgctxt such as verb or column tells you which meaning of a short word is meant.
Keep product names as they are: Proton Drive, Proton, Google Takeout.
Use the same term for the same thing across the catalog, and follow the terminology of your desktop (GNOME or KDE) for common actions such as Trash, Preferences and Cancel.

Rules for developers

Wrap every user-visible GUI string: gettext("Move to Trash").
Never build a sentence from translated pieces or with format!. Use named placeholders: gettext_f("Moved {name} to Trash", &[("name", &name)]).
Counts use ngettext_f("{n} item", "{n} items", count, &[]); {n} is filled in for you.
Give short, ambiguous words a context: pgettext("verb", "Open").
Mark labels in const tables with gettext_noop and translate them where they are shown.
The message id must be a single string literal on one line, since xgettext reads literals only.
Add a // Translators: comment on the line above a call whose meaning is not obvious.
Do not translate log messages, CLI output, action or icon names, or values the daemon sends back.
Run po/update.sh after changing strings and commit the updated template and catalogs.

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