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README.md

Translations instructions

If you are interested in translating WinMerge to your own language, we'd be happy to include your language as well.

We have a list with the status of current translations, so you can check if your language is already available and/or it needs to be updated.

Translating WinMerge

We use gettext PO files for the translation of the WinMerge program.

PO files are plain text, so you can even translate using a normal text editor. But we recommend that you use poEdit or other tools that can handle and manipulate PO files.

NOTE: We are not using gettext itself as a translation system, we only use PO- and POT-files as files to have translations. Our translation system is custom-made for WinMerge.

The PO template English.pot and the language translation files are located under the Translations\WinMerge\ folder in the source code.

Add new language to WinMerge

  1. Copy and rename English.pot to YourLanguage.po, where YourLanguage is the english name of your language.

  2. Now translate what you can using poEdit. If you are not sure with one or the other translation, mark it as fuzzy. You can enter a comment in poEdit to give some information about your thoughts to other translators.

  3. Compile WinMerge to test your changes.

Update existing language

  1. Get the English.pot template and the YourLanguage.po file you want to improve.
  2. Start poEdit with YourLanguage.po and select Update from .pot file from the Catalog menu.
  3. Select English.pot and wait until poEdit has finished merging the template and the current translation.
  4. The untranslated strings (and fuzzy translations) are always at the top of the list.
  5. Compile WinMerge to test your changes.

Translating ShellExtension

ShellExtension (Explorer integration component) can be translated by translating PO file in the Translations\ShellExtension\-folder in the WinMerge source tree.

After updating one or more PO files the updated RC files are generated by the script CreateTranslatedRcFiles.vbs.

Add new ShellExtension translation

  1. Copy and rename English.pot to YourLanguage.po, where YourLanguage is the english name of your language.

  2. Now translate what you can using poEdit. If you are not sure with one or the other translation, mark it as fuzzy. You can enter a comment in poEdit to give some information about your thoughts to other translators.

  3. Add a resource definition to file ShellExtension\ShellExtension.rc:

"#if !defined(AFX_RESOURCE_DLL) || defined(AFX_TARG_XXX)\r\n"
"#ifdef _WIN32\r\n"
"LANGUAGE LANG_XXX, SUBLANG_DEFAULT\r\n"
"#pragma code_page(65001)\r\n"
"#include ""Languages\\ShellExtensionYourLanguage.rc""\r\n"
"#endif //_WIN32\r\n"
"#endif\r\n"
"\r\n"

Update existing ShellExtension translation

  1. Get the English.pot template and the YourLanguage.po file you want to improve.
  2. Start poEdit with YourLanguage.po and select Update from .pot file from the Catalog menu.
  3. Select English.pot and wait until poEdit has finished merging the template and the current translation.
  4. The untranslated strings (and fuzzy translations) are always at the top of the list.

Translating Installer

Installer translation files are in Translations\InnoSetup\ folder. Look for a file named by your language.

If one does not yet exist, copy and rename English.isl to YourLanguage.isl, where YourLanguage is the english name of your language.

Translate the text after the = character:

OptionalFeatures=Optional Features:
CompanyName=Thingamahoochie Software
…

Translating ReadMe.txt

Please consider translating also ReadMe.txt file - it is shown in end of installer and is added to Start-menu. Translated versions of ReadMe.txt are in Translations\Docs\Readme\ folder. And master ReadMe.txt is in Docs\Users\ReadMe.txt.

Translating Website

We use PO files for the website too. But the source files are in its own GitHub project.