To the program
You would want to contribute to PikLoops? Not a problem, every help is welcome!
A good idea would be you subscribe to the development mailing list.
To subscribe to the development mailing list, go to the https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/pikloops-devel page and fill the relevant fields.
When you'll get the confirmation of your subscription, you could post mails on the pikloops-devel AT lists DOT sourceforge DOT net list.
You can of course contact me at dionysos AT users DOT sourceforge DOT net.
If you want to know where is currently the development, just get the svn repository:
svn co https://pikloops.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pikloops/prog pikloops/prog/trunk
This will create the 'pikloops/prog/trunk' directory in the current directory.
To be able to compile the program, you have to build the './configure' script with the following command:
make -f Makefile.dist
Developers who have a SourceForget.net username and a write access on the PikLoops SVN have to use the following command to be able to commit their future changes:
svn co svn+ssh://username@pikloops.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pikloops/prog/trunk pikloops/prog/trunk
You can also browse through the repository.
Translation
The more important help I need is translation. If you like to translate PikLoops in your mother language, feel free to contact me to reserve it.
There isn't a lot of strings in the PikLoops GUI.
You can also, if you want, translate the documentation which is in the KDE docbook format.
For both, you have to get the PikLoops svn repository.
And if you think that my english isn't very good (you're probably right ;-)), feel free to send me some fixes!
Web site can be translated also. I wrote it to easier translator work! Web site strings are avaliable in po file like the PikLoops GUI.
There is also a svn repository for the web site:
svn co https://pikloops.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pikloops/web/trunk pikloops/web/trunk
This will create the 'pikloops/web' directory in the current directory.
If you intend to become a PikLoops translator, your are greatly encouraged to subscribe to the translation mailing list.
The traps in the translation
There are several possible traps in the program translation.
Trap 1: the translation credit
Somewhere in the po file, you'll find the following string related to translation credit:
#: _translatorinfo.cpp:1
msgid ""
"_: NAME OF TRANSLATORS\n"
"Your names"
msgstr ""
As explain in the KDE translation HOWTO, strings that begin with "_:" are context information strings and don't have to be translated.
So, in the corresponding 'msgstr', just put your name. This is the same thing for the 'msgid' that hold the translator email.
If there is more than one translator for the same po file, make up a comma separated list without space (translator1,translator2,translator3). Same goes for the mail addresses. If you do not know an address, leave the field empty (address1,,address3). It then would look as follows:
#: _translatorinfo.cpp:1
msgid ""
"_: NAME OF TRANSLATORS\n"
"Your names"
msgstr "Translator One,Translator Two,Translator Three"
#: _translatorinfo.cpp:3
msgid ""
"_: EMAIL OF TRANSLATORS\n"
"Your emails"
msgstr "translator.one@some.domain,,translator.three@another.domain"
Trap 2: the date format
Somewhere else in the po file, you'll find the following string which is a date format string:
#: mainwidgetpl.cpp:108
msgid "ddd yyyy-MMM-dd hh:mm:ss"
In this string, the letters don't have to be translated as its induce the date formatting. But you are allowed to change the format if your know what you do. 'dd' will be replaced by the day number in the month, 'dddd' will be replaced by the day full name (e.g. 'Saturday') and 'ddd' will be replaced by the day short name (e.g. 'Sat'). Same goes for month.
As an example, here is my choice for the french translation:
#: mainwidgetpl.cpp:108
msgid "ddd yyyy-MMM-dd hh:mm:ss"
msgstr "dddd dd MMMM yyyy hh:mm:ss"