website: Add post on translating the website.
* website/posts/adding-translations-to-guix-website.md: New file.
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Florian Pelz
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title: Adding translations to Guix’ website
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date: 2021-01-20 12:00
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author: Florian Pelz
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tags: Community
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---
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As part of [GNU](https://www.gnu.org), Guix aims to bring freedom to
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computer users all over the world, no matter the languages they
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(prefer to) speak. For example, Guix users asking for
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[help](https://guix.gnu.org/help) can expect an answer even if they do
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so in languages other than English.
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We also offer translated software for people more comfortable with a
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language other than English. Thanks to many people who contribute
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translations, GNU Guix and the packages it distributes can be used in
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various languages, which we value greatly. We are happy to announce
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that Guix’ website can now be translated in the same manner. If you
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want to get a glimpse on how the translation process works, first from
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a translator’s, then from a programmer’s perspective, read on.
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The process for translators is kept simple. Like lots of other free
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software packages, Guix uses
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[GNU Gettext](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext) for its
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translations, with which translatable strings are extracted from the
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source code to so-called PO files. If this is new to you, the magic
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behind the translation process is best understood by taking a look at
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one of them.
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[Download](https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/user/files.html) a PO
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file for your language [at the Fedora Weblate
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instance](https://translate.fedoraproject.org/projects/guix/).
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Even though PO files are text files, changes should not be made with a
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text editor but with PO editing software. Weblate integrates PO
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editing functionality. Alternatively, translators can use any of
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various free-software tools for filling in translations, of which
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[Poedit](https://poedit.net) is one example, and (after logging in)
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[upload](https://docs.weblate.org/en/latest/user/files.html) the
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changed file. There also is a [special PO editing
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mode](https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PoMode) for users of
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[GNU Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs). Over time
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translators find out what software they are happy with and what
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features they need.
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Help with translations is much appreciated. Since Guix integrates
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with the wider free software ecosystem, if you intend to become a
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translator, it is worth taking a look at the styleguides and the work
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of other translators. You will find some [at your language’s team at
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the Translation Project (TP)](https://translationproject.org/team).
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So much for the translation of ordinary source code. With
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[Po4a](https://po4a.org), we can also use Gettext’s tooling to
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translate Guix’ [manual](https://guix.gnu.org/manual/) and
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[cookbook](https://guix.gnu.org/cookbook/). But all this was not true
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of its web presence. That’s why after a [lengthy
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process,](https://issues.guix.info/issue/26302) the website of
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GNU Guix has undergone an update. It now supports translation into
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other languages. Such support is known as internationalization
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(“i18n”).
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Guix’ website is written in a variant of HTML (in which web pages are
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usually written) that integrates better with the [Scheme programming
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language](https://schemers.org). Instead of XML tags, we use
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[SXML](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/html_node/SXML.html).
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This allows web authors to mix code and text. It looks like this:
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```scheme
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`(section
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(h2 "On packaging")
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(p
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"Packages are "
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(a (@ (href ,(manual-url "Defining-Packages.html"))) "defined")
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" as native "
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(a (@ (href ,(gnu-url "software/guile"))) "Guile")
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" modules."))
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```
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However, this mixing makes it more difficult to extract the strings to
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be translated. We therefore cannot take the same approach as
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[gnu.org](https://www.gnu.org), which uses a software package called
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[GNUnited Nations](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnun) to extract from
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pure HTML mark-up. Translators are not always coders and we would
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prefer to show them only the textual part, like this:
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```
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msgid "Packages are <1>defined</1> as native <2>Guile</2> modules."
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```
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Our new, custom i18n system does this. The website authors need to
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mark translatable expressions in the same way ordinary strings are
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[usually marked in Guile Scheme
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programs:](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/html_node/Gettext-Support.html#Gettext-Support)
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```scheme
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`(section
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,(G_ `(h2 "On packaging"))
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;; TRANSLATORS: Defining Packages is a section name
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;; in the English (en) manual.
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,(G_ `(p
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"Packages are "
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,(G_ (manual-href "defined" (G_ "en") (G_ "Defining-Packages.html")))
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" as native "
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,(G_ `(a (@ (href ,(gnu-url "software/guile"))) "Guile"))
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" modules.")))
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```
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Translators can arbitrarily change the ordering:
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```
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#. TRANSLATORS: Defining Packages is a section name
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#. in the English (en) manual.
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#: apps/base/templates/about.scm:64
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msgid "Packages are <1>defined<1.1>en</1.1><1.2>Defining-Packages.html</1.2></1> as native <2>Guile</2> modules."
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msgstr "Pakete werden als reine <2>Guile</2>-Module <1>definiert<1.1>de</1.1><1.2>Pakete-definieren.html</1.2></1>."
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```
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Details are [documented
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here](https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix/guix-artwork.git/tree/website/i18n-howto.txt).
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We hope it strikes the right balance between simplicity for the
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website’s developers and translator comfort. Still missing is a way
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to translate blog posts like the one you are reading here.
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With ideas for and by a more diverse community, we can look forward to
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a bright multi-lingual future. Please get in touch with [your
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language’s team](https://translationproject.org/team) or [us Guix
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developers](https://guix.gnu.org/contact) if you want to help make
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Guix’ website available in your language as well!
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#### About GNU Guix
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[GNU Guix](https://guix.gnu.org) is a transactional package manager and
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an advanced distribution of the GNU system that [respects user
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freedom](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html).
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Guix can be used on top of any system running the Hurd or the Linux
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kernel, or it can be used as a standalone operating system distribution
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for i686, x86_64, ARMv7, and AArch64 machines.
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In addition to standard package management features, Guix supports
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transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management,
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per-user profiles, and garbage collection. When used as a standalone
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GNU/Linux distribution, Guix offers a declarative, stateless approach to
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operating system configuration management. Guix is highly customizable
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and hackable through [Guile](https://www.gnu.org/software/guile)
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programming interfaces and extensions to the
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[Scheme](https://schemers.org) language.
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