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How do I use the GNU gettext tools to translate strings, like for Gaim?

Here's how it goes:

  1. You begin with a string file template. For gaim, this is gaim.pot.
  2. If this is from scratch, you make a copy of the file, and translate all the strings. Say you're doing Hebrew, then common practice is to save the string file to he.po.
  3. To convert the he.po into a linkable file (for Gaim this is gaim.mo) use the following command:
    msgfmt -cvo gaim.mo he.po
    
  4. After a program update, many of the strings may change. To update the strings in an old he.po using the updated gaim.pot template file, use the command:
    msgmerge -o he.po.new he.po gaim.pot
    
Last updated on 2005-10-15 15:00:00 -0700, by Shalom Craimer

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