Calendar:Localization

Localization, or l10n for short, is the process of translating and otherwise adapting a piece of software for a specific language and culture. Localization should not be confused with internationalization (i18n), which refers to the infrastructure to support different culture interaction between a user and the software.

For example: In English, words are written from left to right. In Arabic, the reverse is true. Words are written from right to left. Therefore, not only must someone localize a piece of software by translating all the menus and dialogs displayed to the user, but someone must internationalize the software by enabling it to display text in either a left to right, or right to left fashion (often referred to as bi-directional, or bi-di support), depending on the language.

Status of l10n

Thanks to the work of Mozilla contributors and the Mozilla Localization Project, there is a centralized location and format for storing locales: the /l10n repository. Firefox and Thunderbird are already using /l10n.

As of 2006-06-07, so is Sunbird.

Once some other work has been completed, we will to move Lightning to /l10n. This is planned to be complete before 0.3 ships.

How to build a non-English Sunbird

With locales moved to /l10n, building Sunbird in a locale other than English is easy. First, visit the list of available locales to find the locale code you wish to build with. Note that due to the standarization put in place by /l10n, some locales may have been shortened from their "ab-CD" format to simply be "ab". Be sure to check the list to see if this applies to you.

Next, add the following lines to your .mozconfig, substituting your preferred locale code for the "ab-CD" in the example:

ac_add_options --enable-ui-locale=ab-CD
mk_add_options MOZ_CO_LOCALES=ab-CD

Now build as normal. That's it!

How to build a language pack

Language packs, or langpacks for short, allow users to install additional locales into the application without having to download and keep a second full copy of the app. Support for building langpacks is in place, but has a couple bugs that must be ironed out before it can be used for Sunbird.

Information for localizers/translators

Please make yourself familiar with the MLP's wiki, which lists the teams currently localizing Firefox and Thunderbird. Most documentation regarding how to contribute a localization or update an already existing one now applies to Sunbird as well.

In addition, some now outdated information on how to translate older Sunbird releases can be found at Calendar:Translation. While much has changed since that document was written, certain core concepts such as using UTF-8, and how to use Mozilla Translator have not.