Coordinating¶

Starting a new translation¶

First subscribe to the translation mailing list, and introduce yourself and the translation you’re starting. Translations fall under the aegis of the PSF Translation Workgroup

Then you can bootstrap your new translation by using cookiecutter or bootstrapper. You can also start your translation using Transifex following this guide.

The important steps look like this:

Create the GitHub repo (any account) with the correct hierarchy by using one of the bootstrappers or Transifex.
Gather people to help you translate. You can’t do it alone.
You can use any tool to translate, as long as you can synchronize with Git. Some use Transifex, and some use only GitHub. You can choose another way if you like; it’s up to you.
Update this page to reflect your work and progress, either via a PR or by asking on the translation mailing list.
When bugs, tutorial, and library/functions are 100% completed, ask on the translation mailing list for your language to be added in the language switcher on docs.python.org.

PEP 545 summary¶

Here are the essential points of PEP 545:

Each translation is assigned an appropriate lowercased language tag, with an optional region subtag, and joined with a dash, like pt-br or fr.
Each translation is under CC0 and marked as such in the README (as in the cookiecutter).
Translation files are hosted on https://github.com/python/python-docs-{LANGUAGE_TAG} (not mandatory to start a translation, but mandatory to land on docs.python.org).
Translations having completed tutorial/, library/stdtypes and library/functions are hosted on https://docs.python.org/{LANGUAGE_TAG}/{VERSION_TAG}/.

Coordinating FAQ¶

Are there tools to help in managing the repo?¶

Here’s what we’re using:

poutils which includes:
- pomerge to propagate translations from one file to others.
- pospell to check for typos in .po files.
- powrap to rewrap the .po files before committing. This helps keep Git diffs short.
- potodo to list what needs to be translated.
sphinx-lint to validate reST syntax in translation files.

More related tools and projects can be found in the python-docs-translations organisation on GitHub.

How is a coordinator elected?¶

There is no election. Each translation will sort out the number of coordinators. We recommend 2 or 3 coordinators, though you may begin with one. Here are some general suggestions.

Coordinator requests are to be public on the translation mailing list.
If the given language has a native core dev, the core dev has input on the coordinator request.
Anyone who wants to become coordinator for their native language and shows motivation by translating and building a community will be named coordinator.
We expect the local community to self-organize coordinators and contributors. If you have questions, please ask on the mailing list or Discourse.
If a coordinator becomes inactive or unreachable for a long period of time, someone else can ask to be added as a primary coordinator on the translation mailing list. As a community resource, we aim to keep translations up to date with active contributors, including coordinators.

I have a translation, but it’s not in Git. What should I do?¶

You can ask for help on the translation mailing list, and the team will help you create an appropriate repository. You can still use tools like transifex, if you like.

My Git hierarchy does not match yours. Can I keep it?¶

No, inside the github.com/python organization we’ll all have the exact same hierarchy so bots will be able to build all of our translations. So you may have to convert from one hierarchy to another. Ask for help on the translation mailing list if you’re not sure on how to do it.

What hierarchy should I use in my GitHub repository?¶

As for every project, we have a branch per version. We store .po files in the root of the repository using the gettext_compact=0 style.

The entry for my translation is missing/not up to date on this page¶

Ask on the translation mailing list, or better, make a PR on the devguide.