translation_process.md

Translations

The QT GUI can be easily be translated into other languages. Here's how we handle those translations.

Files and Folders

bitcoin-qt.pro

This file takes care of generating .qm files from .ts files. It is mostly automated.

src/qt/bitcoin.qrc

This file must be updated whenever a new translation is added. Please note that files must end with .qm, not .ts.

<qresource prefix="/translations">
    <file alias="en">locale/bitcoin_en.qm</file>
    ...
</qresource>

src/qt/locale/

This directory contains all translations. Filenames must adhere to this format:

bitcoin_xx_YY.ts or bitcoin_xx.ts

Source file

src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.ts is a treated in a special way. It is used as the source for all other translations. Whenever a string in the code is change this file must be updated to reflect those changes. Usually, this can be accomplished by running lupdate

Syncing with transifex

We are using http://transifex.net as a frontend for translating the client.

https://www.transifex.net/projects/p/bitcoin/resource/tx/

The "transifex client":http://help.transifex.net/features/client/index.html will help with fetching new translations from transifex.

.tx/config

[main]
host = https://www.transifex.net

[bitcoin.tx]
file_filter = src/qt/locale/bitcoin_<lang>.ts
source_file = src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.ts
source_lang = en

Fetching new translations

1. tx pull -a
2. update src/qt/bitcoin.qrc
3. git add new translations from src/qt/locale/