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---
title: Notes for Translators
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category: Contributing
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layout: default
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SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
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---
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# Notes for Translators
systemd depends on the `gettext` package for multilingual support.
You'll find the i18n files in the `po/` directory.
The build system (meson/ninja) can be used to generate a template (`*.pot`),
which can be used to create new translations.
It can also merge the template into the existing translations (`*.po`), to pick
up new strings in need of translation.
Finally, it is able to compile the translations (to `*.gmo` files), so that
they can be used by systemd software. (This step is also useful to confirm the
syntax of the `*.po` files is correct.)
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## Creating a New Translation
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To create a translation to a language not yet available, start by creating the
initial template:
```
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$ meson compile -C build/ systemd-pot
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```
This will generate file `po/systemd.pot` in the source tree.
Then simply copy it to a new < code > < i > ${lang_code}< / i > .po< / code > file, where
< code > < i > ${lang_code}< / i > < / code > is the two-letter code for a language
(possibly followed by a two-letter uppercase country code), according to the
ISO 639 standard.
In short:
< pre >
$ cp po/systemd.pot po/< i > ${lang_code}< / i > .po
< / pre >
Then edit the new < code > po/< i > ${lang_code}< / i > .po< / code > file (for example,
using the `poedit` GUI editor.)
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## Updating an Existing Translation
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Start by updating the `*.po` files from the latest template:
```
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$ meson compile -C build/ systemd-update-po
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```
This will touch all the `*.po` files, so you'll want to pay attention when
creating a git commit from this change, to only include the one translation
you're actually updating.
Edit the `*.po` file, looking for empty translations and translations marked as
"fuzzy" (which means the merger found a similar message that needs to be
reviewed as it's expected not to match exactly.)
You can use any text editor to update the `*.po` files, but a good choice is
the `poedit` editor, a graphical application specifically designed for this
purpose.
Once you're done, create a git commit for the update of the `po/*.po` file you
touched. Remember to undo the changes to the other `*.po` files (for instance,
using `git checkout -- po/` after you commit the changes you do want to keep.)
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## Recompiling Translations
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You can recompile the `*.po` files using the following command:
```
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$ meson compile -C build/ systemd-gmo
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```
The resulting files will be saved in the `build/po/` directory.