.. _translation:

Translating GeoServer
=====================

We would like GeoServer available in as many languages as possible, so we want your help to add localizations / translations, specifically the GeoServer UI and documentation.

Translating the UI
------------------

The GeoServer UI stores text strings inside properties files.  The default (English) files are named :file:`GeoServerApplication.properties` and are located in the following directories::

  /src/web/core/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/demo/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/gwc/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/security/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/wcs/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/wfs/src/main/resources/
  /src/web/wms/src/main/resources/

To translate the GeoServer UI to another language, copy and rename each of these files to be :file:`GeoServerApplication_[LANG].properties` where [LANG] is the language code as defined in `RFC 3066 <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt>`_  For example, the language code for German is ``de`` and for Brazilian Portuguese is ``pt-BR``.

Once created, each line in the files represents a string that will need to be translated.  When finished, you will need to commit these files or submit a JIRA issue with attached patch.  See the section on :ref:`source` for more information on how to commit.

Editing in Eclipse
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are using `Eclipse <http://www.eclipse.org/>`_, you can install the `Eclipse ResourceBundle Editor <http://sourceforge.net/projects/eclipse-rbe/>`_.  Once installed, you can edit the :file:`src/main/resources/GeoServerApplication.properties` files in all ``web-*`` projects (``web-core``, ``web-demo``, etc.) with the ResourceBundle editor.

Translating documentation
-------------------------

The GeoServer User Manual contains a wealth of information from the novice to the experienced GeoServer user.  It is written using the `Sphinx Documentation Generator <http://sphinx.pocoo.org/>`_.  The stable branch version of the User Manual exists as the following URL:

  http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/

Built from the following source files:

  /doc/en/user/

To create a User Manual in a different language, first create a directory called :file:`/doc/[LANG]/`, where [LANG] is the language code as defined in `RFC 3066 <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt>`_.  The you can copy the contents of :file:`/doc/en/user/` to :file:`/doc/[LANG]/user` and edit accordingly, or generate a new Sphinx project in :file:`/doc/[LANG]/user`.   (See the `Sphinx Quickstart <http://sphinx.pocoo.org/tutorial.html>` for more information about creating a new project.)

The GeoServer Sphinx theme exists at :file:`/doc/en/user/themes`, so that can be copied (and modified if desired) to :file:`/doc/[LANG]/user/themes`.

When finished, you will need to commit the content (if you have commit rights) or submit a JIRA issue with attached patch.  See the section on :ref:`source` for more information on how to commit.  Setting up the documentation to be hosted on docs.geoserver.org will require a project administrator; please send an email to the mailing list for more details.

Tips
~~~~

* See the `GeoServer Documentation Manual <http://docs.geoserver.org/latest/en/docguide/>`_ for more information about writing documentation.
* The Developer Manual exists at :file:`/doc/en/developer`.  The same procedures for editing the User Manual apply to the Developer Manual.