Re: Where to contribute manual translations ?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2023 01:02:21 -0800
> Cc: vincent.b.1@hotmail.fr, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > So I think having MANUAL-LANG.info files which are translations of
> > MANUAL.info to the various languages LANG, and having them in the same
> > single directory, is the best alternative, as its impact on existing
> > code and distros is minimal, almost non-existent.
> 
> OK, then let's do it that way.

So, to summarize:

  . Texinfo sources go into the doc/LANG/ subdirectory, under which
    there should be the same subdirectories 'emacs', 'lispref', misc'
    etc. (we will actually create a directory when the first
    translation of the corresponding English manual will be
    submitted);
  . Texinfo sources of a translation of MANUAL.texi into the language
    LANG will be called MANUAL-LANG.texi;
  . Info output should go to info/MANUAL-LANG.info (this should be
    specified in the @setfilename directive in the Texinfo source).

OK?

> However, does that mean that, e.g. `ses-fr`, would always be listed, or
> would it be listed only when using a French locale?

If ses-fr.info is installed, then it will be listed, yes.

> I imagine that most users would never want to look at most foreign
> language manuals (they typically speak only a few languages), so
> showing all translations risks mostly getting in the way.

This is something to coordinate with both the Texinfo project and the
downstream distros, I think.  Basically, if a user never wants to see
ses-fr.info, that user should not install it in the first place.  It
is possible to do something more sophisticated based on the locale,
but that would require coordination with the Texinfo project, and then
how would that support users who, for some reason, want to have
manuals in several languages available?  So it sounds a bit
complicated, and I'd say let the sleeping dogs lie at this point.