Packages which have a GUI, also need a .desktop file, which contains
two translatable strings:  "GenericName", and "Comment".  For example,
here is the .desktop file from pspp:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNU PSPP
GenericName=Statistical Software
GenericName[ca]=Programari estadístic
GenericName[cs]=Statistický program
GenericName[de]=Statistiksoftware
GenericName[es]=Programario Estadístico
GenericName[ja]=統計ソフトウェア
GenericName[lt]=Statistinė programinė įranga
GenericName[nl]=Statistische software
GenericName[uk]=Статистичне програмне забезпечення
Comment=Analyze statistical data with a free alternative to SPSS
Comment[ca]= Analitza dades estadístiques amb una alternativa lliure a SPSS
Comment[cs]= Analyzuj statistická data se svobodnou variantou SPSS
Comment[de]= Statistische Daten mit einer freien Alternative zu SPSS analysieren
Comment[en_GB]= Analyse statistical data with a free alternative to SPSS
Comment[es]= Analiza datos estadísticos con una alternativa libre a SPSS
Comment[ja]= フリーなSPSS代替ソフトウェアによる統計データ分析
Comment[lt]= Statistinių duomenų analizavimas su nemokama SPSS alternatyva
Comment[nl]= Analyseer statistische data met een vrij alternatief van SPSS
Comment[uk]= Аналіз статистичних даних у вільній альтернативі SPSS
Exec=psppire %F
Icon=pspp
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=GTK;Education;Science;Math;
MimeType=application/x-spss-sav;application/x-spss-por;

The "Comment" string seems to serve the same purpose as Guix's "Synopsis" 
string. So I suggest that whatever method is used, we try to re-use one for the 
other.

I think the most desirable approach is to encourage package maintainers, to 
append the "Synopsis", "Description", "GenericName" etc strings to the .pot
files for their projects.  This saves having a team of translators dedicated
to translating names/descriptions of packages and the translators who are 
already familiar with a package are in the best position to make a translation.

However, not all package maintainers will comply.  So systems like Guix which
want to use Name/Description should look for the translation provided by the
package, and only if absent take one from a different source.

Just my $0.02

J'


On Mon, Jan 06, 2014 at 06:41:39PM +0100, Ludovic Court??s wrote:
     Hello, and best wishes!
     
     As discussed before [0], Guix needs to provide users with translated
     package synopses and descriptions.  It gets its synopses and
     descriptions for GNU packages from the Womb [1,2] (so does GSRC, IIRC),
     and has its own for non-GNU packages.
     
     There???s gettext infrastructure ready for that in Guix, but we need to
     coordinate so that the result is usable the all the possible users (web
     translators, GSRC, and Guix.)
     
     One possibility would be to use a specific text domain for package
     descriptions/synopses in Guix, and then submit that to the Translation
     Project.
     
     Another option is to let the web translators in charge of that (with
     GNUN), and then let Guix and GSRC synchronize periodically.  Guix would
     still have to use the TP for non-GNU packages, though I???m not sure how
     to handle that (different domain?).
     
     WDYT?
     
     Thanks,
     Ludo???.
     
     [0] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2013-10/msg00090.html
     [1] http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/gnumaint/gnupackages.txt?root=womb
     [2] http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/gnumaint/pkgblurbs.txt?root=womb
     

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