1 @c -*- coding: utf-8; mode: texinfo; -*-
2 @node Documentation work
3 @chapter Documentation work
5 There are currently 11 manuals for LilyPond, not including the
6 translations. Each book is available in HTML, PDF, and info. The
7 documentation is written in a language called @code{texinfo} --
8 this allows us to generate different output formats from a single
11 To organize multiple authors working on the documentation, we use a
12 Version Control System (VCS) called git, previously discussed in
13 @ref{Starting with Git}.
16 * Introduction to documentation work::
17 * Documentation suggestions::
18 * Texinfo introduction and usage policy::
19 * Documentation policy::
20 * Tips for writing docs::
21 * Scripts to ease doc work::
22 * Docstrings in scheme::
23 * Translating the documentation::
27 @node Introduction to documentation work
28 @section Introduction to documentation work
30 Our documentation tries to adhere to our @ref{Documentation
31 policy}. This policy contains a few items which may seem odd.
32 One policy in particular is often questioned by potential
33 contributors: we do not repeat material in the Notation Reference,
34 and instead provide links to the @qq{definitive} presentation of
35 that information. Some people point out, with good reason, that
36 this makes the documentation harder to read. If we repeated
37 certain information in relevant places, readers would be less
38 likely to miss that information.
40 That reasoning is sound, but we have two counter-arguments.
41 First, the Notation Reference -- one of @emph{five} manuals for
42 users to read -- is already over 500 pages long. If we repeated
43 material, we could easily exceed 1000 pages! Second, and much
44 more importantly, LilyPond is an evolving project. New features
45 are added, bugs are fixed, and bugs are discovered and documented.
46 If features are discussed in multiple places, the documentation
47 team must find every instance. Since the manual is so large, it
48 is impossible for one person to have the location of every piece
49 of information memorized, so any attempt to update the
50 documentation will invariably omit a few places. This second
51 concern is not at all theoretical; the documentation used to be
52 plagued with inconsistent information.
54 If the documentation were targeted for a specific version -- say,
55 LilyPond 2.10.5 -- and we had unlimited resources to spend on
56 documentation, then we could avoid this second problem. But since
57 LilyPond evolves (and that is a very good thing!), and since we
58 have quite limited resources, this policy remains in place.
60 A few other policies (such as not permitting the use of tweaks in
61 the main portion of NR 1+2) may also seem counter-intuitive, but
62 they also stem from attempting to find the most effective use of
63 limited documentation help.
66 @node Documentation suggestions
67 @section Documentation suggestions
69 @subheading Small additions
71 For additions to the documentation,
76 Tell us where the addition should be placed. Please include both
77 the section number and title (i.e. "LM 2.13 Printing lyrics").
80 Please write exact changes to the text.
83 A formal patch to the source code is @emph{not} required; we can
84 take care of the technical details. Here is an example of a
85 perfect documentation report:
88 To: lilypond-devel@gnu.org
89 From: helpful-user@example.net
92 In LM 2.13 (printing lyrics), above the last line ("More options,
93 like..."), please add:
96 To add lyrics to a divided part, use blah blah blah. For example,
99 \notes {blah <<blah>> }
100 \lyrics {blah <<blah>> }
105 In addition, the second sentence of the first paragraph is
106 confusing. Please delete that sentence (it begins "Users
107 often...") and replace it with this:
109 To align lyrics with something, do this thing.
119 @subheading Larger contributions
121 To replace large sections of the documentation, the guidelines are
122 stricter. We cannot remove parts of the current documentation
123 unless we are certain that the new version is an improvement.
128 Ask on the lilypond-devel maillist if such a rewrite is necessary;
129 somebody else might already be working on this issue!
132 Split your work into small sections; this makes it much easier to
133 compare the new and old documentation.
136 Please prepare a formal git patch.
140 Once you have followed these guidelines, please send a message to
141 lilypond-devel with your documentation submissions. Unfortunately
142 there is a strict “no top-posting” check on the mailist; to avoid
145 > I'm not top posting.
147 (you must include the > ) to the top of your documentation
150 We may edit your suggestion for spelling, grammar, or style, and
151 we may not place the material exactly where you suggested, but if
152 you give us some material to work with, we can improve the manual
153 much faster. Thanks for your interest!
156 @node Texinfo introduction and usage policy
157 @section Texinfo introduction and usage policy
160 * Texinfo introduction::
161 * Documentation files::
162 * Sectioning commands::
163 * LilyPond formatting::
166 * Other text concerns::
170 @node Texinfo introduction
171 @subsection Texinfo introduction
173 The language is called Texinfo; you can see its manual here:
175 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/}
177 However, you don't need to read those docs. The most important
178 thing to notice is that text is text. If you see a mistake in the
179 text, you can fix it. If you want to change the order of
180 something, you can cut-and-paste that stuff into a new location.
182 @warning{Rule of thumb: follow the examples in the existing docs.
183 You can learn most of what you need to know from this; if you want
184 to do anything fancy, discuss it on @code{lilypond-devel} first.}
187 @node Documentation files
188 @subsection Documentation files
190 All manuals live in @file{Documentation/}.
192 In particular, there are four user manuals, their respective master
193 source files are @file{learning.tely} (LM, Learning Manual),
194 @file{notation.tely} (NR, Notation Reference),
195 @file{music-glossary.tely} (MG, Music Glossary), and
196 @file{lilypond-program} (AU). Each chapter is written in a separate
197 file, ending in @file{.itely} for files containing lilypond code, and
198 @file{.itexi} for files without lilypond code, located in a subdirectory
199 associated to the manual (@file{learning/} for @file{learning.tely}, and
200 so on); list the subdirectory of each manual to determine the filename
201 of the specific chapter you wish to modify.
203 Developer manuals live in @file{Documentation/} too. Currently there is
204 only one: the Contributor's Guide @file{contrib-guide.texi} you are
207 Snippet files are part of documentation, and the Snippet List (SL) lives
208 in @file{Documentation/} just like the manuals. For information about
209 how to modify the snippet files and SL, see @ref{LSR work}.
212 @node Sectioning commands
213 @subsection Sectioning commands
215 Most of the manual operates at the
223 level. Sections are created with
232 Please leave two blank lines above a @@node; this makes it
233 easier to find sections in texinfo.
236 Sectioning commands (@@node and @@section) must not appear
237 inside an @@ignore. Separate those commands with a space, ie @@n
242 Nodes must be included inside a
252 construct. These are easily constructed with automatic tools; see
253 @ref{Scripts to ease doc work}.
256 @node LilyPond formatting
257 @subsection LilyPond formatting
262 Use two spaces for indentation in lilypond examples. (no
266 All text strings should be prefaced with #. LilyPond does
267 not strictly require this, but it is helpful to get users
268 accustomed to this scheme construct. ie @code{\set
269 Staff.instrumentName = #"cello"}
272 All engravers should have double-quotes around them:
275 \consists "Spans_arpeggio_engraver"
278 Again, LilyPond does not strictly require this, but it is a useful
282 If possible, only write one bar per line.
285 If you only have one bar per line, omit bar checks. If you
286 must put more than one bar per line (not recommended), then include bar
290 Tweaks should, if possible, also occur on their own line.
294 \override textscript #'padding = #3 c1^"hi"
300 \override textscript #'padding = #3
305 Most LilyPond input should be produced with:
308 @@lilypond[verbatim,quote,relative=2]
315 @@lilypond[verbatim,quote,relative=1]
318 If you want to use \layout@{@} or define variables, use
321 @@lilypond[verbatim,quote]
324 In rare cases, other options may be used (or omitted), but ask first.
327 Inspirational headwords are produced with
330 @@lilypondfile[quote,ragged-right,line-width=16\cm,staffsize=16]
331 @{pitches-headword.ly@}
335 LSR snippets are linked with
338 @@lilypondfile[verbatim,lilyquote,ragged-right,texidoc,doctitle]
343 excepted in Templates, where `doctitle' may be omitted.
346 Avoid long stretches of input code. Nobody is going to read
347 them in print. Create small examples. However, this does not mean
351 Specify durations for at least the first note of every bar.
354 If possible, end with a complete bar.
357 Comments should go on their own line, and be placed before
358 the line(s) to which they refer.
361 Add extra spaces around @{ @} marks; ie
364 not: \chordmode @{c e g@}
365 but instead: \chordmode @{ c e g @}
369 If you want to work on an example outside of the manual (for
370 easier/faster processing), use this header:
375 line-width = 160\mm - 2.0 * 0.4\in
377 force-assignment = #""
378 line-width = #(- line-width (* mm 3.000000))
385 You may not change any of these values. If you are making an
386 example demonstrating special \paper@{@} values, contact the
387 Documentation Editor.
392 @node Text formatting
393 @subsection Text formatting
398 Lines should be less than 72 characters long. (We personally
399 recommend writing with 66-char lines, but do not bother modifying
400 existing material). However, see the note below regarding line
401 lengths within @@example blocks.
404 Individual lines within an @@example block should not exceed 74
405 characters; otherwise they will run into the margin in the pdf
406 output, and may get clipped. If an @@example block is part of an
407 @@item within an @@itemize or @@enumerate block, each line of the
408 @@example should not exceed 70 columns---each additional level of
409 @@itemize or @@enumerate shortens the line by about 4 columns.
411 For command line examples, if possible, use a trailing backslash
412 to break up a single line, indenting the next line with 2 spaces.
413 If this isn't feasible, use @@smallexample instead, which uses a
414 smaller fontsize. Use @@example whenever possible, but if needed,
415 @@smallexample can fit up to 96 characters per line before running
416 into the pdf margin. Each additional level of @@itemize or
417 @@enumerate shortens a @@smallexample line by about 5 columns.
423 Do not use spaces at the beginning of a line (except in
424 @@example or @@verbatim environments), and do not use more than a
425 single space between words. `makeinfo' copies the input lines
426 verbatim without removing those spaces.
429 Use two spaces after a period.
432 In examples of syntax, use @@var@{musicexpr@} for a music
436 Don't use @@rinternals@{@} in the main text. If you're
437 tempted to do so, you're probably getting too close to "talking
438 through the code". If you really want to refer to a context, use
439 @@code@{@} in the main text and @@rinternals@{@} in the @@seealso.
442 Variables or numbers which consist of a single character
443 (probably followed by a punctuation mark) should be tied properly,
444 either to the previous or the next word. Example:
447 The variable@@tie@{@}@@var@{a@} ...
451 To get consistent indentation in the DVI output it is better
452 to avoid the @@verbatim environment. Use the @@example
453 environment instead if possible, but without extraneous
454 indentation. For example, this
465 should be replaced with
476 where `@@example' starts the line (without leading spaces).
479 Do not compress the input vertically; this is, do not use
482 Beginning of logical unit
486 continuation of logical unit
493 Beginning of logical unit
500 continuation of logical unit
503 This makes it easier to avoid forgetting the `@@noindent'. Only
504 use @@noindent if the material is discussing the same material;
505 new material should simply begin without anything special on the
509 in @@itemize use @@item
510 on a separate line like this:
521 Do not use @@itemize @@bullet.
524 To get LilyPond version, use @@version@{@} (this does not work
525 inside LilyPond snippets). If you write "@@version@{@}" (enclosed
526 with quotes), or generally if @@version@{@} is not followed by a
527 space, there will be an ugly line break in PDF output unless you
535 @@w@{"@@version@{@}"@}
542 @subsection Syntax survey
546 @@bs - Generates a backslash inside @@warning.
547 Any `\' used inside @@warning (and @@q or @@qq) must be written as `@@bs@{@}'
548 (texinfo would also allow \\, but this breaks with PDF output).
551 @@c - single line comments
552 "@@c NOTE:" is a comment which should remain in the final
553 version. (gp only command ;)
556 @@cindex - General index. Please add as many as you can. Don't
557 capitalize the first word.
560 @@code@{@} - typeset in a tt-font. Use for actual lilypond code or
561 property/context names. If the name contains a space, wrap
562 the entire thing inside @@w@{@@code@{ @}@}.
565 @@example ... @@end example - example text that should be set as a
566 blockquote. Any @{@} must be escaped with @@@{ @}@@
569 @@funindex - is for a \lilycommand.
572 @@ignore ... @@end ignore - multi-line comment
577 B ... @@end itemize - for bulleted lists.
578 Do not compress vertically like this.
581 @@notation@{@} - refers to pieces of notation, e.g.
582 "@@notation@{cres.@}". Also use to specific lyrics ("the
583 @@notation@{A - men@} is centered"). Only use once per subsection
587 @@q@{@} - Single quotes. Used for `vague' terms.
590 @@qq@{@} - Double quotes. Used for actual quotes ("he said") or for
591 introducing special input modes.
594 @@rchanges@{@} - link to Changes.
597 @@rcontrib@{@} - link to Contributor's Guide.
600 @@ref@{@} - link within current manual (type the exact node name inside the
604 @@ressay@{@} - link to Engraving Essay.
607 @@rextend@{@} - link to Extending LilyPond.
610 @@rglos@{@} - link to the Music Glossary.
613 @@rinternals@{@} - link to the Internals Reference.
616 @@rlearning@{@} - link to Learning Manual.
619 @@rlsr@{@} - link to a Snippet section.
622 @@rprogram@{@} - link to Application Usage.
625 @@ruser@{@} - link to Notation Reference.
628 @@rweb@{@} - link to General Informaion.
631 @@tie@{@} - Variables or numbers which consist of a single character
632 (probably followed by a punctuation mark) should be tied
633 properly, either to the previous or the next word. Example:
634 "The letter@@tie@{@}@@q@{I@} is skipped"
637 @@uref@{@} - link to an external url.
640 @@var - Use for variables.
643 @@version@{@} - Return the current LilyPond version string
646 @@warning@{@} - produces a "Note: " box. Use for important messages.
652 @node Other text concerns
653 @subsection Other text concerns
658 References must occur at the end of a sentence, for more
659 information see @@ref@{the texinfo manual@}. Ideally this should
660 also be the final sentence of a paragraph, but this is not
661 required. Any link in a doc section must be duplicated in the
662 @@seealso section at the bottom.
665 Introducing examples must be done with
668 . (ie finish the previous sentence/paragaph)
669 : (ie `in this example:')
670 , (ie `may add foo with the blah construct,')
673 The old @qq{sentence runs directly into the example} method is not
677 Abbrevs in caps, e.g., HTML, DVI, MIDI, etc.
688 When beginning a quote: "So, he said,...".
690 This usage is rarer. Americans often just use a comma.
693 When adding a defining example at the end of a sentence.
698 Non-ASCII characters which are in utf-8 should be directly used;
699 this is, don't say `Ba@@ss@{@}tuba' but `Baßtuba'. This ensures
700 that all such characters appear in all output formats.
707 @node Documentation policy
708 @section Documentation policy
712 * Section organization::
713 * Checking cross-references::
715 * Technical writing style::
721 There are four parts to the documentation: the Learning Manual,
722 the Notation Reference, the Program Reference, and the Music
730 The LM is written in a tutorial style which introduces the most
731 important concepts, structure and syntax of the elements of a
732 LilyPond score in a carefully graded sequence of steps.
733 Explanations of all musical concepts used in the Manual can be
734 found in the Music Glossary, and readers are assumed to have no
735 prior knowledge of LilyPond. The objective is to take readers to
736 a level where the Notation Reference can be understood and
737 employed to both adapt the templates in the Appendix to their
738 needs and to begin to construct their own scores. Commonly used
739 tweaks are introduced and explained. Examples are provided
740 throughout which, while being focussed on the topic being
741 introduced, are long enough to seem real in order to retain the
742 readers' interest. Each example builds on the previous material,
743 and comments are used liberally. Every new aspect is thoroughly
744 explained before it is used.
746 Users are encouraged to read the complete Learning Manual from
751 Notation Reference: a (hopefully complete) description of LilyPond
752 input notation. Some material from here may be duplicated in the
753 Learning Manual (for teaching), but consider the NR to be the
754 "definitive" description of each notation element, with the LM
755 being an "extra". The goal is _not_ to provide a step-by-step
756 learning environment -- do not avoid using notation that has not
757 be introduced previously in the NR (for example, use \break if
758 appropriate). This section is written in formal technical writing
761 Avoid duplication. Although users are not expected to read this
762 manual from start to finish, they should be familiar with the
763 material in the Learning Manual (particularly ``Fundamental
764 Concepts''), so do not repeat that material in each section of
765 this book. Also watch out for common constructs, like ^ - _ for
766 directions -- those are explained in NR 3. In NR 1, you can
767 write: DYNAMICS may be manually placed above or below the staff,
768 see @@ref@{Controlling direction and placement@}.
770 Most tweaks should be added to LSR and not placed directly in the
771 .itely file. In some cases, tweaks may be placed in the main
772 text, but ask about this first.
774 Finally, you should assume that users know what the notation
775 means; explaining musical concepts happens in the Music Glossary.
779 Application Usage: information about using the program lilypond
780 with other programs (lilypond-book, operating systems, GUIs,
781 convert-ly, etc). This section is written in formal technical
784 Users are not expected to read this manual from start to finish.
788 Music Glossary: information about the music notation itself.
789 Explanations and translations about notation terms go here.
791 Users are not expected to read this manual from start to finish.
794 Internals Reference: not really a documentation book, since it is
795 automagically generated from the source, but this is its name.
800 @node Section organization
801 @subsection Section organization
806 The order of headings inside documentation sections should
819 You @emph{must} include a @@seealso.
823 The order of items inside the @@seealso section is
832 @@rlearning@{foozle@}.
845 @@file@{path/to/dir/blahz@}.
847 Snippets: @@rlsr@{section@}.
850 @@rinternals@{fazzle@},
851 @@rinternals@{booar@}.
855 If there are multiple entries, separate them by commas but do not
859 Always end with a period.
862 Place each link on a new line as above; this makes it much easier
863 to add or remove links. In the output, they appear on a single
866 ("Snippets" is REQUIRED; the others are optional)
869 Any new concepts or links which require an explanation should go
870 as a full sentence(s) in the main text.
873 Don't insert an empty line between @@seealso and the first entry!
874 Otherwise there is excessive vertical space in the PDF output.
879 To create links, use @@ref@{@} if the link is within the same
883 @@predefined ... @@endpredefined is for commands in
887 Do not include any real info in second-level sections (ie 1.1
888 Pitches). A first-level section may have introductory material,
889 but other than that all material goes into third-level sections
890 (ie 1.1.1 Writing Pitches).
895 @node Checking cross-references
896 @subsection Checking cross-references
898 Cross-references between different manuals are heavily used in the
899 documentation, but they are not checked during compilation.
900 However, if you compile the documentation, a script called
901 check_texi_refs can help you with checking and fixing these
902 cross-references; for information on usage, cd into a source tree
903 where documentation has been built, cd into Documentation and run:
910 Note that you have to find yourself the source files to fix
911 cross-references in the generated documentation such as the
912 Internals Reference; e.g. you can grep scm/ and lily/.
914 @c temporary? how long will kainhofer be used? -gp
915 Also of interest may be the linkdoc checks on kainhofer.com. Be
916 warned that these docs are not completely rebuilt every day, so it
917 might not accurately reflect the current state of the docs.
920 @uref{http://kainhofer.com/~lilypond/linkdoc/}
924 @node General writing
925 @subsection General writing
930 Do not forget to create @@cindex entries for new sections of text.
931 Enter commands with @@funindex, i.e.
934 @@cindex pitches, writing in different octaves
939 do not bother with the @@code@{@} (they are added automatically).
940 These items are added to both the command index and the unified
943 Both index commands should go in front of the actual material.
945 @@cindex entries should not be capitalized, ie
948 @@cindex time signature
952 is preferred instead of @qq{Time signature}, Only use capital
953 letters for musical terms which demand them, like D.S. al Fine.
955 For scheme functions, only include the final part, i.e.,
958 @@funindex modern-voice-cautionary
960 @@funindex #(set-accidental-style modern-voice-cautionary)
969 In general, use the American spellings. The internal lilypond
970 property names use this spelling.
973 List of specific terms:
977 simultaneous NOT concurrent
978 measure: the unit of music
979 bar line: the symbol delimiting a measure NOT barline
980 note head NOT notehead
981 chord construct NOT chord (when referring to <>)
989 @node Technical writing style
990 @subsection Technical writing style
992 These refer to the NR. The LM uses a more gentle, colloquial
998 Do not refer to LilyPond in the text. The reader knows what the
999 manual is about. If you do, capitalization is LilyPond.
1002 If you explicitly refer to @q{lilypond} the program (or any other
1003 command to be executed), write @code{@@command@{lilypond@}}.
1006 Do not explicitly refer to the reader/user. There is no one else
1007 besides the reader and the writer.
1010 Avoid contractions (don't, won't, etc.). Spell the words out completely.
1013 Avoid abbreviations, except for commonly used abbreviations of foreign
1014 language terms such as etc. and i.e.
1017 Avoid fluff (@qq{Notice that,} @qq{as you can see,}
1021 The use of the word @q{illegal} is inappropriate in most cases.
1022 Say @q{invalid} instead.
1027 @node Tips for writing docs
1028 @section Tips for writing docs
1030 In the NR, I highly recommend focusing on one subsection at a
1031 time. For each subsection,
1036 check the mundane formatting. Are the headings (@@predefined,
1037 @@seealso, etc.) in the right order?
1040 add any appropriate index entries.
1043 check the links in the @@seealso section -- links to music
1044 glossary, internal references, and other NR sections are the main
1045 concern. Check for potential additions.
1048 move LSR-worthy material into LSR. Add the snippet, delete the
1049 material from the .itely file, and add a @@lilypondfile command.
1052 check the examples and descriptions. Do they still work?
1053 @strong{Do not} assume that the existing text is
1054 accurate/complete; some of the manual is highly out of date.
1057 is the material in the @@knownissues still accurate?
1060 can the examples be improved (made more explanatory), or is there
1061 any missing info? (feel free to ask specific questions on -user;
1062 a couple of people claimed to be interesting in being
1063 @qq{consultants} who would help with such questions)
1067 In general, I favor short text explanations with good examples --
1068 @qq{an example is worth a thousand words}. When I worked on the
1069 docs, I spent about half my time just working on those tiny
1070 lilypond examples. Making easily-understandable examples is much
1071 harder than it looks.
1074 @subsubheading Tweaks
1076 In general, any \set or \override commands should go in the
1077 @qq{select snippets} section, which means that they should go in
1078 LSR and not the .itely file. For some cases, the command
1079 obviously belongs in the @qq{main text} (i.e. not inside
1080 @@predefined or @@seealso or whatever) -- instrument names are a
1081 good example of this.
1084 \set Staff.instrumentName = #"foo"
1087 On the other side of this,
1090 \override Score.Hairpin #'after-line-breaking = ##t
1093 clearly belongs in LSR.
1095 I'm quite willing to discuss specific cases if you think that a
1096 tweaks needs to be in the main text. But items that can go into
1097 LSR are easier to maintain, so I'd like to move as much as
1098 possible into there.
1101 It would be @qq{nice} if you spent a lot of time crafting nice
1102 tweaks for users@dots{} but my recommendation is @strong{not} to do
1103 this. There's a lot of doc work to do without adding examples of
1104 tweaks. Tweak examples can easily be added by normal users by adding
1107 One place where a documentation writer can profitably spend time writing
1108 or upgrading tweaks is creating tweaks to deal with known issues. It
1109 would be ideal if every significant known issue had a workaround to avoid
1113 @ref{Adding and editing snippets}.
1116 @node Scripts to ease doc work
1117 @section Scripts to ease doc work
1119 @subheading Stripping whitespace
1121 @c TODO: should this be documented elsewhere? It's useful for
1122 @c more than just docs.
1123 To remove extra whitespace from the ends of lines, run
1126 scripts/auxiliar/strip-whitespace.py Documentation/FILENAME
1130 @subheading Sectioning commands
1132 @warning{These commands add whitespace.}
1134 The emacs @code{M-x texinfo-all-menus-update} command will
1135 regenerate @@menu blocks. This can also be run with this
1136 command-line script:
1140 emacs $1 -batch -f texinfo-all-menus-update -f save-buffer
1144 (save the above as something like @command{texinfo-menus.sh}, make
1145 it executable, then run @command{texinfo-menus.sh foo.itely})
1148 @subheading Updating doc with @command{convert-ly}
1150 cd into @file{Documentation/} and run
1153 find . -name '*.itely' | xargs convert-ly -e
1157 This also updates translated documentation.
1161 @node Docstrings in scheme
1162 @section Docstrings in scheme
1164 Material in the Internals reference is generated automatically
1165 from our source code. Any doc work on Internals therefore
1166 requires modifying files in @file{scm/*.scm}. Texinfo is allowed
1167 in these docstrings.
1169 Most documentation writers never touch these, though. If you want
1170 to work on them, please ask for help.
1173 @node Translating the documentation
1174 @section Translating the documentation
1176 The mailing list @code{translations@@lilynet.net} is dedicated to
1177 LilyPond web site and documentation translation; on this list, you will
1178 get support from the Translations Meister and experimented translators,
1179 and we regularly discuss translations issues common to all languagues.
1180 All people interested in LilyPond translations are invited to subscribe
1181 to this list regardless of the amount of their contribution, by sending
1182 an email to @code{translations-request@@lilynet.net} with subject
1183 @code{subscribe} and an empty message body. Unless mentioned explicitly
1184 or except if a translations coordinator contacts you privately, you
1185 should send questions, remarks, patches to this list
1186 @code{translations@@lilynet.net}; especially note that the traffic is so
1187 high on English-speaking list @code{lilypond-user@@gnu.org} that it may
1188 take months before your request or contribution is handled if you send a
1189 email to these lists.
1192 * Getting started with documentation translation::
1193 * Documentation translation details::
1194 * Documentation translation maintenance::
1195 * Translations management policies::
1196 * Technical background::
1199 @node Getting started with documentation translation
1200 @subsection Getting started with documentation translation
1202 First, get the sources of branch @code{lilypond/translation} from the
1203 Git repository, see @ref{Starting with Git}.
1206 * Translation requirements::
1207 * Which documentation can be translated::
1208 * Starting translation in a new language::
1211 @node Translation requirements
1212 @unnumberedsubsubsec Translation requirements
1214 Working on LilyPond documentation translations requires the following
1215 pieces of software, in order to make use of dedicated helper tools:
1218 @item Python 2.4 or higher,
1224 It is not required to build LilyPond and the documentation to
1225 translate the documentation. However, if you have enough time and
1226 motivation and a suitable system, it can be very useful to build at
1227 least the documentation so that you can check the output yourself and
1228 more quickly; if you are interested, see @ref{Compiling from source}.
1231 @node Which documentation can be translated
1232 @unnumberedsubsubsec Which documentation can be translated
1234 The makefiles and scripts infrastructure currently supports translation
1235 of the following documentation:
1238 @item the web site, the Learning Manual, the Notation Reference and
1239 Application Usage -- Texinfo source, PDF and HTML output; Info output
1240 might be added if there is enough demand for it;
1241 @item the Changes document.
1244 Support for translating the following pieces of documentation should be
1245 added soon, by decreasing order of priority:
1248 @item automatically generated documentation: markup commands,
1249 predefined music functions;
1250 @item the Snippets List;
1251 @item the Internals Reference.
1255 @node Starting translation in a new language
1256 @unnumberedsubsubsec Starting translation in a new language
1258 At top of the source directory, do
1265 or (if you want to install your self-compiled LilyPond locally)
1268 ./autogen.sh --prefix=$HOME
1272 If you want to compile LilyPond -- which is almost required to build
1273 the documentation, but is not required to do translation only -- fix
1274 all dependencies and rerun @command{./configure} (with the same
1275 options as for @command{autogen.sh}).
1277 Then @command{cd} into @file{Documentation/} and run
1280 make ISOLANG=@var{MY-LANGUAGE} new-lang
1284 where @var{MY-LANGUAGE} is the ISO 639 language code.
1286 Finally, add a language definition for your language in
1287 @file{python/langdefs.py}.
1290 @node Documentation translation details
1291 @subsection Documentation translation details
1293 Please follow all the instructions with care to ensure quality work.
1295 All files should be encoded in UTF-8.
1298 * Files to be translated::
1299 * Translating the Web site and other Texinfo documentation::
1300 * Adding a Texinfo manual::
1303 @node Files to be translated
1304 @unnumberedsubsubsec Files to be translated
1306 @include contributor/doc-translation-list.itexi
1308 In addition, not listed above, Snippets' titles and descriptions
1309 should be translated; they are a part of the Notation Reference and
1310 therefore their priority is 5.
1312 @node Translating the Web site and other Texinfo documentation
1313 @unnumberedsubsubsec Translating the Web site and other Texinfo documentation
1315 Every piece of text should be translated in the source file, except
1316 Texinfo comments, text in @code{@@lilypond} blocks and a few cases
1319 Node names are translated, but the original node name in English should
1320 be kept as the argument of @code{@@translationof} put after the section
1321 title; that is, every piece in the original file like
1325 @@@var{section_command} Bar baz
1329 should be translated as
1332 @@node @var{translation of Foo bar}
1333 @@@var{section_command} @var{translation of Bar baz}
1334 @@translationof Foo bar
1337 The argument of @code{@@rglos} commands and the first argument of
1338 @code{@@rglosnamed} commands must not be translated, as it is the node
1339 name of an entry in Music Glossary.
1341 Every time you translate a node name in a cross-reference, i.e. the
1342 argument of commands @code{@@ref, @@rprogram, @@rlearning, @@rlsr,
1343 @@ruser} or the first argument of their @code{@var{*}named} variants,
1344 you should make sure the target node is defined in the correct source
1345 file; if you do not intend to translate the target node right now, you
1346 should at least write the node definition (that is, the @code{@@node
1347 @@@var{section_commmand} @@translationof} trio mentioned above) in the
1348 expected source file and define all its parent nodes; for each node you
1349 have defined this way but have not translated, insert a line that
1350 contains @code{@@untranslated}. That is, you should end up
1351 for each untranslated node with something like
1354 @@node @var{translation of Foo bar}
1355 @@@var{section_command} @var{translation of Bar baz}
1356 @@translationof Foo bar
1361 @warning{you do not have to translate the node name of a cross-reference
1362 to a node that you do not have translated. If you do, you must define
1363 an @qq{empty} node like explained just above; this will produce a
1364 cross-reference with the translated node name in output, although the
1365 target node will still be in English. On the opposite, if all
1366 cross-references that refer to an untranslated node use the node name in
1367 English, then you do not have to define such an @qq{empty} node, and the
1368 cross-reference text will appear in English in the output. The choice
1369 between these two strategies implies its particular maintenance
1370 requirements and is left to the translators, although the opinion of the
1371 Translation meister leans towards not translating these
1374 Please think of the fact that it may not make sense translating
1375 everything in some Texinfo files, and you may take distance from the
1376 original text; for instance, in the translation of the web site section
1377 Community, you may take this into account depending on what you know the
1378 community in your language is willing to support, which is possible only
1379 if you personnally assume this support, or there exists a public forum
1380 or mailing list listed in Community for LilyPond in your language:
1383 @item @rweb{Bug reports}: this page should be translated only if you
1384 know that every bug report sent on your language's mailing list or forum
1385 will be handled by someone who will translate it to English and send it
1386 on bug-lilypond or add an issue in the tracker, then translate back the
1387 reply from developers.
1389 @item @rweb{Help us}: this page should be translated very freely,
1390 and possibly not at all: ask help for contributing to LilyPond for tasks
1391 that LilyPond community in your language is able and going to handle.
1395 In any case, please mark in your work the sections which do not result
1396 from the direct translation of a piece of English translation, using
1397 comments i.e. lines starting with @q{@code{@@c}}.
1399 Finally, press in Emacs @key{C-c C-u C-a} to update or generate
1400 menus. This process should be made easier in the future, when the helper
1401 script @command{texi-langutils.py} and the makefile target are updated.
1403 Some pieces of text manipulated by build scripts that appear in the
1404 output are translated in a @file{.po} file -- just like LilyPond output
1405 messages -- in @file{Documentation/po}. The Gettext domain is named
1406 @code{lilypond-doc}, and unlike @code{lilypond} domain it is not managed
1407 through the Free Translation Project.
1410 Take care of using typographic rules for your language, especially in
1411 @file{macros.itexi}.
1413 If you wonder whether a word, phrase or larger piece of text should be
1414 translated, whether it is an argument of a Texinfo command or a small
1415 piece sandwiched between two Texinfo commands, try to track whether and
1416 where it appears in PDF and/or HTML output as visible text. This piece
1417 of advice is especially useful for translating @file{macros.itexi}.
1419 Please keep verbatim copies of music snippets (in @code{@@lilypond}
1420 blocs). However, some music snippets containing text that shows in
1421 the rendered music, and sometimes translating this text really helps
1422 the user to understand the documentation; in this case, and only in
1423 this case, you may as an exception translate text in the music
1424 snippet, and then you must add a line immediately before the
1425 @code{@@lilypond} block, starting with
1432 Otherwise the music snippet would be reset to the same content as the
1433 English version at next @command{make snippet-update} run -- see
1434 @ref{Updating documentation translation}.
1439 @@lilypondfile[<number of fragment options>,texidoc]@{@var{filename.ly}@}
1443 in the source, open @file{Documentation/snippets/@var{filename}.ly},
1444 translate the @code{texidoc} header field it contains, enclose it with
1445 @code{texidoc@var{MY-LANGUAGE} = "} and @code{"}, and write it into
1446 @file{Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/texidocs/@var{filename}.texidoc}.
1447 Additionnally, you may translate the snippet's title in @code{doctitle}
1448 header field, in case @code{doctitle} is a fragment option used in
1449 @code{@@lilypondfile}; you can do this exactly the same way as
1450 @code{texidoc}. For instance,
1451 @file{Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/texidocs/@var{filename}.texidoc}
1455 doctitlees = "Spanish title baz"
1457 Spanish translation blah
1462 Then, you should get these translated strings into compiled snippets in
1463 @file{Documentation/snippets}, see @q{General guidelines} in @ref{Adding
1464 and editing snippets}.
1466 @code{@@example} blocks need not be verbatim copies, e.g. variable
1467 names, file names and comments should be translated.
1469 Finally, please carefully apply every rule exposed in @ref{Texinfo
1470 introduction and usage policy}, and @ref{Documentation policy}. If one
1471 of these rules conflicts with a rule specific to your language, please
1472 ask the Translation meister on @email{translations@@lilynet.net} list
1473 and/or the Documentation Editors on @email{lilypond-devel@@gnu.org}
1477 @node Adding a Texinfo manual
1478 @unnumberedsubsubsec Adding a Texinfo manual
1480 In order to start translating a new manual whose basename is @var{FOO},
1484 cd Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}
1485 cp ../@var{FOO}.tely .
1487 cp web/GNUmakefile @var{FOO}
1491 then append @var{FOO} to variable @code{SUBDIRS} in
1492 Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/GNUmakefile, then translate file
1493 @var{MY-LANGUAGE}/@var{FOO}.tely and run @code{skeleton-update}:
1497 make ISOLANG=@var{MY-LANGUAGE} TEXI_LANGUTIL_FLAGS=--head-only skeleton-update
1501 Your are now ready to translate the new manual exactly like the web site
1502 or the Learning Manual.
1505 @node Documentation translation maintenance
1506 @subsection Documentation translation maintenance
1508 Several tools have been developed to make translations maintenance
1509 easier. These helper scripts make use of the power of Git, the
1510 version control system used for LilyPond development.
1512 You should use them whenever you would like to update the translation in
1513 your language, which you may do at the frequency that fits your and your
1514 cotranslators' respective available times. In the case your translation
1515 is up-do-date (which you can discover in the first subsection below), it
1516 is enough to check its state every one or two weeks. If you feel
1517 overwhelmed by the quantity of documentation to be updated, see
1518 @ref{Maintaining without updating translations}.
1521 * Check state of translation::
1522 * Updating documentation translation::
1523 * Updating translation committishes::
1526 @macro seeCommittishesUpdate{}
1527 @warning{do not forget to update the committish in each file you have
1528 completely updated, see @ref{Updating translation committishes}.}
1531 @node Check state of translation
1532 @unnumberedsubsubsec Check state of translation
1534 First pull from Git -- see @ref{Pulling and rebasing}, but DO NOT rebase
1535 unless you are sure to master the translation state checking and
1536 updating system -- then cd into @file{Documentation/} (or at top of the
1537 source tree, replace @command{make} with @command{make -C
1538 Documentation}) and run
1541 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} check-translation
1545 This presents a diff of the original files since the most recent
1546 revision of the translation. To check a single file, cd into
1547 @file{Documentation/} and run
1550 make CHECKED_FILES=@var{MY_LANGUAGE}/@var{manual}/@var{foo}.itely check-translation
1554 In case this file has been renamed since you last updated the
1555 translation, you should specify both old and new file names, e.g.
1556 @code{CHECKED_FILES=@var{MY_LANGUAGE}/@{@var{manual},user@}/@var{foo}.itely}.
1558 To see only which files need to be updated, do
1561 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} check-translation | grep 'diff --git'
1564 To avoid printing terminal colors control characters, which is often
1565 desirable when you redirect output to a file, run
1568 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} NO_COLOR=1 check-translation
1571 You can see the diffs generated by the commands above as changes that
1572 you should make in your language to the existing translation, in order
1573 to make your translation up to date.
1575 @seeCommittishesUpdate
1577 @warning{translation status generation is currently broken, so
1578 translation status pages have been removed; it will be regenerated again
1579 as soon as possible, in Texinfo format.}
1581 Global state of the translation is recorded in
1582 @file{Documentation/translations.html.in}, which is used to generate
1583 Translations status page. To update that page, do from
1584 @file{Documentation/}
1587 make translation-status
1590 This will also leave @file{out/translations-status.txt}, which contains
1591 up-to-dateness percentages for each translated file, and update word
1592 counts of documentation files in this Guide.
1595 @ref{Maintaining without updating translations}.
1598 @node Updating documentation translation
1599 @unnumberedsubsubsec Updating documentation translation
1601 Instead of running @code{check-translation}, you may want to run
1602 @code{update-translation}, which will run your favorite text editor to
1603 update files. First, make sure environment variable @code{EDITOR} is
1604 set to a text editor command, then run from @file{Documentation/}
1607 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} update-translation
1611 or to update a single file
1614 make CHECKED_FILES=@var{MY_LANGUAGE/@var{manual}/foo.itely} update-translation
1617 For each file to be udpated, @code{update-translation} will open your
1618 text editor with this file and a diff of the file in English; if the
1619 diff cannot be generated or is bigger than the file in English itself,
1620 the full file in English will be opened instead.
1622 @seeCommittishesUpdate
1624 Texinfo skeleton files, i.e. @file{.itely} files not yet translated,
1625 containing only the first node of the original file in English can be
1626 updated automatically: whenever @command{make check-translation} shows
1627 that such files should be updated, run from @file{Documentation/}
1630 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} skeleton-update
1633 @file{.po} message catalogs in @file{Documentation/po/} may be updated
1634 by issuing from @file{Documentation/} or @file{Documentation/po/}
1640 @warning{if you run po-update and somebody else does the same and
1641 pushes before you push or send a patch to be applied, there will be a
1642 conflict when you pull. Therefore, it is better that only the
1643 Translation meister runs this command.}
1645 Updating music snippets can quickly become cumbersome, as most
1646 snippets should be identical in all languages. Fortunately, there is
1647 a script that can do this odd job for you (run from
1648 @file{Documentation/}):
1651 make ISOLANG=@var{MY_LANGUAGE} snippet-update
1654 This script overwrites music snippets in
1655 @file{@var{MY_LANGUAGE/foo/every.itely}} with music snippets from
1656 @file{@var{foo/every.itely}}. It ignores skeleton files, and keeps
1657 intact music snippets preceded with a line starting with @code{@@c
1658 KEEP LY}; it reports an error for each @file{.itely} that has not the
1659 same music snippet count in both languages. Always use this script
1660 with a lot of care, i.e. run it on a clean Git working tree, and check
1661 the changes it made with @command{git diff} before committing; if you
1662 don't do so, some @code{@@lilypond} snippets might be broken or make
1663 no sense in their context.
1665 When you have updated texidocs in
1666 @file{Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/texidocs}, you can get these
1667 changes into compiled snippets in @file{Documentation/snippets}, see
1668 @q{General guidelines} in @ref{Adding and editing snippets}.
1670 Finally, a command runs the three update processes above for all
1671 enabled languages (from @file{Documentation/}):
1674 make all-translations-update
1677 Use this command with caution, and keep in mind it will not be really
1678 useful until translations are stabilized after the end of GDP and GOP.
1681 @ref{Maintaining without updating translations},
1682 @ref{Adding and editing snippets}.
1685 @node Updating translation committishes
1686 @unnumberedsubsubsec Updating translation committishes
1688 At the beginning of each translated file except PO files, there is a
1689 committish which represents the revision of the sources which you have
1690 used to translate this file from the file in English.
1692 When you have pulled and updated a translation, it is very important to
1693 update this committish in the files you have completely updated (and
1694 only these); to do this, first commit possible changes to any
1695 documentation in English which you are sure to have done in your
1696 translation as well, then replace in the up-to-date translated files the
1697 old committish by the committish of latest commit, which can be obtained
1701 git rev-list HEAD |head -1
1704 A special case is updating Snippet documentation strings in
1705 @file{Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/texidocs}. For these to be
1706 correctly marked as up-to-date, first run @code{makelsr.py} as
1707 explained in @ref{Adding and editing snippets}, and commit the
1708 resulting compiled snippets left in @file{Documentation/snippets/}.
1709 Say the SHA1 ID code of this commit is <C>. Now edit again your
1710 translated files in @file{Documentation/@var{MY-LANGUAGE}/texidocs}
1711 adjusting the 40-digit committish that appears in the text to be <C>;
1712 finally, commit these updated files. Not doing so would result in
1713 changes made both to your updates and original snippets to
1714 persistently appear in the check-translation output as if they were
1717 This two-phase mechanism avoids the (practically) unsolvable problem
1718 of guessing what committish will have our update, and pretending to
1719 put this very committish on the files in the same commit.
1721 @c http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-devel/2009-01/msg00245.html
1722 @c contains a helper script which could be used to perform massive
1723 @c committish updates.
1730 @node Translations management policies
1731 @subsection Translations management policies
1733 These policies show the general intent of how the translations should
1734 be managed, they aim at helping translators, developers and
1735 coordinators work efficiently.
1738 * Maintaining without updating translations::
1739 * Managing documentation translation with Git::
1742 @node Maintaining without updating translations
1743 @unnumberedsubsubsec Maintaining without updating translations
1745 Keeping translations up to date under heavy changes in the documentation
1746 in English may be almost impossible, especially as during the former
1747 Grand Documentation Project (GDP) or the Grand Organization Project
1748 (GOP) when a lot of contributors brings changes. In addition,
1749 translators may be --- and that is a very good thing --- involved in
1752 it is possible --- and even recommended --- to perform some maintenance
1753 that keeps translated documentation usable and eases future translation
1754 updating. The rationale below the tasks list motivates this plan.
1756 The following tasks are listed in decreasing priority order.
1759 @item Update macros.itexi.
1760 For each obsolete macro definition, if it is possible to update macro
1761 usage in documentation with an automatic text or regexp substitution,
1762 do it and delete the macro definition from macros.itexi; otherwise,
1763 mark this macro definition as obsolete with a comment, and keep it in
1764 macros.itexi until the documentation translation has been updated and
1765 no longer uses this macro.
1767 @item Update @file{*.tely} files completely with
1768 @command{make check-translation} -- you may want to redirect ouptput
1769 to a file because of overwhelming output, or call check-translation.py
1770 on individual files, see @ref{Check state of translation}.
1772 @item In @file{.itelys}, match sections and .itely file names with those from
1773 English docs, which possibly involves moving nodes contents in block
1774 between files, without updating contents itself. In other words, the
1775 game is catching where has gone each section. In Learning manual, and
1776 in Notation Reference sections which have been revised in GDP, there may
1777 be completely new sections: in this case, copy @code{@@node} and
1778 @code{@@section}-command from English docs, and add the marker for
1779 untranslated status @code{@@untranslated} on a single line. Note that
1780 it is not possible to exactly match subsections or subsubsections of
1781 documentation in English, when contents has been deeply revised; in this
1782 case, keep obsolete (sub)subsections in the translation, marking them
1783 with a line @code{@@c obsolete} just before the node.
1785 Emacs with Texinfo mode makes this step easier:
1788 @item without Emacs AucTeX installed, @key{C-c C-s} shows structure of current
1789 Texinfo file in a new buffer @code{*Occur*}; to show structure of two files
1790 simultaneously, first split Emacs window in 4 tiles (with @key{C-x 1}
1791 and @key{C-x 2}), press @key{C-c C-s} to show structure of one file
1792 (e.g. the translated file), copy @code{*Occur*} contents into
1793 @code{*Scratch*}, then press @key{C-c C-s} for the other file.
1795 If you happen to have installed AucTeX, you can either call the macro
1796 by doing @key{M-x texinfo-show-structure} or create a key binding in your
1797 @file{~/.emacs}, by adding the four following lines:
1800 (add-hook 'Texinfo-mode-hook
1802 (define-key Texinfo-mode-map "\C-cs"
1803 'texinfo-show-structure)))
1807 and then obtain the structure in the @code{*Occur*} buffer with @key{C-c
1810 @item Do not bother updating @code{@@menu}s when all menu entries are in the same
1811 file, just do @key{C-c C-u C-a} (@qq{update all menus}) when you have
1812 updated all the rest of the file.
1814 @item Moving to next or previous node using incremental search: press
1815 @key{C-s} and type @code{node} (or @key{C-s @@node} if the text
1816 contains the word @q{node}) then press @key{C-s} to move to next node
1817 or @key{C-r} to move to previous node. Similar operation can be used
1818 to move to the next/previous section. Note that every cursor move
1819 exits incremental search, and hitting @key{C-s} twice starts
1820 incremental search with the text entered in previous incremental
1823 @item Moving a whole node (or even a sequence of nodes): jump to beginning
1824 of the node (quit incremental search by pressing an arrow), press
1825 @key{C-SPACE}, press @key{C-s node} and repeat @key{C-s} until you
1826 have selected enough text, cut it with @key{C-w} or @key{C-x}, jump to
1827 the right place (moving between nodes with the previous hint is often
1828 useful) and paste with @key{C-y} or @key{C-v}.
1831 @item Update sections finished in the English documentation; check
1833 @uref{http://lilypondwiki.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=Documentation_coordination}.
1835 @item Update documentation PO. It is recommended not to update
1836 strings which come from documentation that is currently deeply revised
1837 in English, to avoid doing the work more than once.
1839 @item Fix broken cross-references by running (from @file{Documentation/})
1842 make ISOLANG=@var{YOUR-LANGUAGE} fix-xrefs
1846 This step requires a sucessful documentation build (with @command{make
1847 doc}). Some cross-references are broken because they point to a node
1848 that exists in the documentation in English, which has not been added
1849 to the translation; in this case, do not fix the cross-reference but
1850 keep it "broken", so that the resulting HTML link will point to an
1851 existing page of documentation in English.
1854 @subsubheading Rationale
1856 You may wonder if it would not be better to leave translations as-is
1857 until you can really start updating translations. There are several
1858 reasons to do these maintenance tasks right now.
1861 @item This will have to be done sooner or later anyway, before updating
1862 translation of documentation contents, and this can already be done
1863 without needing to be redone later, as sections of documentation in
1864 English are mostly revised once. However, note that not all
1865 documentation sectioning has been revised in one go, so all this
1866 maintenance plan has to be repeated whenever a big reorganization is
1869 @item This just makes translated documentation take advantage of the new
1870 organization, which is better than the old one.
1872 @item Moving and renaming sections to match sectioning of documentation in
1873 English simplify future updating work: it allows updating the
1874 translation by side-by-side comparison, without bothering whether
1875 cross-reference names already exist in the translation.
1877 @item Each maintenance task except @q{Updating PO files} can be done by
1878 the same person for all languages, which saves overall time spent by
1879 translators to achieve this task: the node names and section titles
1880 are in English, so you can do. It is important to take advantage of
1881 this now, as it will be more complicated (but still possible) to do
1882 step 3 in all languages when documentation is compiled with
1883 @command{texi2html} and node names are directly translated in source
1888 @node Managing documentation translation with Git
1889 @unnumberedsubsubsec Managing documentation translation with Git
1891 This policy explains how to manage Git branches and commit
1892 translations to Git.
1895 @item Translation changes matching master branch are preferably made on
1896 @code{lilypond/translation} branch; they may be pushed directly to
1897 @code{master} only if they do not break compilation of LilyPond and
1898 its documentation, and in this case they should be pushed to
1899 @code{lilypond/translation} too. Similarly, changes matching
1900 @code{stable/X.Y} are preferably made on
1901 @code{lilypond/X.Ytranslation}.
1903 @item @code{lilypond/translation} Git branch may be merged into
1904 master only if LilyPond (@command{make all}) and documentation
1905 (@command{make doc}) compile succesfully.
1907 @item @code{master} Git branch may be merged into
1908 @code{lilypond/translation} whenever @command{make} and @command{make
1909 doc} are succesful (in order to ease documentation compilation by
1910 translators), or when significant changes had been made in
1911 documentation in English in master branch.
1913 @item General maintenance may be done by anybody who knows what he does
1914 in documentation in all languages, without informing translators
1915 first. General maintenance include simple text substitutions
1916 (e.g. automated by sed), compilation fixes, updating Texinfo or
1917 lilypond-book commands, updating macros, updating ly code, fixing
1918 cross-references, and operations described in @ref{Maintaining
1919 without updating translations}.
1923 @node Technical background
1924 @subsection Technical background
1926 A number of Python scripts handle a part of the documentation
1927 translation process. All scripts used to maintain the translations
1928 are located in @file{scripts/auxiliar/}.
1931 @item @file{check_translation.py} -- show diff to update a translation,
1932 @item @file{texi-langutils.py} -- quickly and dirtily parse Texinfo files to
1933 make message catalogs and Texinfo skeleton files,
1934 @item @file{texi-skeleton-update.py} -- update Texinfo skeleton files,
1935 @item @file{update-snippets.py} -- synchronize ly snippets with those
1937 @item @file{translations-status.py} -- update translations status pages and word
1938 counts in the file you are reading,
1939 @item @file{tely-gettext.py} -- gettext node names, section titles and references
1940 in the sources; WARNING only use this script once for each file, when support for
1941 "makeinfo --html" has been dropped.
1944 Other scripts are used in the build process, in @file{scripts/build/}:
1947 @item @file{mass-link.py} -- link or symlink files between English documentation
1948 and documentation in other languages.
1951 Python modules used by scripts in @file{scripts/auxiliar/} or @file{scripts/build/} (but
1952 not by installed Python scripts) are located in @file{python/auxiliar/}:
1954 @item @file{manuals_definitions.py} -- define manual names and name of
1955 cross-reference Texinfo macros,
1956 @item @file{buildlib.py} -- common functions (read piped output
1957 of a shell command, use Git),
1958 @item @file{postprocess_html.py} (module imported by @file{www_post.py}) -- add footer and
1959 tweak links in HTML pages.
1964 @item @file{python/langdefs.py} -- language definitions module