3.1.1 The make-prototype Script

This is a Guile script which makes the “prototype” file, foo.lang.proto, from which the POT is generated. GNUN is designed in such a way, because it would be no big improvement if links to other translations ended up in the POT—it would mean that translators would have to manually update their PO file when a new translation is added.

In addition, make-prototype guards the timestamp (the $Date$ RCS keyword) in order the timestamp of the translation to be updated only when there are actual changes, being automatic or not.

Finally, make-prototype “injects” the artificial elements `*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*' and `*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*', thanks to which it is possible to insert the name of the translator and translator's notes, if necessary. See New Translation.

Here are the options that make-prototype accepts:

--article

Process the input file as an article. This is the default.

--home

Process the input article as a homepage. Specify this when you want to create a .proto file for a homepage.

-i

--input=file

Input file, which can be a common article (essay) or a homepage.

-g

--generic=file

Common notes for a translation team; this is the generic.lang.html file. See generic.LANG.html.

-o

--output=file

The file where to write the output of the script.

-t

--translinks=file

The file containing the translation links. This makes sense only for articles, since the homepage has its own translations.include which gets included via an SSI directive.

--version

Print copyright and version information on the standard output.

--help

Print usage information on stdout.