Re: Translation of a license
Scripsit Josh Triplett <josh@freedesktop.org>
> Yes. Furthermore, given that the license notice should not be
> translated, I would suggest that the use of gettext on the license
> notice strings is a bug.
I am not convinced that the _copyright notice_ (i.e. "This program is
free software, etc, etc", in contrast from the actual text of the GPL)
should not be translated.
It would seem to be in the spirit of the GPL that if a user has
selected a German locale (indicating that he is more comfortable with
seeing messages in Germal), he should best be told _in his preferred
language_ that the program he is using is free.
The precise legal definition of the freedoms is not something to be
lightly translated, but I think that the short informational statement
that some relevant freedoms exist is a good candidate for translation.
Technically, the statement we're talking about is probably the one
required by GPL #2(c) - notice in particular that 2(c) does not
require any specific wording of the notice. There seems to be nothing
in 2(c) that implies that the notice cannot be given in the user's
preferred language.
--
Henning Makholm "Detta, sade de, vore rena sanningen;
ty de kunde tala sanning lika väl som någon
annan, när de bara visste vad det tjänade til."
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