zabbix 1.9.4 localization

[brian.huang]

I understand that zabbix 1.9.4 is using gettext for localization. I reviewed the files include/locales.inc.php, and files on the directory locale, trying the understand the message:
You are not able to choose some of the languages, because locales for them are not installed on the web server.

What are the "flows" about how localization works? That is, what files and directories should I look and how do I make changes?

[richlv]

i believe that message is a result of php gettext module evaluation and it looks at the available locales on the system (try locale -a)

or was the question about something else ?

[brian.huang]

The message is from include/forms.inc.php

Quote:
// prepaitring the list of possible interface languages
$cmbLang = new CComboBox('lang',$lang);
$languages_unable_set = 0;
foreach($ZBX_LOCALES as $loc_id => $loc_name){
// checking if this locale exists in the system. The only way of doing it is to try and set one
$locale_exists = setlocale(LC_ALL, zbx_locale_variants($loc_id)) || $loc_id == 'en_GB' ? 'yes' : 'no';

$selected = ($loc_id == $USER_DETAILS['lang']) ? true : null;
$cmbLang->addItem($loc_id, $loc_name, $selected, $locale_exists);

if($locale_exists != 'yes')
$languages_unable_set++;
}
// restoring original locale
setlocale(LC_ALL, zbx_locale_variants($USER_DETAILS['lang']));

// Numeric Locale to default
setLocale(LC_NUMERIC, array('en','en_US','en_US.UTF-8','English_United States.1252'));

// if some languages can't be set, showing a warning about that
$lang_hint = $languages_unable_set > 0 ? _('You are not able to choose some of the languages, because locales for them are not installed on the web server.') : '';

Here is my system locales:
$ locale -a
C
en_US.utf8
POSIX
zh_TW.utf8

The warning message is correct because there are some locales not installed. However, the combobox list doesn't show zh_TW as active or selectable. What do I need to do?

[richlv]

but there is no zh_TW translation in zabbix. yet

[brian.huang]

zh_TW

That is what I am going to do.
But, I need to know how to do localization first!

[richlv]

awesome.

for Zabbix 2.0 gettext will be used. if you have worked with gettext tools before, you may consider using them for offline translation.

if not, there is a pootle instance set up where you can translate zabbix online within your web browser. see http://www.zabbix.com/documentation/...d_localisation for some initial instructions - if anything's unclear, questions always welcome in #zabbix on freenode.

[richlv]

just to let you know that zh_TW has been added at https://www.zabbix.org/pootle/projects/Zabbix-2.0/ - it has no strings translated yet, though

[brian.huang]

I was busy on another project until last week. I finally found time to solve my problem by actually studying the codes. Since I compiled the PHP stack as a standalone package from sources on Ubuntu, the gettext was not correctly linked because Ubuntu doesn't default gettext to /use/local/gettext. Therefore, the real problem is because gettext is not functional in my system. I rebuild PHP with the parameter --with-gettext=<custom directory> and it worked.

Although I never did PHP before, I read the codes and figure out how to add zh_TW locale.

1. add the locale zh_TW to the function set_zbx_locales() in the file <zabbix>/include/locales.inc.php.
2. add the corresponding locale variable to the file <zabbix>/include/locales/en_gb.inc.php as
'S_CHINESE_TW'=> _('Chinese (TW)'),
3. on Ubuntu, add the locale zh_TW.UTF-8
$ sudo locale-gen zh_TW.UTF-8
4. do the translation inside the directory <zabbix>/locale/
(4.1)generate frontend.pot. There is no file frontend.pot at the first place but step 4.2 needs the file frontend.pot.
$ ./update_po.sh
(4.2) add a new language:
$ ./add_new_language.sh zh_TW
svn: '.' is not a working copy
svn: 'zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES' is not a working copy
po template frontend.pot missing
{I have no idea about why the above error occurred. But ignore it.}
(4.3)Simply uses frontend.po from zh_CN:
$ cp zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/frontend.po zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/frontend.po
(4.4) translate from zh_CN to zh_TW.
(4.5)run update_po.sh again.
$ ./update_po.sh
(4.6)generate mo file, I didn't use the script make_mo.sh which is problematic in my case.
$ msgfmt zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/frontend.po -o zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/frontend.mo
(4.7) do steps 4.4 thru 4.6 until all strings are translated.

Here is how I make zh_TW works. I will translate the po file this week. Can I just contribute the file back to zabbix?

Zabbix is great and promising. But PHP has too many dependencies on other libraries although I managed to make PHP stack a standalone package which requies absolutely no installation. That is, all dependencies are included and statically linked. I am still considering writing an admin UI in Java using Vaadin.

By the way, could the honorable Zabbix designers please modify the files <zabbix>/include/locales.inc.php and <zabbix>/include/locales/en_gb.inc.php to make zh_TW work by default in the next release?

[richlv]

not sure why you didn't install php from distribution packages.
anyway, you may use either pootle or standalone tools - if using standalone tools, just create a zbxnext issue in zabbix issue tracker and attach the po to it, thanks.

[brian.huang]

Thanks for the reply.

the font DejaVuSans.ttf doesn't support Chinese and I have to swap it with a unicode font which can support CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). Is it possible to add a combobox for the user to select the correct font for the selected locale?

[richlv]

while currently users indeed have to replace the font manually, translations can be added anyway. but you could create a new feature request for font selection at https://support.zabbix.com

[brian.huang]

I figured out a way to automatically swap fonts without requesting a new feature. Would you consider this solution? Since I am a PHP newbie, I don't know if this is ok but it works. You are welcome to take my idea and do it in a better way.

First, I added a function setFontnames() into the file include/locales.inc.php as followed.

function setFontnames(){
global $USER_DETAILS;
$ZBX_FONT_NAME = $USER_DETAILS['lang'];
$ZBX_GRAPH_FONT_NAME = $USER_DETAILS['lang'];
}

In the directory fonts, I added some Unicode fonts and added soft links:
i.e.
$ ln -s DejaVuSans.ttf en_GB.ttf
$ ln -s bsmi00lp.ttf zh_CN.ttf
$ ln -s uming.ttc zh_TW.ttf
....

Finally, I called setFontnames() in the file include/graphs.inc.php at the beginning of each of the following functions:

function imageText($image, $fontsize, $angle, $x, $y, $color, $string){
setFontnames();
...
}

function imageTextSize($fontsize, $angle, $string){
setFontnames();
...
}

[richlv]

that's an interesting approach, but it would still have to be discussed - if you'd like for it to go upstream, please submit an issue in the tracker

[brian.huang]

Thanks. I am creating an issue now.

It would be better to change the font name whenever a user's language has been changed. I tried to search for the exact file but got confused. Could you please point out which file is used to save the language setting to the database?

[brian.huang]

An issuse has been created here: https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBX-3927