aboutsummaryrefslogblamecommitdiffstats
path: root/doc/manual_en.html
blob: aaec2757bff468c4e321d35cd57b5faa40f99d81 (plain) (tree)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783


                                                               
                                                                           










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































                                                                                   
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<!--
/*
 *	$calcurse: manual_en.html,v 1.1.1.1 2006/07/31 21:00:04 culot Exp $
 *
 * Calcurse - text-based organizer
 * Copyright (c) 2004-2006 Frederic Culot
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
 * Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
 *
 * Send your feedback or comments to : calcurse@culot.org
 * Calcurse home page : http://culot.org/calcurse
 *
 */
-->

<html>
<head>
<title>CALCURSE documentation</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="blue" vlink="navy">

<h1><code>CALCURSE - text-based organizer</code></h1>
<p>
<p><hr><p>

<h1>Table of Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a>
<li><a href="#overview">Overview</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#overview_history">Creation history</a>
<li><a href="#overview_features">Important features</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#install">Installation</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#install_requirements">Requirements</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#install_requirements_ncurses"><code>ncurses</code> library</a>
<li><a href="#install_requirements_gettext"><code>gettext</code> library</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#install_process">Install process</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#basics"><code>calcurse</code> basics</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#basics_invocation">Invocation</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#basics_invocation_commandline">Command line arguments</a>
<li><a href="#basics_invocation_variable">Environment variable for i18n</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#basics_interface">User interface</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#basics_interface_noninteractive">Non-interactive mode</a>
<li><a href="#basics_interface_interactive">Interactive mode</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#basics_files"><code>calcurse</code> files</a>
<li><a href="#basics_help">Online help</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#options">Options</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#options_general">General options</a>
<li><a href="#options_colors">Color themes</a>
<li><a href="#options_layout">Layout configuration</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#known_bugs">Known bugs</a>
<li><a href="#bugs">Reporting bugs and feedback</a>
<li><a href="#contribute">How to contribute?</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#contribute_documentation">Translating documentation</a>
<li><a href="#contribute_i18n"><code>calcurse</code> i18n</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#contribute_i18n_overview">Overview</a>
<li><a href="#contribute_i18n_translator">Translator tasks</a>
<li><a href="#contribute_i18n_po-files">po-files</a>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><a href="#links">Links</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#links_homepage"><code>calcurse</code> homepage</a>
<li><a href="#links_list"><code>calcurse</code> announce list</a>
</ul>
<li><a href="#thanks">Thanks</a>
</ul>
<p><hr><p>


<a name="intro"></a><h1>Introduction</a></h1>
<p>
	<code>calcurse</code> is a text-based personal organizer 
	which helps keeping track of events and everyday tasks.  
	It contains a calendar, a 'todo' list, and puts your 
	appointments in order. The user interface is configurable, 
	and one can choose between different color schemes and 
	layouts. All of the commands are documented within an 
	online help system.


<a name="overview"></a><h1>Overview</h1>
<a name="overview_history"></a><h2>Creation history</h2>
<p>
  	I started thinking about this project when I was finishing 
	my Ph.D.  in Astrophysics... It started to be a little hard 
	to organize myself, and I really needed a good tool to help 
	me in that difficult task ;)<br> 
	I like programs which use Text User Interfaces, because they 
	are simple, fast, portable and efficient, so I thought about 
	working on coding a simple calendar using such an interface. 
	Moreover, I wanted to go on learning the <code>C</code> 
	language, which I only used for a while during my undergraduate 
	studies. So I thought that would be the good project to start 
	in order to get organized and to learn about a few 
	<code>C</code> things !  
	Unfortunately, I finished my Ph.D. before finishing 
	<code>calcurse</code>, 
	but anyway, I still wanted to work on it, hoping it would
	be helpful to other people.  So here it is...<br>
        <br>
  	But why 'calcurse' anyway ?  Well, it is simply the 
	concatenation of 'CALendar' and 'nCURSEs', the name of the 
	library used to build the user interface.


<a name="overview_features"></a><h2>Important features</h2>
<p>
        <code>Calcurse</code> is multi-platform and intended to be
        lightweight, fast and reliable. It is to be used inside a 
        console or terminal, locally or on a distant machine within 
        an ssh (or similar) connection. <br>
        <code>Calcurse</code> can be run in two different modes : 
        interactive or non-interactive mode. The first mode allows 
        oneself to view its own personal organizer almost everywhere,
        thanks to the text-based interface. 
        The second mode permits to easily build reminders just by adding 
        <code>calcurse</code> with appropriate command line arguments 
        inside a cron tab or within a shell init script.<br>
        Moreover, <code>calcurse</code> was created with the end-user 
        in mind, and tends to be as friendly as possible. This means 
        a complete on-line help system, together with having all of 
        the possible actions displayed at any time inside a status bar. 
        The user interface is also configurable, and one can choose 
        between several color and layout combinations.


<a name="install"></a><h1>Installation</h1>
<a name="install_requirements"></a><h2>Requirements</h2>
<a name="install_requirements_ncurses"></a><h3><code>ncurses</code> library</h3>
<p>
	<code>Calcurse</code> requires only a <code>C</code> compiler, such as 
        <code>cc</code> or <code>gcc</code>, and the <code>ncurses</code>
        library. 
        It would be very surprising not to have a valid <code>ncurses</code>
        library already installed on your computer, but if not, you can 
        find it at the following url :<br>
	<pre>
		http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/
	</pre>

<a name="install_requirements_gettext"></a><h3><code>gettext</code> library</h3>
<p>
        <code>calcurse</code> supports internationalization
        (<em>i18n</em> hereafter) through the <code>gettext</code>
        utilities. This means <code>calcurse</code> can produce
        multi-lingual messages if compiled with native language
        support (i.e. <em>NLS</em>). However, <em>NLS</em> is
        optionnal and if you do not want to have support for
        multi-lingual messages, you can disable this feature.  This is
        done by giving the <code>--disable-nls</code> option to
        <code>configure</code> (see section <a
        href="#install_process">Install process</a>). <br>
        To check if the <code>gettext</code> utilities are
        installed on your system, you can search for the
        <code>libintl.h</code> header file for instance:
        <pre>
                locate libintl.h
        </pre>
        If this header file is not found, then you can obtain the
        <code>gettext</code> sources at the following url :<br>
        <pre>
                 http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gettext/
        </pre>
        <u>Note:</u> Even if <code>libintl.h</code> is found on your
        system, it can be wise to specify its location during the <a
        href="#install_process">install process</a>, by using the
        <code>--with-libintl-prefix</code> option with
        <code>configure</code>. Indeed, the <code>configure</code>
        could fail to locate this library if installed in an uncommon
        place.
 

<a name="install_process"></a><h2>Install process</h2>
<p>
	First you need to gunzip and untar the source archive:
	<pre>
	tar zxvf calcurse-1.4.tar.gz
	</pre>
  	Once you meet the requirements and have extracted the archive, 
	the install process is quite simple, and follows the standard 
	three steps process:
  	<OL>	
	<li><code>./configure</code>
  	<li><code>make</code>
  	<li><code>make install</code> (may require root privilege)
	</OL>
	Use <code>./configure --help</code> to obtain a list of 
	possible options.


<a name="basics"></a><h1><code>calcurse</code> basics</h1>
<a name="basics_invocation"></a><h2>Invocation</h2>
<a name="basics_invocation_commandline"></a><h3>Command line arguments</h3>
<p>
        <code>calcurse</code> takes the following options from the 
        command line:

        <dl compact>
        <dt><code>-a</code>
	<dd>
	Print the appointments for the current day and exit.<br>
        <u>Note:</u> the calendar from which to read the  appointments
        can be specified using the '-c' flag.<br>
	<br>
	<dt><code>-c</code>
	<dd>
	Specify the calendar file to use.<br>
	The default  calendar is <code>~/.calcurse/apts</code> 
	(see section <a href="#basics_files"><code>calcurse</code> files</a>).<br>
	<br>
	<dt><code>-d</code>
	<dd>
	Print the appointments for the given date  or  for  the
        given  number  of upcoming days, depending on the argument
        format. Two possible formats are supported:
	<ul>
	  <li>a date of the form 'mm/dd/yyyy'.
	  <li>a number 'n'.
	</ul>
        In the first  case,  the  appointment  list  for  the
        specified  date will be returned, while in the second
        case the appointment list for the 'n'  upcoming  days
        will be returned.<br>
        As an example, typing <code>calcurse -d  3</code>  
	will  display your  appointments  for  today, tomorrow, 
	and the day after tomorrow.<br>
        <u>Note:</u> as for the '-a' flag, the calendar  from  
	which to  read  the appointments can be specified using 
	the '-c' flag.<br>
	<br>
	<dt><code>-h</code>
	<dd>
        Print  a  short  help  text  describing  the  supported
        command-line options, and exit.<br>
	<br>
	<dt><code>-t</code>
	<dd>
        Print the 'todo' list and exit.<br>
	<br>
	<dt><code>-v</code>
	<dd>
        Display <code>calcurse</code> version and exit.
	</DL>

<a name="basics_invocation_variable"></a><h3>Environment variable for i18n</h3>
<p>
        <code>calcurse</code> can be compiled with native language
        support (see <a
        href="#install_requirements_gettext"><code>gettext</code>
        library</a>). Thus, if you wish to have messages displayed
        into your native language, first make sure it is available by
        looking at the <code>po/LINGUAS</code> file. 
        This file indicates the set of available languages by showing
        the two-letters corresponding code (for exemple, <em>fr</em>
        stands for french).  If you do not find your language, it
        would be greatly appreciated if you could help translating
        <code>calcurse</code> (see the <a href="#contribute">How to
        contribute?</a> section).<br>
        If your language is available, run
        <code>calcurse</code> with the following command:
        <pre>
                LC_ALL=fr_FR calcurse
        </pre>
        where <em>fr_FR</em> is the locale name in this exemple, but
        should be replaced by the locale corresponding to the desired
        language.

<a name="basics_interface"></a><h2>User interface</h2>
<a name="basics_interface_noninteractive"></a><h3>Non-interactive mode</h3>
<p>
        When called with at least one of the following arguments:<br>
        <code>-a</code>, <code>-d</code>, <code>-t</code>, 
        <code>-h</code>, <code>-v</code><br>
        <code>calcurse</code> is started in non-interactive mode.
        This means the desired information will be displayed, and 
        after that, <code>calcurse</code> simply quits and you are 
        driven back to the shell prompt.<br>
        That way, one can add a line such as <code>'calcurse -ta'</code> 
        in its init config file to display at logon the list of tasks 
        and appointments scheduled for the current day. 


<a name="basics_interface_interactive"></a><h3>Interactive mode</h3>
<p>
        When called without any argument or only with the
        <code>-c</code> option, <code>calcurse</code> is started in
        interactive mode. In this mode, you are shown an interface
	containing three different panels which you can browse using 
        the 'TAB' key, plus a status bar (see figure below).
        <pre>

 appointment panel---.                                   .---calendar panel
                     |                                   |  
                     v                                   v
 +------------------------------------++----------------------------+
 |          Appointments              ||          Calendar          |
 |------------------------------------||----------------------------|
 |                      April 6, 2006 ||         April 2006         |
 |                                    ||Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun |
 |                                    ||                      1   2 |
 |                                    ||  3   4   5   6   7   8   9 |
 |                                    || 10  11  12  13  14  15  16 |
 |                                    || 17  18  19  20  21  22  23 |
 |                                    || 24  25  26  27  28  29  30 |
 |                                    ||                            |
 |                                    |+----------------------------+
 |                                    |+----------------------------+
 |                                    ||            ToDo            | todo
 |                                    ||----------------------------| panel
 |                                    ||                            |   |
 |                                    ||                            |   |
 |                                    ||                            |<--.
 |                                    ||                            |
 |                                    ||                            |
 |                                    ||                            |
 +------------------------------------++----------------------------+
 | ? Help     R Redraw    H/L -/+1 Day      G GoTo       C Config   | 
 | Q Quit     S Save      J/K -/+1 Week   Tab Chg View              |<-. 
 +------------------------------------------------------------------+  |
                                                                       |
                                                                 status bar

        </pre>
        The first panel represents a calendar which allows to highligth 
        a particular day, the second one contains the list of the events 
        and appointments on that day, and the last one contains a list 
        of tasks to do but which are not assigned to any specific day.  
	In the bottom line of the screen there is a status bar, which 
	indicates the possible actions and the corresponding keystrokes.
        

<a name="basics_files"></a><h2><code>calcurse</code> files</h2>
<p>
        The following structure is created in your  <code>$HOME</code>  
	directory the first time <code>calcurse</code> is run :
	<pre>
        $HOME/.calcurse/
                  |___conf
                  |___apts
                  |___todo
        </pre>
        The <em>conf</em> file contains the user configuration.<br>
        The <em>apts</em> file contains  all  of the events and 
        user's appointments.<br>
        The <em>todo</em> file contains the todo list.


<a name="basics_help"></a><h2>Online help</h2>
<p>
        At any time, the built-in help  system  can  be  invoked  by
        pressing the '?'  key. Once viewing the help screens,
        informations on a specific command can be  accessed  by  pressing
        the keystroke corresponding to that command.

<a name="options"></a><h1>Options</h1>
<p>
	All of the <code>calcurse</code> parameters are configurable from the 
	Configuration menu available when pressing 'C'. You are then 
	driven to a submenu with three possible choices : pressing 'C' 
	again will lead you to the Color scheme configuration, 
	pressing 'L' allows you to choose the layout of the main 
	<code>calcurse</code> screen (in other words, where to put the three 
	different panels on screen), and last you can choose between
	different general options by pressing 'G'.

<a name="options_general"></a><h2>General options</h2>
<p>
        These options control <code>calcurse</code> general behavior,
        as described below:
        <ul>
        <li><code>auto_save</code>  (default: <em>yes</em>)<br>
	This option allows to automatically save the user's data 
	(if set to <em>yes</em>) when quitting.<br>
	<em>warning:</em> No data will be automatically saved if 
	<code>auto_save</code> is set to <em>no</em>. This means
	the user must press 'S' (for saving) in order to retrieve its
	modifications.<br>
	<br>
	<li><code>confirm_quit</code> (default: <em>yes</em>)<br>
	If set to <em>yes</em>, confirmation is required before 
	quitting, otherwise pressing 'Q' will cause <code>calcurse</code> 
	to quit without prompting for user confirmation.<br>
	<br>
	<li><code>confirm_delete</code> (default: <em>yes</em>)<br>
	If this option is set to <em>yes</em>, pressing 'D' for 
	deleting an item (either a <em>todo</em>, <em>appointment</em>, 
	or <em>event</em>), will lead to a prompt asking for user 
	confirmation before removing the selected item from the list. 
	Otherwise, no confirmation will be needed before deleting the 
	item.<br>
	<br>
	<li><code>skip_system_dialogs</code> (default: <em>no</em>)<br>
	Setting this option to <em>yes</em> will result in skipping the 
	system dialogs related to the saving and loading of data. 
	This can be useful to speed up the input/output processes.<br>
	<br>
	<li><code>skip_progress_bar</code> (default: <em>no</em>)<br>
	If set to <em>yes</em>, this will cause the disappearing of the 
	progress bar which is usually shown when saving data to file. 
	If set to <em>no</em>, this bar will be displayed, together with 
	the name of the file being saved 
	(see section <a href="#basics_files"><code>calcurse</code> files</a>).<br>
        <br>
        <li><code>week_begins_on_monday</code> (default: <em>yes</em>)<br>
        One can choose between Monday and Sunday as the first day of the
        week. If the option <em>week_begins_on_monday</em> is set to
        <em>yes</em>, Monday will be first in the calendar view. Else if
        the option is set to <em>no</em>, then Sunday will be the first
        day of the week.
	</ul>


<a name="options_colors"></a><h2>Color themes</h2>
<p>
        <code>calcurse</code> color theme is configurable and is to be
        chosen by typing the number corresponding to the desired
        theme.  This color will then be applied to the panel borders,
        to the titles, to the keystrokes, and to general informations
        displayed inside status bar. A black and white theme is also
        available, in order to support non-color terminals.<br>
        <u>Notes:</u> 
        <ul> 
        <li> Depending on your terminal type and on the value of the
        <code>$TERM</code> environnement variable, color could or
        could not be supported. An error message will appear if you
        try to change colors whereas your terminal does not support
        this feature.<br>
        <br>
        <li> If you do know your terminal supports colors but could
        not get <code>calcurse</code> to display them, try to set your
        <code>$TERM</code> variable to another value (such as
        <em>xterm-xfree86</em> for instance).
        </ul>

      
<a name="options_layout"></a><h2>Layout configuration</h2>
<p>
        The layout corresponds to the position of the panels inside
        <code>calcurse</code> screen. The default layout makes the 
        calendar panel to be displayed on the top-right corner of the
        terminal, the todo panel on the bottom-right corner, while the
        appointment panel is displayed on the left hand-side of the
        screen (see the figure in section 
        <a href="#basics_interface_interactive">Interactive mode</a>
        for an exemple of the default layout).<br>
        By choosing another layout in the configuration screen, user
        can customize <code>calcurse</code> appearence to best suit 
        his needs by placing the different panels where needed.


<a name="known_bugs"></a><h1>Known bugs</h1>
<p>
        Incorrect highlighting of items appear when using calcurse 
        black and white theme together with a <code>$TERM</code> 
        variable set to <em>xterm-color</em>.
        To fix this bug, and as advised by Thomas E. Dickey 
        (<code>xterm</code> maintainer), <em>xterm-xfree86</em> 
        should be used instead of <em>xterm-color</em> to set 
        the <code>$TERM</code> variable:<br>
        <blockquote>
        "The xterm-color value for $TERM is a bad choice for XFree86 xterm
        because it is commonly used for a terminfo entry which happens to
        not support bce. Use the xterm-xfree86 entry which is distributed 
        with XFree86 xterm (or the similar one distributed with ncurses)."
        </blockquote>

<a name="bugs"></a><h1>Reporting bugs and feedback</h1>
<p>
        Please send bug reports and feedback to:
        <pre>
        calcurse@culot.org
        </pre>
        or to the author:
        <pre>
        frederic@culot.org
        </pre>

<a name="contribute"></a><h1>How to contribute?</h1>
<p>
        If you would like to contribute to the project,
        you can first send your feedback on what you like or dislike,
        and if there are features you miss in <code>calcurse</code>.
        For now on, possible contributions concern the translation
        of <code>calcurse</code> messages and documentation. <br>
        <br>
        <u>Note:</u> Any help in getting <code>calcurse</code>
        internationalized would be very welcomed, but before
        contributing, send a mail to
        <code>calcurse-i18n@culot.org</code> to know if someone
        already started the translation process into your language.

<a name="contribute_documentation"></a><h2>Translating documentation</h2>
<p>
        The <em>doc/</em> directory of the source package already
        contains translated version of <code>calcurse</code>
        manual. However, if the manual is not yet available into your 
        native language, it would be appreciated if you could help
        translating it.<br>
        To do so, just copy one of the existing manual
        file to <code>manual_XX.html</code>, where <em>XX</em>
        identifies your language. Then translate this newly created
        file and send it to the author (see <a href="#bugs">Reporting
        bugs and feeback</a>), so that it can be included in the
        next <code>calcurse</code> release.

<a name="contribute_i18n"></a><h2><code>calcurse</code> i18n</h2>
<p>
        As already mentioned, <code>gettext</code> utilities are used
        by <code>calcurse</code> to produce multi-lingual
        messages. This section provides informations about how to
        translate those messages into your native language. However,
        this howto is deliberately incomplete, focusing on working
        with <code>gettext</code> for <code>calcurse</code>
        specifically.  For more comprehensive informations or to grasp
        the Big Picture of Native Language Support, you should refer
        to the <code>GNU gettext</code> manual at:
        <pre>
                http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/
        </pre>
        Basically, three different people get involved in the
        translation chain: coders, language coordinator, and
        translators. After a quick overview of how things work, the
        translator tasks will be described hereafter.


<a name="contribute_i18n_overview"></a><h3>Overview</h3>
<p>
        To be able to display texts in the native language of the
        user, two steps are required: <em>internationalization</em>
        (i18n) and <em>localization</em> (l10n).  i18n is about making
        <code>calcurse</code> support multiple languages. It is
        performed by coders, who will mark translatable texts and
        provide a way to display them translated at runtime.  l10n is
        about making the i18n'ed <code>calcurse</code> adapt to the
        specific language of the user, ie translating the strings
        previously marked by the developers, and setting the
        environment correctly for <code>calcurse</code> to use the
        result of this translation.<br> <br>

        So, translatable strings are first marked by the coders within
        the <code>C</code> source files, then gathered in a template
        file (<em>calcurse.pot</em> - the <em>pot</em> extension
        meaning <em>portable object template</em>). The content of
        this template file is then merged with the translation files
        for each language (<em>fr.po</em> for french, for instance -
        with <em>po</em> standing for <em>portable object</em>, ie
        meant to be read and edited by humans). A given translation
        team will take this file, translate its strings, and send it
        back to the developers. At compilation time, a binary version
        of this file (for efficiency reasons) will be produced
        (<em>fr.mo</em> - <em>mo</em> stands for <em>machine
        object</em>, ie meant to be read by programs), and then
        installed.  Then <code>calcurse</code> will use this file at
        runtime, translating the strings according to the locale
        settings of the user.


<a name="contribute_i18n_translator"></a><h3>Translator tasks</h3>
<p>
        Suppose someone wants to initiate the translation of a new
        language. Here are the steps to follow:
        <ul>
        <li>First, find out what the locale name is. For instance, for
        french, it is 'fr_FR', or simply 'fr'. This is the value the
        user will have to put in his <code>LC_ALL</code> environment
        variable for software to be translated (see <a
        href="#basics_invocation_variable">Environment variable for
        i18n</a>).<br>
        <br>
        <li>Then, go into the <em>po/</em> directory, and create a new po-file
        from the template file using the following command: 
        <pre>
                'msginit -i calcurse.pot -o fr.po -l fr --no-translator'
        </pre>
        If you do not have <code>msginit</code> installed on your
        system, simply copy the <em>calcurse.pot</em> file to
        <em>fr.po</em> and edit the header by hand.<br>
        Now, having this <em>fr.po</em> file, the translator is ready
        to begin.
        </ul>


<a name="contribute_i18n_po-files"></a><h3>po-files</h3>
<p>
        The format of the po-files is quite simple. Indeed, po-files
        are made of four things:
        <ol>
        <li><em>location lines:</em> tells you where the strings can
        be seen (name of file and line number), in case you need to
        see a bit of context.
        <li><em>msgid lines:</em> the strings to translate.
        <li><em>msgstr lines:</em> the translated strings.
        <li><em>lines prefixed with '#':</em> comments (some with a
        special meaning, as we will see below).
        </ol>
        Basically, all you have to do is fill the <em>msgstr</em>
        lines with the translation of the above <em>msgid</em>
        line.
        <p>
        <u>A few notes:</u>
        <ul>
        <li><em>Fuzzy strings</em><br>
        You will meet strings marked with a <code>"#, fuzzy"</code>
        comment. <code>calcurse</code> won't use the translations of
        such strings until you do something about them.  A string
        being fuzzy means either that the string has already been
        translated but has since been changed in the sources of the
        program, or that this is a new string for which
        <code>gettext</code> made a 'wild guess' for the translation,
        based on other strings in the file.  It means you have to
        review the translation. Sometimes, the original string has
        changed just because a typo has been fixed. In this case, you
        won't have to change anything. But sometimes, the translation
        will no longer be accurate and needs to be changed.  Once you
        are done and happy with the translation, just remove the
        <code>"#, fuzzy"</code> line, and the translation will be used
        again in <code>calcurse</code>.<br>
        <br>
        <li><em>c-format strings and special sequences</em><br>
        Some strings have the following comment: <code>"#,
        c-format"</code>.  This tells that parts of the string to
        translate have a special meaning for the program, and that you
        should leave them alone.  For instance, %-sequences, like
        <code>"%s"</code>. These means that <code>calcurse</code> will
        replace them with another string. So it is important it
        remains.  There are also \-sequences, like <code>\n</code> or
        <code>\t</code>. Leave them, too. The former represents an end
        of line, the latter a tabulation.<br>
        <br>
        <li><em>Translations can be wrapped</em><br>
        If lines are too long, you can just break them like this:
        <pre>
                msgid ""
                "some very long line"
                "another line"
        </pre>
        <li><em>po-file header</em><br>
        At the very beginning of the po-file, the first string form a
        header, where various kind of information has to be filled
        in. Most important one is the charset. It should resemble
        <pre>
                "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8\n"
        </pre>
        You should also fill in the Last-Translator field, so that
        potential contributors can contact you if they want to join
        you in the translation team, or have remarks/typo fixes to
        give about the translations. You can either just give your
        name/nick, or add an email address, for exemple:
        <pre>
                "Last-Translator: Frederic Culot <frederic@culot.org>\n"
        </pre>
        <li><em>Comments</em><br>
        Adding comments (lines begining with the '#' character) can be
        a good way to point out problems or translation difficulties
        to proofreaders or other members of your team.<br>
        <br>
        <li><em>Strings size</em><br>
        <code>calcurse</code> is a curses/console program, thus it can
        be heavily dependant on the terminal size (number of
        columns). You should think about this when translating. Often,
        a string must fit into a single line (standard length is 80
        characters). Don't translate blindly, try to look where your
        string will be displayed to adapt your translation.<br>
        <br>
        <li><em>A few useful tools</em><br>
        The po-file format is very simple, and the file can be edited
        with a standard text editor.  But if you prefer, there are few
        specialized tools you may find convenient for translating:
           <ul>
           <li><code>poEdit</code> (<a 
           href="http://www.poedit.org/" target="_blank">
           http://www.poedit.org/</a>)
           <li><code>KBabel</code> (<a
           href="http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/" target="_blank">
           http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/</a>)
           <li><code>GTranslator</code> (<a
           href="http://gtranslator.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">
           http://gtranslator.sourceforge.net/</a>)
           <li><code>Emacs</code> po mode
           <li><code>Vim</code> po mode
           </ul>
        <br>
        <li><em>And finally</em><br>
        I hope you'll have fun contributing to a more
        internationalized world. :) If you have any more questions,
        don't hesitate to contact me at <em>frederic@culot.org</em>.
        </ul>


<a name="links"></a><h1>Links</h1>
<p>
	This section contains links and references that may be of 
	interest to you.


<a name="links_homepage"></a><h2><code>calcurse</code> homepage</h2>
<p>
	The <code>calcurse</code> homepage can be found at 
	<pre>
	http://culot.org/calcurse
	</pre>

<a name="links_list"></a><h2><code>calcurse</code> announce list</h2>
<p>
	If you are interested in the project and want to be warned 
	when a new release comes out, you can subscribe to the 
	<code>calcurse</code> announce list. In doing so, you will 
        receive an email as soon as a new feature appears in 
        <code>calcurse</code>.<br>
	To subscribe to this list, send a message to 
	<code>calcurse-announce@culot.org</code> with "subscribe" 
	in the subject field. 


<a name="thanks"></a><h1>Thanks</a></h1>
<p>
	Its time now to thank other people without whom this program 
	would not exist! So here is a list of contributing persons I 
	would like to thank :
	<ul>
	<li>Alex for its patches, help and advices with <code>C</code> programming 
	<li>Gwen for testing and general discussions about how to 
	improve <code>calcurse</code>
	<li>Kevin and Ryan for packaging <code>calcurse</code> for Debian
	<li>Steffen for packaging <code>calcurse</code> for Archlinux
	<li>Alexandre for packaging <code>calcurse</code> for Mac OsX
	<li>Joel for its calendar script which inspired <code>calcurse</code> 
	calendar view 
        <li>Michael Schulz for the german translation of
	<code>calcurse</code> manual
	<li>people who write softwares I like and which inspired me, 
	especially :
		<ul>
		<li><code>vim</code> for the displacement keys
		<li><code>orpheus</code> and <code>abook</code> for documentation
		<li><code>pine</code> and <code>aptitude</code> 
	        for the text user interface
		</ul>
	</ul>
        <br>
        And last, many many thanks to all of the <code>calcurse</code>
        users who sent me their feedback.

<hr>
<small><em>
Copyright (c) 2004-2006 Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Culot<br>
Calcurse version 1.4 - Last change: May 07, 2006
<em></small>


</body>
</html>