help/docs for modifying and testing translations

[Kyle]

I'm trying to modify and test translation strings for F123, a screen
reader friendly Linux distribution that focuses on localization and
translations into many languages out of the box. We are using Firefox
for browsing, and are likely to use Thunderbird as at least one option
for e-mail. I'm looking to either pull out a few languages that
currently don't work well with screen readers and modify them, or to
create new translations for certain languages that need to be modified
to make screen readers and speech synthesizers work better with them.
This for now is being done in our own environment, as the modifications
we make will likely not be usable by the community at large, due to the
way the strings need to be modified to be compatible with the speech
synthesizers. Looking at the localization tree, I see things grouped by
languages, and then by browser, mail, etc, but it appears that there are
various file formats, even in the same language, that all have strings
and their translations. Is there specific documentation that I can use
to find out how everything goes together and how to build a modified
translation for an already packaged Firefox or Thunderbird? I am
assuming this can be done, as both products have separate packages for
most languages. Is there a build tool or something that takes these
various formats and compiles them into language packs that we can
package and install independently? Thanks for any help.

~Kyle

F123 sorftware development

[Francesco Lodolo]

Hi,
For Firefox you want to start from here
https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/build/buildsystem/locales.html

You basically need to set up the build system for Firefox, then either
create a language pack or a localized build. For building a Beta or Release
version of the browser, you need to check out that specific version of the
code.

> I'm looking to either pull out a few languages that
> currently don't work well with screen readers and modify them, or to
> create new translations for certain languages that need to be modified
> to make screen readers and speech synthesizers work better with them.

I'm curious on what kind of changes you need to do, and the reasons for
doing them.

Francesco