Translate ClamUI

ClamUI uses GNU gettext. po/clamui.pot is the generated template, po/LINGUAS is the authoritative language list, and each translation is po/<LANG>.po.

Add a language

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install gettext

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gettext

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S gettext

msginit --input=po/clamui.pot --output-file=po/<LANG>.po --locale=<LANG>

Add <LANG> as one line in po/LINGUAS, translate every msgstr, then test locally:

msgfmt po/<LANG>.po -o po/<LANG>.mo
mkdir -p locale/<LANG>/LC_MESSAGES
cp po/<LANG>.mo locale/<LANG>/LC_MESSAGES/clamui.mo
LANGUAGE=<LANG> uv run clamui

Submit po/<LANG>.po and po/LINGUAS; do not commit generated .mo files.

Update a translation

After source strings change, regenerate the template and merge your language:

./scripts/update-pot.sh
msgmerge --update po/<LANG>.po po/clamui.pot
./scripts/check-potfiles.sh
./scripts/check-translations.sh

Review #, fuzzy entries, empty msgstr values, and obsolete #~ entries.

Translation rules

Translate visible labels, dialogs, errors, tooltips, and descriptions. Preserve placeholders such as {count}, {name}, and %(prog)s, whitespace, newlines, and every plural msgstr[N]. Do not translate logger/developer errors, CSS names, D-Bus paths, settings keys, commands, or the name ClamUI.

The in-app Preferences → Behavior → Language override writes language as auto or an ISO code and requires restart. The tray subprocess has its own gettext bootstrap to remain GTK-independent.

When adding source strings, follow the i18n conventions in AGENTS.md: _(), N_(), ngettext(), deferred constants, and no f-strings inside _().