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Localizing Kubernetes Documentation

Documentation for Kubernetes is available in multiple languages:

We encourage you to add new localizations!

Getting started

Localizations must meet some requirements for workflow (how to localize) and output (what to localize).

To add a new localization of the Kubernetes documentation, you’ll need to update the website by modifying the site configuration and directory structure. Then you can start translating documents!

Note: For an example localization-related pull request, see this pull request to the Kubernetes website repo adding Korean localization to the Kubernetes docs.

Let Kubernetes SIG Docs know you’re interested in creating a localization! Join the SIG Docs Slack channel. We’re happy to help you get started and answer any questions you have.

All localization teams must be self-sustaining with their own resources. We’re happy to host your work, but we can’t translate it for you.

Fork and clone the repo

First, create your own fork of the kubernetes/website.

Then, clone the website repo and cd into it:

git clone https://github.com/kubernetes/website
cd website
Note:

Contributors to k/website must create a fork from which to open pull requests. For localizations, we ask additionally that:

  1. Team approvers open development branches directly from https://github.com/kubernetes/website.
  2. Localization contributors work from forks, with branches based on the current development branch.

This is because localization projects are collaborative efforts on long-running branches, similar to the development branches for the Kubernetes release cycle. For information about localization pull requests, see “branching strategy”.

Find your two-letter language code

Consult the ISO 639-1 standard for your localization’s two-letter country code. For example, the two-letter code for German is de.

Note:

These instructions use the ISO 639-1 language code for German (de) as an example.

There’s currently no Kubernetes localization for German, but you’re welcome to create one!

Modify the site configuration

The Kubernetes website uses Hugo as its web framework. The website’s Hugo configuration resides in the config.toml file. To support a new localization, you’ll need to modify config.toml.

Add a configuration block for the new language to config.toml, under the existing [languages] block. The German block, for example, looks like:

[languages.de]
title = "Kubernetes"
description = "Produktionsreife Container-Verwaltung"
languageName = "Deutsch"
contentDir = "content/de"
weight = 3

When assigning a weight parameter for your block, find the language block with the highest weight and add 1 to that value.

For more information about Hugo’s multilingual support, see “Multilingual Mode”.

Add a new localization directory

Add a language-specific subdirectory to the content folder in the repository. For example, the two-letter code for German is de:

mkdir content/de

Add a localized README

To guide other localization contributors, add a new README-**.md to the top level of k/website, where ** is the two-letter language code. For example, a German README file would be README-de.md.

Provide guidance to localization contributors in the localized README-**.md file. Include the same information contained in README.md as well as:

After you create the localized README, add a link to the file from the main English file, [README.md’s Localizing Kubernetes Documentation] and include contact information in English. You can provide a GitHub ID, email address, Slack channel, or other method of contact.

Translating documents

Localizing all of the Kubernetes documentation is an enormous task. It’s okay to start small and expand over time.

At a minimum, all localizations must include:

Description URLs
Home All heading and subheading URLs
Setup All heading and subheading URLs
Tutorials Kubernetes Basics, Hello Minikube
Site strings All site strings in a new localized TOML file

Translated documents must reside in their own content/**/ subdirectory, but otherwise follow the same URL path as the English source. For example, to prepare the Kubernetes Basics tutorial for translation into German, create a subfolder under the content/de/ folder and copy the English source:

mkdir -p content/de/docs/tutorials
cp content/en/docs/tutorials/kubernetes-basics.md content/de/docs/tutorials/kubernetes-basics.md

For an example of a localization-related pull request, this pull request to the Kubernetes website repo added Korean localization to the Kubernetes docs.

Source Files

Localizations must use English files from the most recent release as their source. The most recent version is v1.16.

To find source files for the most recent release:

  1. Navigate to the Kubernetes website repository at https://github.com/kubernetes/website.
  2. Select the release-1.X branch for the most recent version.

The latest version is v1.16, so the most recent release branch is release-1.16.

Site strings in i18n/

Localizations must include the contents of i18n/en.toml in a new language-specific file. Using German as an example: i18n/de.toml.

Add a new localization file to i18n/. For example, with German (de):

cp i18n/en.toml i18n/de.toml

Then translate the value of each string:

[docs_label_i_am]
other = "ICH BIN..."

Localizing site strings lets you customize site-wide text and features: for example, the legal copyright text in the footer on each page.

Project logistics

Contact the SIG Docs chairs

Contact one of the chairs of the Kubernetes SIG Docs chairs when you start a new localization.

Maintainers

Each localization repository must provide its own maintainers. Maintainers can be from a single organization or multiple organizations. Whenever possible, localization pull requests should be approved by a reviewer from a different organization than the translator.

A localization must provide a minimum of two maintainers. (It’s not possible to review and approve one’s own work.)

Branching strategy

Because localization projects are highly collaborative efforts, we encourage teams to work from a shared development branch.

To collaborate on a development branch:

  1. A team member opens a development branch, usually by opening a new pull request against a source branch on https://github.com/kubernetes/website.

    We recommend the following branch naming scheme:

    dev-<source version>-<language code>.<team milestone>

    For example, an approver on a German localization team opens the development branch dev-1.12-de.1 directly against the k/website repository, based on the source branch for Kubernetes v1.12.

  2. Individual contributors open feature branches based on the development branch.

    For example, a German contributor opens a pull request with changes to kubernetes:dev-1.12-de.1 from username:local-branch-name.

  3. Approvers review and merge feature branches into the development branch.

  4. Periodically, an approver merges the development branch to its source branch.

Repeat steps 1-4 as needed until the localization is complete. For example, subsequent German development branches would be: dev-1.12-de.2, dev-1.12-de.3, etc.

Teams must merge localized content into the same release branch from which the content was sourced. For example, a development branch sourced from release-1.16 must be based on release-1.16.

An approver must maintain a development branch by keeping it current with its source branch and resolving merge conflicts. The longer a development branch stays open, the more maintenance it typically requires. Consider periodically merging development branches and opening new ones, rather than maintaining one extremely long-running development branch.

While only approvers can merge pull requests, anyone can open a pull request for a new development branch. No special permissions are required.

For more information about working from forks or directly from the repository, see “fork and clone the repo”.

Upstream contributions

SIG Docs welcomes upstream contributions and corrections to the English source.

What's next

Once a l10n meets requirements for workflow and minimum output, SIG docs will:

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