Re: Using Unicode-NSIS from now on !

On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 5:00 AM, Prashant Bafna <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> We use NSIS to create the Widows Installer for AbiWord. However NSIS
> only supports ANSI Codepage languages, causing encoding issues with a
> lot of languages.
>
> Whereas Unicode-NSIS (listed as a 3rd party project on NSIS website
> http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page) is essentially NSIS patched to
> be completely Unicode. This means that installers generated using
> Unicode NSIS will only work on Windows 2000 and later but that's what
> we support as well. With this we can add any language that Windows
> supports on any codepage setting. And it essentially makes the
> installer completely Unicode.
>
> Many other projects such as Mozilla, Winamp, Openoffice etc. use it
> for creating Windows Installers as well.
>
> So I propose that we only use Unicode-NSIS from now on (it doesn't
> require any changes in our nsis scripts, works nicely as it is).
>
> Cheers!
> Prashant

Dear Prashant,

Thank you for all of the work you've done on sorting out how we can
provide localized Windows installer instructions.  As you've noticed,
very few of the NSH files previously available had any translation at
all, so this will make a big difference in lowering the barrier to
entry for new AbiWord users in other languages (specifically those on
Windows systems).

I am obviously very supportive of making this change to NSIS-Unicode
and will continue my unfinished work on transferring strings from the
completed PO files to NSH files for use and sending them to you for
double-checking and commit.

The next phase of this for me is to work to take myself out of the
loop as much as possible by writing up clear documentation on how to
roll-your-own NSH file and posting it on the wiki.  That will
hopefully provide sustainability and scalability, although I will
remain available to hold hands and work to drive this forward, it is
best to "teach a man to fish".

The process of making the new NSH files (once the PO file is
completed) is ridiculously simple, involving simple (but careful) copy
and paste from the PO file into a template NSH file.  However, I'll
need to provide details of where to find these files and how to submit
patches for inclusion of new files or corrections to old files.  It is
that last bit (landing a patch) that I (or the devs like you)  will
probably need to stay engaged in over the long term.  One hopes that
these translated NSH installers once submitted will not change much
over time making much of this a one-off effort for each language.

cjl