Pootle: Simple Translation Tool

Introduction

Pootle^1 is an online tool that makes the process of translating so much simpler. It allows crowd-sourced translations, easy volunteer contribution and gives statistics about the ongoing work.

Pootle is built using the powerful API of the Translate Toolkit and the Django framework:

Installation

You can install Poole directly from the packages, but you won't have the latest version. To get it we'll need to install required packages and download all dependencies via PIP:

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aptitude install python-pip gcc python2.6-dev libxslt1-dev python-virtualenv

Then install and create the python virtual environment:

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virtualenv /var/www/pootle/env/
source /var/www/pootle/env/bin/activate

And finally install Pootle:

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pip install pootle

Configuration

Pootle

Then you can initiate the configuration:

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pootle init /var/www/pootle/pootle.conf

Edit the configuration to change allowed host to access to the web frontend (/var/www/pootle/pootle.conf):

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# A list of strings representing the host/domain names that this Pootle server
# can serve. This is a Django's security measure. More details at
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#allowed-hosts
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['127.0.0.1']
# Allow all
# ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']

And launch it:

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pootle --config=/var/www/pootle/pootle.conf start

You'll now get an access to the web interface: http://127.0.0.1:8000
Credentials are: admin/admin

Apache

To avoid typing port number on the URL, you can use Apache mod proxy.

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aptitude install apache2 apache2-utils apache2.2-common libapache2-mod-proxy-html

Then activate modules:

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a2enmod proxy_connect
a2enmod proxy_http
a2enmod proxy_html

And restart Apache.

Then configure your apache (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/pootle):

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<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName pootle.deimos.fr

    # Pootle
    <Location />
        order deny,allow
        allow from all
        ProxyPass http://server:8000/
        ProxyPassReverse http://server:8000/
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

You'll need to enable this new site and restart Apache.

References