Translation pack
From ZekrWiki
Translation pack is a single archive file having a complete Qur'an translation in a language. Translation can be in any language regardless of their direction (right to left, or left to right). Anyone can create a translation pack for his or her own use, but only certain translations are provided on Zekr resource center, having proper permission and authenticity.
Contents |
File structure
Zekr uses a straightforward zip format (.trans.zip files) for translation packages. This zip file contains two files:
- main translation file (any name)
- translation descriptor (translation.properties)
The file translation.properties should be in UTF-8 encoding without BOM, otherwise Zekr fails to parse it correctly (this happens when you have a non-ASCII localizedName property). You can you Notepad++ instead of Notepad to prevent BOM at the beginning of file. In Notepad++ use: Encoding > Encode in UTF-8 without BOM.
For example in Makarem translation, there are makarem.txt and translation.properties. The first is the whole translation as a text file containing exactly 6236 separate parts, and the second (translation.properties) is a descriptor file (as mentioned in UTF-8 encoding) for translation. Descriptor tells Zekr about:
- localizedName: localized author name (e.g. مکارم for Makarem in Persian)
- name: English transliterated author name (e.g. Makarem)
- country and language: translation locale
- delimiter (formely: lineDelimiter): a single or a set of characters (in Java Regular Expression format) used as aya separator. There should be at least 6235 occurrences of the separator string in order to distinct 6236 ayas apart. In Makarem's translation, ayas are separated with new line character (\n), however it is possible to use any separator character or string like '~'.
- encoding: translation text file encoding. See a list of supported encodings by Sun's JRE here (use values in second columnt).
- direction: rendering direction for translation text; can be either rtl or ltr
- file: translation text file name (full name: e.g. makarem.txt)
- copyright: copyright, legal notes and terms of use of the translation
How to upload a translation on zekr.org
You can create a translation pack for your own use, but we only sign and host translations with a logical amount of consensus on authenticity and usually (but not always) of a proper permission. Translations provided on zekr.org are signed with Zekr digital signature, so that a user can trust that it comes from an authentic source. Other non-signed translations can also be used, but Zekr shows a warning when importing them (Tools > Add > Translation), or selecting them through a red sign near translation icon.
Zekr translation icon can be taken as an authenticity indicator. Green icon means a translation is authentic and valid, orange icon means its signature is not yet checked (it's checked once you select that translation), and red icon means the translation pack is inauthentic and not endorsed by zekr.org.
If you created a translation pack and want to share it on zekr.org and having it signed officially, please send a mail to Zekr mailing list with the following info. Note that all the following criteria are recommended but in some cases we may accept widely-used translations (in a specific language) even if none of the followings are met:
- Name of translator and an online bio for him or her (preferably in English)
- ISBN of the printed version of the translation
- Indicate whether you are the original license holder of translation, have proper permission from the translator or license holder, or you find it somewhere online on the Internet.
- Tell us if the printed version has indication of its freeness of redistributed or not. Note that we mostly provide translations with proper permission from its license holder.
- Attach translation pack in proper format at told above.
